Ratings1
Average rating3
I knew I was in Paris, I knew that was the Seine beneath me, the sky above, but when I looked around for help, the grand apartment buildings of the Quai Voltaire stared back at me, indifferent. In the sixth arrondissement everything is perfect and everyone is lonely. This is the Paris of thirteen-year-old Paul. Shy and unloved, he quietly observes the lives of the self-involved grown-ups around him: his glamorous maman Séverine, her young musician lover Gabriel and his fitness-obsessed papa Philippe. Always overlooked, it's only a matter of time before Paul sees something that he's not supposed to see... Seeking solace in his unlikely friendship with tear-away classmate Scarlett and the sweet confections from the elegant neighbourhood patisseries, Paul yearns for unconditional love. But what will he do if he can't find it?
Reviews with the most likes.
This is the story of Paul, a teen living on the Left Bank of Paris, lost, confused, alone. His family is very rich, and that is oddly isolating. His parents have split up and moved on with new relationships, and Paul is left out. There's no one he is close to at school either, and Paul doesn't do well there academically either, another reason he is a disappointment. Paul finds some consolation in food, and he spends a great deal of the story eating foods he has been asked not to eat.
The story is very well written. I felt every detail in the plot was exactly the way a teen would see things. It was a desperately sad story, exactly how one feels as a teen, as if parents have let you down, friends let you down, life has let you down. The three stars is simply a reflection of how uncomfortable and unhappy I was to read this story, not a reflection of the amazing writing. I, like most people, would never want to go back to those awful and uncertain days as a teen, and, in reading this book, I did.