In Paris With You
Author: Clementine Beauvais (translated by Sam Taylor)
Published by: Faber & Faber
Pages: 346
Format Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
‘It was written, I think, that Eugene and Tatiana
would find each other
ten years later,
one morning in winter,
under terra firma,
on the Meteor, Line 14 (magenta) of the
Paris
Metro.’
The summer Eugene and Tatiana spend together as teenagers, in the sun-drenched garden of a suburban home near Paris begins innocently enough.
He is older, charming, rakish and world-weary; she is impressionable, naïve and full of dreams. Needless to say, she immediately falls in love with him.
But the summer ends in tragedy, and it seems that Tatiana and Eugene will never see each other again.
Until, ten years later, they meet, by chance, in Paris…
My thoughts:
I really enjoyed In Paris With You, a charming little book that I quickly finished in two sittings.
The prose intrigued me right away, and the writing had the power to stir up all kinds of emotions in the reader. The complex relationship between Eugene and Tatiana certainly is love story in every sense.
The key characters experience all kinds of emotions and understandings in the time they spend together, as well as apart.
Establishing a heartfelt connection early on, the pair quickly develop an arduous and unlikely friendship as teenagers. Then, many years later when the two cross paths once again, many of the old feelings they shared still linger on. Hoping to forget the heartache and desperation they once felt around each other, Tatiana and Eugene decide to work on salvaging a friendship. Gradually the more time they spend talking and reconnecting, the more those old feelings begin to resurface.
I particularly loved the unconventional writing style of Clementine Beauvais, who wrote the whole story as one long poem, with the occasional rhyme. Reading this was possibly the first time I had seen this “novel-in-verse” layout work so well.
Personally, I felt that reading each paragraph line by line as a poem added another layer of intrigue and originality to the storytelling. Each moment seemed to flow with ease in to the next, and the dialogue scenes remained interesting, whilst also allowing the reader to take everything in in a way that felt natural and straightforward.
I also felt Paris worked exceptionally well as the setting for this quirky love story, and it seemed a realistic place for these characters to end up leading very separate lives before their unexpected reunion. It was also the perfect romantic backdrop for the pair to take walks around the city together and to reconnect amidst such beautiful surroundings.
Most importantly, I truly did find myself really caring about the lead characters and how things might ultimately end up between them.
In Paris With You is a sweet and thoughtful book that I think would appeal to John Green’s readers in particular. The story is romantic, poignant and very original. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend this one for a lovely interesting short read to speed through with ease! Perhaps on the next flight to Paris?
Overall reaction:
Published by: Faber & Faber
Pages: 346
Format Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
‘It was written, I think, that Eugene and Tatiana
would find each other
ten years later,
one morning in winter,
under terra firma,
on the Meteor, Line 14 (magenta) of the
Paris
Metro.’
The summer Eugene and Tatiana spend together as teenagers, in the sun-drenched garden of a suburban home near Paris begins innocently enough.
He is older, charming, rakish and world-weary; she is impressionable, naïve and full of dreams. Needless to say, she immediately falls in love with him.
But the summer ends in tragedy, and it seems that Tatiana and Eugene will never see each other again.
Until, ten years later, they meet, by chance, in Paris…
My thoughts:
I really enjoyed In Paris With You, a charming little book that I quickly finished in two sittings.
The prose intrigued me right away, and the writing had the power to stir up all kinds of emotions in the reader. The complex relationship between Eugene and Tatiana certainly is love story in every sense.
The key characters experience all kinds of emotions and understandings in the time they spend together, as well as apart.
Establishing a heartfelt connection early on, the pair quickly develop an arduous and unlikely friendship as teenagers. Then, many years later when the two cross paths once again, many of the old feelings they shared still linger on. Hoping to forget the heartache and desperation they once felt around each other, Tatiana and Eugene decide to work on salvaging a friendship. Gradually the more time they spend talking and reconnecting, the more those old feelings begin to resurface.
I particularly loved the unconventional writing style of Clementine Beauvais, who wrote the whole story as one long poem, with the occasional rhyme. Reading this was possibly the first time I had seen this “novel-in-verse” layout work so well.
Personally, I felt that reading each paragraph line by line as a poem added another layer of intrigue and originality to the storytelling. Each moment seemed to flow with ease in to the next, and the dialogue scenes remained interesting, whilst also allowing the reader to take everything in in a way that felt natural and straightforward.
I also felt Paris worked exceptionally well as the setting for this quirky love story, and it seemed a realistic place for these characters to end up leading very separate lives before their unexpected reunion. It was also the perfect romantic backdrop for the pair to take walks around the city together and to reconnect amidst such beautiful surroundings.
Most importantly, I truly did find myself really caring about the lead characters and how things might ultimately end up between them.
In Paris With You is a sweet and thoughtful book that I think would appeal to John Green’s readers in particular. The story is romantic, poignant and very original. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend this one for a lovely interesting short read to speed through with ease! Perhaps on the next flight to Paris?
Overall reaction:
