Paris: The Novel by Edward Rutherford

Sorry this picture is blurry.  I am having a hard time getting the picture to load correctly tonight.  So my latest book is PARIS: The Novel by Edward Rutherford.  It was hard to start this book and continue with it much like Devil in the White City, however I am glad I kept going.  By the end of the book you love characters you did not like at the beginning while at the same time feel bad for and hate other characters you may have enjoyed at the beginning.

Unlike Devil in the White City, this book follows historical events with fictional characters.  There are not a lot of facts about Paris, however, you get a feel for how the French live their lives and are very patriotic.  There are multiple families that we follow through many generations.  Each from a different social class.  You can understand how aristocrats felt and acted compared to poorer people from different parts of the city.  We see daughters get thrown out of their family and disowned for dishonoring their family and see how even family members look down on other relatives who do not live their life in a socially acceptable manner.  Marriages happen based on class, not love.

We are taken through Paris during both World Wars, revolution, the building of the Eiffel Tower, and the reign of different kings.  I enjoyed getting a better understanding of the history of Paris in a very simple way.  My only complaint, especially at the beginning, is keeping track of what year the story is in and what part of Paris due to the unfamiliar names and bouncing from present to past to future and back again.  It gets a little confusing at times but is fun to see how all the characters at some point have interactions with one another.