The Paris Hours

Unpopular opinion: this book was a big ass whiff. I am extremely disappointed. It is not that I hated it, it was just that I wanted to like it so much. It took me so long to get through this ( I re-read the first 30 pages twice) and I could not get into it. There was not that inital “pull” that was so vitally needed in such a small novel. All of these characters I thought were extremely underdeveloped (the book follows 4 main characters and it is only 250 pages). At first I read that the book takes place over the span of a day in Paris, but actually the book is primarily spent drawing on past memories of each of the characters. I think that the organization of the book led to this pitfall. with 4 perspectives, all the chapters were sequential. This was a lost opportunity because at certain points certain story lines were extremely compelling but after the chapter about said person (some were only 3-4 pages) you had to wait a whole round of people to get back to that. By the time it got back to that person I was thinking to myself, “oh yeah I forgot about this.” And I was referring to things that you, as the reader, should certainly not forget (!!!!) I am so so saddened by this book because I just wanted so much more from it. Also, I have a slight problem with the fact that this book was written about (primarily) French people living in France, but the book is in English. I kept reminding myself that they are actually talking to each other in French. The subtle hint at french words here or there was a miss for me. There is something just so exquiste and romantic about the French language that gives so much to their country and the city of Paris. Because of that lack of language, there was a “gap” in the story. Overall, so much was missed in terms of opportunity in this book and I mourn for it. The 4 characters were okay (I very clearly liked 3, and 1 felt like an extreme waste for me). Also, there were many historically relevant people who were brought into the book but like why? They did not add anything to the story or the character's lives and were there so briefly that the desired impact of their presence was not achieved. If Alex George wants a redo, to take this and edit it to make the story 1. more in depth 2. organize/flow better and 3. think about hierarchy of character, I will gladly read this again.