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Rejtekhely Párizsban (2011)

by Corine Gantz(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Tericum

review 1: I really loved this book. I felt like I could move right into one of those rooms in Annie's house and become part of their group of misfit friends. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the author's note at the end of the book, that this was self published. It truly was an enjoyable read, and would have been a shame if it ended up just a file on a hard drive. Well done Corine Gantz....it was a pleasure to read your book.
review 2: I received a free copy of this book from the author. I really enjoyed this novel which became stronger the longer I read. My dislikes, including what seemed like negative stereotypes of Paris (I've had only good experiences as an American trying to speak French in Paris - including trying to get to the hotel from the train statio... moren by asking directions from strangers on the street), were discarded as I became more involved in the three wonderfully developed women Gantz created.What makes these women so wonderful? They are real. At times they were all unlikeable, but what's more real than one woman not liking another? Even the friendship between Lola and Annie was real with moments of jealousy, insecurity, and anger balanced by humor and concern - just like the friendship I hope every woman has with at least one other woman, the friendship where you can be yourself in all facets and not always be agreed with but always loved. Annie is the 35 year old widowed mother of three boys. She is struggling with almost 3 year old grief and with near financial ruin. She lives for her projects (cooking, restoring her house) and her boys. She decides to take in boarders which brings Lola and Althea into her life. Annie is a little overweight and has a "curvy" body type which, as those of us with a similar type understand, is never actress/magazine model thin regardless of size and weight. I get Annie because I have the same incomprehensible mood swings and urges to make everyone around me do things my way which is so obviously the right way. Once I got past how annoying Annie was (and it hurts to think that I am sometimes just as annoyng/confusing to my husbamd and friends), I was able to appreciate her strenghths which are many. The only thing I had problems reconciling was her ignorance and insensitivity about Althea's obvious anorexia. Then again, her insenstivie comments are part of what makes Annie who she is.I couldn't identify with Lola or Althea as much, but that isn't Gantz's fault. I loved seeing Lola accept her insecurities and create her own sense of self. Her ending was realistic to the extent that her 6 months in Paris made her want somehing new, but there was the sense that she would still be with Mark. I loved that Gantz also showed Mark's journey to realizing he needed help. He wasn't "cured" at the end, but he was trying. Althea's journey was the one furthest from my own, and the fact that I cried as she walked out of the hospital, lost and scared and just wandering, is a testament to how well she was drawn. Hers too is not an easy story, and it is not full resolved at the end. But, through Gantz's storytelling, I understood a bit why she chose to control life through food, why she became who she was. Gantz includes three male characters as well, and I think they are also well developed. The real strength of this novel is the women and their journeys. The setting in Paris is wonderful, but it is not as strong as I thought it would be. This is not a travel novel. There are very few tourist moments. But there are streets, parks, markets, and other indicators of a life different from one lived in America, including a large city like Los Angeles. Paris has a mystique that is necessary to the novel because all three women need the obvious distance from their American lives. Annie and Althea will probably remain while Lola will return home. But without those particular 6 months in a shared home in Paris, none of the three would have been able to heal properly.There are errors in the book, mainly in punctuation, and there are some awkward word/phrase choices that are mildly. However, Gantz self-publised this novel and has shown a commitment to revising and improving it based on solicited reader feedback. The version I read in early 2014 is different than the one read by other reviewers in 2011. I admire Ms. Gantz for taking the initiative to not only publish her own novel but to also improve it. I am glad I had a chance to read this novel. less

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