The Little Paris Bookshop
Book Review - The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Part of the way I judge whether or not I'm enjoying a book is how easily I get lost in the story. Does everything else melt away? Can I read for hours and it feels like minutes? Do I forget about everything else I need to do and only think about the book? At its surface, The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George has everything going for it: Paris, books, romantic gestures, beautiful quotes. But for the life of me, I could not lose myself in the story. My mind would wander and after just a few pages I would check the clock. In the end, I just couldn't get into the story. I didn't care about the characters. But I stuck it out because many of my friends said they loved the book and I wanted to see what they saw.
This book is centered around Jean Perdu, an eccentric middle-aged man who owns and operates a bookstore located on a barge on the Seine in Paris, France. He was once in love with Manon, a woman who was married to another man. A few years into their relationship, she left him and never returned. He swore off love for over 20 years before meeting Christine who found a letter from Manon that Jean never opened. Upon reading the letter, he realizes Manon's departure was not as it seemed. Jean then goes on a journey to discover a number of things, including the author of his favorite book, the truth about Manon, and ultimately to find peace and closure.
One of Jean Perdu's eccentricities is that he won't sell a book to a customer if he deems that book ill suited to the customer's preferences and personality. Thus, I concluded that Jean Perdu would not have sold me this book because it was the wrong book for me. This is probably the only reason my review of it is so low. Truthfully, the end of the book did bring everything back together and tied up the numerous story lines. But I could have put the book down at any time and never thought twice about it.
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