The Paris Library
May. 13th, 2023 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles is about a young woman named Odile, who works at the American Library in Paris throughout the Second World War. There's also a parallel 1980s storyline, set in Montana, where Odile moves at the end of the war, charting her friendship with Lily, the young girl who lives next door.
It's always a risk reading books set during the war - and my response to this one fluctuated over the course of the story. For the most part, it's beautifully written, with a fantastic cast of characters, lots of interesting, heartwarming, tragic, romantic and entertaining details. I'm not sure the parallel storyline worked particularly well, since the balance between the two was so uneven and the ultimate conclusion was quite abrupt and nebulous. Also, inveitably, there were some terrible things that happened because of the Nazi occupation of Paris.
But I loved all the characters and Odile was a pleasingly layered and flawed, but sympathetic protagonist.
It's always a risk reading books set during the war - and my response to this one fluctuated over the course of the story. For the most part, it's beautifully written, with a fantastic cast of characters, lots of interesting, heartwarming, tragic, romantic and entertaining details. I'm not sure the parallel storyline worked particularly well, since the balance between the two was so uneven and the ultimate conclusion was quite abrupt and nebulous. Also, inveitably, there were some terrible things that happened because of the Nazi occupation of Paris.
But I loved all the characters and Odile was a pleasingly layered and flawed, but sympathetic protagonist.
