The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Published by Broadway Books
Published on March 22, 2016 (first published 2013)
416 Pages
Summary
When Catherine, a new tenant moves into the building of Jean Perdu without any belongings, he charitably donates her a table and in doing so dredges up a past ghost, Manon. Jean’s great love from 20 years before, in order to make peace with the past he makes a personal journey down the Seine, in his book barge. Along, the way he meets some interesting characters that join him on his journey.
My Thoughts
I was so ready to fall in love with this book and sadly I did not like it all that much. I was expecting something much different then what was actually being told. I feel like the title and the premise of this book is misleading. I wanted a story about a man who owns a bookshop where he prescribes books to people and while doing this he goes on a journey to mend his broken heart. This is not what I got instead what I got was a book about a bitter, lovesick man who cries over a girl he loved and had an affair with 20 years before. Books and authors that were mentioned in this book just seemed to be thrown in there to make it seem like it is a book about books.
The romance in this book did nothing for me and I can’t say that I found it that believable. I just didn’t get that all-encompassing love affair that Perdu and Manon had. I just wasn’t feeling it.
I didn’t like any of the characters in this book and I just didn’t connect with them. I have to say that I had to force myself to finish this book. I think perhaps the magic of the book got lost in translation. Not to sure. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I was older. There were some great quotes in this book but that’s about the only good thing I can say about it. I rated it a 1.5 out of 5 stars.
