The Paris Network - Siobhan Curham

AUTHOR: Siobhan Curham

NARRATOR: Laurence Bouvard

GENRE: Historical Fiction

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: The historical part of this book is very good (not excellent, but definitely good.) The rest of the book, nope.

Story:

1939 onwards, somewhere near Paris: Laurence runs a little bookstore with a twist. She calls herself the book doctor and loves to give “prescriptions” of books/poems to her customers as per their emotional requirements. When the Germans come to her town in 1940, she finds the changes in her life overwhelming and thus begins resistance against the Nazis, both through her own little ways of protest and through an underground resistance network. Taking inspiration from her role model, Laurence decides to do what she can to see her beloved France free of the Germans.

1990s USA. On the funeral day of her mother, Jeanne seems to be uncovering some family secrets. One of these is through a box her father Wendell gives her. It contains the deeds to a bookstore in France, owned by someone named Laurence. What connection Jeanne has with Laurence is what you will discover on reading the story.

The story comes to us in the first person perspective of Laurence and third person perspective of Jeanne.

Where the book clicked for me:

✔ As a book lover, I relished the attention and love that books get in this story. While their impact may have been a bit exaggerated, they still get a pride of place in the plot, right from the bookstore to book club discussions, to books published clandestinely to banned books to authors. I enjoyed every book-related reference.

✔ The historical timeline starts off like a typical WWII fiction but soon becomes interesting. It provides an interesting glimpse into the French resistance fighters. Their strategies, their minor and major acts of defiance, and their planned organisation all make a good impact.

✔ Laurence makes for an interesting leading lady. While all alone in the world, she still makes the best of her situation and uses her brain and her guts more than her emotions alone. I simply loved her progress through the book.

✔ There is no forced romantic track in the contemporary timeline. Much appreciated decision, this. I am fed up of seeing every single woman mandatorily having to find a guy by the end of the story.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

❌ The 1990s timeline was a big dud for me. There are so many flaws in it, and so many things are just unbelievable. Like, would an arthritic man in his late70s-early80s who uses a cane to walk, be able to climb a wall?

❌ Why are all the revelations dragged out? If you knew your father knows some details related to your past, would you allow him to keep his silence, go all the way to France, and then discover the secrets over the period of a few days, OR would you pester him until he is badgered into revealing everything he knows? The whole timeline could have been over in ten minutes flat if everyone just revealed whatever they knew to Jeanne as soon as they met her.

❌ There are so many essential bits of information not revealed. For me, knowing a character’s approximate age helps a lot in understanding their behaviour. Laurence’s age isn’t revealed at all. Why Wendell didn’t come to France earlier even though he thought that the information given to him about someone crucial was false, not revealed. How Lorilee came into the picture, not revealed. Why Jean was asked to resign from her job, not revealed. Jeanne is supposed to have a brother named Danny. He hardly even makes an appearance in the whole book.

❌ Jean is supposed to be almost fifty years old, yet she acts so immaturely. It was tough to accept her as a middle-aged woman as she sounded like a stubborn and ignorant teenager in almost every scene. There is a constant reference to her police background but looking at the way she interviewed everyone, she must have made for a very poor detective as not a single person gave her complete information immediately. Her skills come in handy only once in her entire track, yet we are reminded of her career time and again.

❌ There seem to be some anachronisms in the dialogues. For instance, would a person in 1940s France use the phrase “be an item” to denote dating? When did “Ooh La La” become a phrase used to express shock?

The book would have worked far better for me if it had ditched the contemporary timeline altogether and stuck to the historical story. Yes, the book would have been shorter, but it would have been far more impactful. Jeanne’s story could have been put as a prologue and epilogue to provide a foundation and closure respectively to the WWII events.

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook clocks at about 14 hours and is narrated by Laurence Bouvard. She has a lovely voice, but let’s just say, her task was difficult because of the dual French and American perspective. And she further added to the complication by voicing some of the characters with accents. Unfortunately, it is not easy to switch between accents and the inconsistency stands out glaringly. I didn’t understand some of her narrative decisions. Like, if Wendell has such a strong Southern drawl, how come Jeanne speaks in a neutral American accent? Laurence’s timeline is in first person and Laurence is French. So her entire timeline could (should?) have been narrated with a French accent. Instead what we get is, internal monologues narrated in an American accent, Laurence’s first person dialogues narrated in a mixed French-American accent, and the other French characters dialogues narrated in a French accent. It is just distracting to hear the constant switching on and off of French accents within the French timeline. Furthermore, her accent is not always spot on. For example, the French pronounce Paris as “Pah-ree”, not “PariS”. Can’t blame her entirely, it was a complicated audiobook to narrate. Having two narrators might have helped, maybe?

Overall, not as good an experience for me as I had expected. The historical timeline gets 4 stars, but the contemporary one just about merits a 2. Hence, 3 stars. Of course, I read a LOT of historical fiction, and hence a story really has to stand out if it has to impress me. Maybe those who aren’t regular readers of this genre might enjoy this book more. The strong GR rating seems to suggest that many readers enjoyed it, so do read other opinions before you make up your mind.

My thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Paris Network”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.