The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

The Paris Library

Author: Janet Skeslien Charles

Genre: Historical Fiction

Date: 07 September 2021

Rating: 4 stars

Review: There is something about books about books that makes my heart sing. They make for the best comfort. Reading allows me to exist in worlds that I do not know of, it allows me to live lives that are not my own and find joy in the joys of fictional characters. But a book about books allows me to look at stories through the eyes of fictional characters. It gives me the chance to know that there are others out there affected by books in a way that I can relate to. I am reminded once again that like me there are people out there who not only look for comfort in books but also companionship. The truth is that, while it may make me sounds like a loser without friends, there is no better company than a good book. I mean, can my friends tell me stories about Paris during World War II? I didn’t think so.

The Paris Library is split into two narratives. The first one picks up in the months leading up to WW2 and tells the story of 20-year-old Odile Souchet, who lives The American Library in Paris and wants a job that allows her to stay within the towering shelves of books and mingle with the people who inhabit the rooms of the library. This part of the book introduces us to an eccentric cast of characters who either work at the library or are people who are regulars and like me, find comfort in the company of books. This narrative tells the story of the troubles the library has to face in order to stay open once the war begins and the fates of the people Odile comes to count as family.

The second narrative follows young Lily in Froid, Montant in the 1980s. In many ways, Lily is a lost child harrowed by the pressures of being a teen in an American high school during the Cold War. She is intrigued by her mysterious French neighbour, Odile and just when she strikes up an unlikely friendship with the elderly lady, Lily loses her mother. Set adrift without the comforting presence of her mother, Lily is forced to face circumstances that test her as a person. Odile’s advice and encouragement tides her over while she sets off on a mission to find out the secrets about her French friend’s past.

There is a lot to unpack in this book. Let me start with the chapters about Odile. While there are many books that talk about the consequences, very often tragic, of the main character’s consequences (off the top of my head I can think of The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes) there are few that set the pieces in place so that the plot twist or climatic event is plausible. What I love about the characters that JSC has created is that the motivations behind their actions and decisions are explained very easily by their behaviour during the events leading up to the climax. Odile’s reaction to Bitsi encouraging Remy to leave foreshadows her eventual jealousy of Margaret and consecutive outbursts. It also predicts her reaction to the accusation made by Lily decades later. 

This ability of JSC to write good characters is further evident in Paul. Odile’s policeman beau is pitched as the stereotypical love interest. His swoon-worthy dialogues and romantic gestures are meant to make the reader fall in love with him as quickly as Odile does. JSC furthers this idea when Lily notes that she fell in love with Paul simply by listening to Odile’s description of him. But as a reader, we have the privilege to look at a situation in a book from an outsider’s point of view. JSC sets the building blocks in place that make it impossible for us to trust this character or fall in love with him completely. His unforgivable actions are, therefore, that much more impactful because it almost gives a sense of satisfaction because we know that our niggling suspicions were true.

What I loved about this part of the story is the casual way in which references to classic literature were woven into the story. I liked reading about these characters that were flawed but most importantly human. I enjoyed Odile’s love for books and the Dewey Decimal system. It seems like every time I read a book about the World Wars I learn something new about those horrible years. In the case of this book, I learned about the heart-warming book delivery systems that were put in place to keep morale and hope high among the soldiers. But the most shocking piece of information I learned was about the houses that were left empty after foreign aliens and Jews were captured and the way women who had formed romantic relationships, either true or for selfish reasons, were treated by the so-called ‘good’ side after the end of the war. It brings up this conversation about how neither side is innocent during a war that I really find interesting while exploring in fiction. What I also found really fascinating were the ‘crow letters’ and it reminded me of Between Shades of Grey because that too had involved this underlying web of people calling out others to avoid punishment for themselves. 

My one complaint about this part of the book is that it need not have been as long as it was. Incidents and events of this part of the novel could be condensed into fewer chapters. There were parts that could have been eliminated altogether. 

Even though Odile’s chapters were in general the ones with the sad events of the war it was in one of Lily’s initial chapters that I was really touched. When Lily loses her mother it is the feeling that everyone around her except her is forgetting her that really touched me. When Eleanor mentions Brenda’s name is when Lily is reminded that there are others who are living with the ghost of her mother’s presence, most prominently the younger second wife. In Eleanor’s quest to compete with Brenda in everything we see the caricature of perfection that is created in someone’s absence. 

The chapters that show Lily learning French and about France from Odile take you back to a time when you were equally invested or passionate about a topic that you would be ready to do the equivalent of wear a beret every day for an entire year. The exploration of the emotion of grief and jealousy is the most prominent thing that will stay with me.

I liked so many things about the book and yet it left me unsatisfied in a way. I felt the book needed some strict editing and yet I felt like a lot of it was incomplete. There was something about the book that placed it smack dab in the middle of all emotions and that’s why I could not give it five stars even though some aspects of the novel absolutely deserve five stars. I hope to one day read enough stories from World War II that I can write a comprehensive list about these books ranking them in order of preference. But till then I am glad I read this one because it introduced me to a literary aspect of the war I had previously been unaware of.