Book Review: The Little Paris Bookshop

Book: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George with translations by Simon Pare

Edition: Paperback

Rating: 3 stars

Review:

The Little Paris Bookshop was an interesting read as it follows Jean Perdu who owns a very unique bookstore that's on a ship. Although he enjoys prescribing just the right books for his customers he can't seem to help himself. Because for 20 years, Perdu has put his life on hold, he's nothing more than a ghost haunting his own life. He doesn't seem to be able to move on after his girlfriend Manon had suddenly left him. He didn't even read the letter she had left him.

It wasn't until a new neighbor, Catherine, who was dealing with her own romantic difficulties as a soon to be divorcee, moved into his apartment building did he finally read the letter. For 20 years, he had avoided reading the letter in fear of what it may contain and what new heartbreak it would unleash. However, what the letter contained set Perdu off on an impromptu adventure where he set sail with his ship of books in hopes of dealing with so many warring emotions and thoughts. He was surprisingly accompanied by a writer, Max Jordan who was trying to escape the pressures of writing his next book.

Along the way they meet many fun, strange, weird and interesting people but at the heart of this book is dealing with grief and the realization that life is equally hard and worth living to its fullest. There is a lot of soul searching not only for Perdu but for many of the characters. There were so many unspoken feelings, desires and hopes as the characters seemed to have managed to go through life not really living it. It took some time but after a break-through Perdu had finally started to rekindle the joy of living and finding a new love.

This was good and it had some very beautifully description writing but there were times when the story dragged quite a bit and was very slow and boring. At one point, I had almost decided to stop reading it because it was moving so slow but I'm glad I finished it. There is a good story here but it does take a while for it to really build up and take form.