The Little Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop

  - Nina George

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I chanced upon this title through the ‘books about books/bookstores’ lists on goodreads. The title was enticing enough – what can be more wonderful than when books and Paris are mentioned in the same breath? The blurb was very interesting, and when I read the first few pages from the sample, I was sure I was going to love this book. The concept holds so much promise …. a bookseller who has the gift to see what ails his customers (from the invisible, emotional perspective, that is), and prescribes books as remedies, and therefore calls his floating bookshop on a barge as literary apothecary …..

However, I was quite disappointed, more so because it could have been turned into such a delight (Chocolat comes to my mind). I didn’t quite hate it, but I skimmed through the last 25-30% of it to reach the end. Further, the promise it held out didn’t last long – in the initial chapters, there are several instances of the bookseller’s dealings with his customers giving them books they need rather than what they want, but these get increasingly rare as the book progresses.

This was a shame because there was quite a bit to like. There is the lovable bookseller Mr Perdu, and the young insecure writer Max, and the bond of caring and affection they come to share; their adventures and friendship with the flamboyant chef Cuneo. There are, of course, the thoughts and quotes from and about books. And of course, beautiful description of landscape and atmosphere of cities and towns, and canals and waterways, along the length of France. I wish I could make a similar journey in my lifetime. The book also deals with the themes of coming to terms with loss, longing, fears and death in a sensitive manner.

But unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be the book it could be. For one thing, I found the language and the flow inconsistent, as if it was written by two different people. At places, the language is charming, and the atmosphere serene and warm. There are many lovable, believable characters, and the author has tackled their feelings and insecurities very well. At other places, the words and phrases are jaded, the dialogues are clichéd and the plot seems to have lost the reason. Some of the worst sections were the snippets from the diary of the absent love-interest, Manon. They were badly and incoherently written, and reflect her as an immature and selfish person.

Or perhaps the author couldn’t make up her mind about the genre she wanted to write, and kept on hovering indecisively between magical realism and sloppy romance. This actually was my biggest peeve with the book – absolutely cringe-worthy love-making scenes, which also featured most of the bad dialogues mentioned above. She also seems to have an undue fascination for the word ‘naked’, which is repeated every so often, and frequently unnecessarily. Delete these, or replace them with something either with more subtlety or with more sophistication and passion, and it could have been a downright winner.

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