Review of In Paris With You by Clémentine Beauvais (trans. Sam Taylor)

In Paris With You by Clémentine Beauvais (translated by Sam Taylor)

4.35 out of 5 Stars

In Paris With You was unexpectedly really fun to read. It took me a second to get a hang of reading in verse, but once I did, the story had a nice rhythm to it. The actual story itself is also, I think, really engaging in the sense that there are so many things that I'm still wondering about or that I think would be great discussion points. It was such a quick little read, something that you can flip through easily, but is unique enough to stand out in your mind.
 
PLOT:
It was such a cute plot! There were so many cute romance-y moments and touching inner dialogues that connected Tatiana and Eugene to the reader. I feel like it also left a lot for the reader to think about as well, not just at the end with how the story finishes, but with some of the different dynamics and facts that are explored on the way. One of the things that I think is really interesting is how Tatiana and Eugene have essentially flipped some of their worldviews and ambitions as they've gotten older, partially on their own, but also partially due to each other. There are a lot of smaller details like this one that have snagged my attention and made the book more interesting to read.

CHARACTERS:
There were so few characters which felt very different to me while I was reading. Of course a lot of stories are about only a handful of characters, but normally it seems like you can see all the people surrounding those characters as well. That wasn't the case in this book. There was Tatiana and Eugene as the main characters with really only three other characters that get page time: Olga, Lensky, and Leprince. Overall, I think this created an effect of putting Tatiana's and Eugene's relationship in an insulated bubble, which worked well given the plot line and themes of the story. There's also the narrator in a sense, but I'm still not sure who the narrator is. For awhile I thought it might be a neighbor, then I thought it was Lensky, then maybe it was an older version of Tatiana. . . I'm still not sure. It could also just be an omniscient narrator and I'm overthinking this. :)

WRITING:
There were so many beautiful phrases. I wish I had been marking them as I went along, and I didn't which I regret now because almost all of the quotes on Goodreads are in the original French. Speaking of the original French, I imagine it's beautiful, but huge props to the translator Sam Taylor. The verse was so elegant and I'm sure it must have been incredibly difficult to get the verse translated in a way that also reflected the poetic integrity of the original French. I was hesitant to read this because of the verse, and I think other people would straight up not even pick it up (which is fine), but I think it is definitely worth at least trying.
  
 This was a nice, semi-light book written in beautiful phrases. It had just enough to it that made me think and wonder about the nature of the characters and the plot without becoming burdensome or boring. The verse was also fascinating because somewhere along the way, I started picturing this in my head as either an animated short (sort of Disney-style, but I'm not sure Disney would take this), or as a play. It may not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it and I think Clémentine Beauvais and Sam Taylor created a touching and unique work.


Thanks for reading!


(Side Note: I'm really curious about the title, because the original French title was Songe à la Douceur, which I believes means something like, "Think of the softness." It's just really interesting to think about because I think the French title adds more to the story than the English title does.)