LES PARISIENNES by
Anne Sebba
This is a very, very dense scholarly book concerning the women
of Paris during WWII. I ended up reading
it as a collection of brief episodes as it was difficult to follow any one
person’s activities because of the chronological order of events and the various
names used by the women during the course of the war. The “Cast list” was
almost useless as women were listed under their family name, or their husband’s
name, or their resistance name, etc, but not all of them.
There are many French language phrases and words used throughout
the book without translation.
You really need a very good working history of France and
WWII to understand the enormity of places and events mentioned in passing, ie,
the Hiv d’Vel roundup, Ravensbruck medical experiments, the Comet Line and
others.
I would not recommend this book to my book group although I
did appreciate the work that went into the writing of the book.
3 of 5 stars
Note to publisher: I read an advance readers copy. There are
many typos and other items needing editing in this edition. It would be very
helpful to translate all the French words and phrases within the body of the text
(or even in a glossary).
