Category Archives: bookstore management

The Monday Book: PARIS NEVER LEAVES YOU by Ellen Feldman

Posted on by
Reply

I am a sucker for character driven plots, and this one is not. It was still an interesting read, but the whole thing is based on a “what if” premise, then the characters were kind of built around that.

What kind of person would pretend to be Jewish in Paris during World War II? Someone who was going to be in big trouble for having a German boyfriend. What kind of Jewish man would join the Nazis? Someone trying to survive.

The book is based both in the Paris bookshop the protagonist runs, and in the NYC publishing industry she flees to after the war. It’s an interesting premise but the book to me just followed the premise. The characters didn’t grow; they just went on doing what they do. Which might be part of the intention: after a harrowing experience, when you rebuild your life, how much can get you get back to living?

The writing is effective. The exploration of human nature–in this impossible situation, what would you do–is compelling. It was a worthwhile read. As you can tell, it wasn’t my favorite read ever, and one hesitates to call anything about such life or death situations a pleasant diversion, but this is the closest to a beach read I have ever seen a Holocaust novel come. Is that bad? Nah. Will I read other Feldman books. Probably, if just to see whether they are all based on premise or people.

The Monday Book: KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND WEAR BEIGE by Kathleen Seidel

Posted on by
Reply

I am a sucker for character-driven plots. This one was fun because it set up a problem not so often discussed in latte lit. And also not universal. I myself have never been the mother of the groom, but Seidel’s subtle humor and wicked insights made me feel empathy for her narrator’s plight.

This book has a cast of thousands: two families, a new girlfriend, even a snarky nasty prima donna writer. And they’re all fun. Some are omnipresent, some are thrown in as plot devices, but each makes their appearance in ways that elicit sympathy or condescension.

The basic plot is, of course, the wedding. But the wedding is complicated by one family being wealthy and the new girlfriend being a social climber. And the wealthy family has a special needs kid. And the narrator is having a hard time with her ex-husband’s social climber taking over wedding plans. The narrator (Darcy) has a streak of do-gooder to her that keeps her from being too perfect as she tangles with emotions and attitudes and tries to maintain her son’s needs, her own sanity, and the mental well-being of other children who surround the wedding and maybe get a little less attention during this time. Darcy can’t stand not being needed.

It was a fun read, the kind of relationship-driven character novel that makes you smile when you recognize a personality and laugh when your least favorite gets a comeuppance. Which they all do at one point or another. Read it at the beach or on a plane, before a big family wedding–or maybe, if you have a wicked sense of humor, just before you vacation in the Hamptons. There’s a lot of “poor little rich people” observations in the book.

Two bouquets up for Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige.