Lead Review (The Paris Novel)
- Book: The Paris Novel
- Location: Paris
- Author: Ruth Reichl
“She has passed Shakespeare and Company many times, but she had never felt the urge to go inside. Bookshops made her anxious. Each volume was like an eager animal at the pound, striving for attention, hoping for a home. “Take me, take me,” they called out, until the chorus grew so loud she had to turn and flee.”
This novel is a delicious treat for those who love to assimilate Paris through fiction. Ruth Reichl is a talented food writer and chef and that comes through loud and clear in this novel. The restaurants that appear (which exist in real life) are like a culinary tour of the city (and Vézelay), threaded through Stella’s story. Maison Berthillon for ice cream lovers on the Île Saint-Louise (that’s me!) or Caviar Kaspia for some expensive bites, for example. The eateries featured are all quite heavily meat-based, so it won’t much appeal to people who choose not to eat meat (that’s me!); the food side of the city is, though, truly brought to life.
The scene is set and Stella is the main character. She is a young woman living in New York, who has a capricious mother – less mother and more socialite – and who didn’t generally pay attention to her daughter. When one of her partners took a greater interest in the child than was appropriate, she didn’t really address the situation until she had no choice.
Stella grows to be an unassuming woman but when she discovers that her mother, upon her death, has left her a small legacy which is earmarked for a trip to Paris – essentially designed for her to discover her own spontaneous and outward-looking self – she dithers but succumbs to her parent’s wishes.
Manet’s Olympia (Musée d’Orsay)
It is the early 1980s when Stella plucks up the courage to fly east from New York and her days in the city are routine until she finds the key to flourish. She steps into a secondhand clothes shop and the woman insists that she try on a dress that has simply been waiting for the right purchaser, to wit Stella. Life suddenly becomes colourful and exciting, as she flounces around in the designer garment, and she somehow finds the wherewithal to open herself to all manner of sensual experiences – whether food or art, both prove equally affecting and satisfying.
Stella’s eye is then caught by Manet’s Olympia, now housed at the Musée d’Orsay, and she is drawn to discover more about the model, Victorine Meurent (an artist in her own right) and she makes it her mission to find out more about her life. This becomes the raison d’être for having Stella rush around, exploring the city, looking for clues to Victorine’s life.
The story includes a short stay at the bookshop, Shakespeare & Co, and Stella joins the cohort of people who blow in 
and help out in the store as best they can.
I liked this novel, it is very well and intelligently written but there is a strong sense that the author had a drive to write primarily about Paris, its art and culinary scene, and then overlay that with a bit of art; secondarily she develops a story that holds together all the strands she wants to include, each element of the story bolted on as she moves through the city. So. it can feel a little disjointed as she hops about between her pet loves.
Enjoyable and great fun for Paris and, of course, #literarytourism.
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