I really wanted to like Paris Never Leaves You far more than I did. Alas, it was one of those books that was 'meh' for my personal preference, despite how beautifully it was written.


Paris Never Leaves You 
by Ellen Feldman

Living through WWII working in a Paris bookstore with her young daughter, Vivi, and fighting for her life, Charlotte is no victim, she is a survivor. But can she survive the next chapter of her life?

Alternating between wartime Paris and 1950s New York publishing, Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary story of resilience, love, and impossible choices, exploring how survival never comes without a cost.

The war is over, but the past is never past. 


On a surface level, I assumed that Paris Never Leaves You would be one of my favourite books of 2020. Yet, reading it, I always felt like something was missing. Plain and simple. And despite Ellen Feldman's lyrical prose, and stunning historical setting, there was just this constant nagging feeling that I was constantly missing something. An experience. An extra layer. Anything, really.

One of my biggest issues with Paris Never Leaves You is that I was overwhelmed with the beauty of Feldman's writing, and I didn't mind the central romantic themes, but I was so underwhelmed with--quite literally--everything else.

The characters were my biggest source of connectivity issues. I never found myself growing attached to them individually. I never found myself completely understanding what made them tick, where they were headed next, what their story would hold. I was... indifferent. And with every new development, even the one's that nearly engaged me, I just couldn't find myself drawn to much of anything.

Look, sometimes books don't work for us. Sometimes it's the reader's mood. Sometimes the story just isn't there cup of tea. In the case of Paris Never Leaves You, I don't think it's the book or the author's ability to weave stories. I genuinely liked the writing and I thought it had promise--but my mood seemed to hold me back from really and truly appreciating this one for what it was.

If you are a fan of historical fiction/romance, I think that this is the very sort of novel you will long to curl up with in your favourite coffee shop. Paris Never Leaves You truly will captivate many readers and, like Paris, will never leave them. Sadly, it didn't work for me.