Review: The Paris Hours by Alex George

The Paris Hours 

by Alex George

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Pages: 272

Format:  eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  One day in the City of Lights. One night in search of lost time.

Paris between the wars teems with artists, writers, and musicians, a glittering crucible of genius. But amidst the dazzling creativity of the city’s most famous citizens, four regular people are each searching for something they’ve lost.

Camille was the maid of Marcel Proust, and she has a secret: when she was asked to burn her employer’s notebooks, she saved one for herself. Now she is desperate to find it before her betrayal is revealed. Souren, an Armenian refugee, performs puppet shows for children that are nothing like the fairy tales they expect. Lovesick artist Guillaume is down on his luck and running from a debt he cannot repay—but when Gertrude Stein walks into his studio, he wonders if this is the day everything could change. And Jean-Paul is a journalist who tells other people’s stories, because his own is too painful to tell. When the quartet’s paths finally cross in an unforgettable climax, each discovers if they will find what they are looking for.

Kritters Thoughts:  Told through a vast array of points of view (maybe too many) and in short chapters.  In Paris in one day, these people will go through some interesting circumstances that will eventually lead them to all interact in one location and the outcome after the culmination is interesting.

This book was good, but not great for me.  Out of all of the characters there were only three that I really enjoyed reading about and the rest were just ok for me.  I felt as though with the short chapters just as I was getting into one character's story, the chapter would end and it would hop to another.  I wanted longer chapters and fewer characters to follow.  I think with these two changes I would have loved this one so much more.  

The two characters that stuck out the most to me were Camille Clermont who ends up being a part of Marcel Proust's life in his later years.  I loved hearing through her eyes the behind the scenes of a writer's life and how she supported him.  The other character that stood out to me was Souren.  To hear his story of his life and leaving of his home country of Armenia was really intriguing to me.  I haven't read anything about the country of Armenia and the history that happened in that country and after reading the bit that was in this book, I want to search and read more.

One of the things that kept me reading was the time and place.  I don't read a ton of books set in between the two World Wars and Paris is always a fun city for a setting.  I thought it was unique to set the story in between the wars and to read about the unrest of the city as they are trying to settle from World War I.  

I liked this book, it was good, but not one that I would suggest to all of my friends.  I would suggest this book to the right reader, one who likes a large cast of characters and likes to skip around and loves to see how it will all come together!

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

  Ebook 2020 Challenge: 37 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Flatiron Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.