The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

The Paris Novel Reviews

• 
  Nilguen

  The Paris Novel is about food, art, fashion, love, companionship, friendship, and yea about food, have I mentioned that already?
  
  
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  This is the first novel my THE one and only Ruth Reichl, known as a food writer, cook and eater. Naturally, she has embedded her passion and knowledge about food in this novel that makes it the more enjoyable!
  
  The story is about an endearing protagonist, Stella St. Vincent, who is on her journey to find herself by breaking free from her deceased mother’s past. But it’s also her mother’s will that inquires her to leave everything behind in New York and take a trip to Paris.
  
  Hence, I loved striding through Paris in ye 80’s with Stella whilst she discovered the meaning of fashion with Yves St. Laurent dresses, indulged in French food and made friends for the first time in her life. Stella’s obsession with Manet’s painting “Olympique»
  has led me to avenues and appreciation of art.
  
  I was positively overwhelmed by the erudite information Reichl provided about the famous Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in Paris in the 80’s, the history of the Arrondissements as well as the sociocultural hierarchy of women in art in Paris in the 19th century. Thereby, Reichl has masterfully narrated an enchanting story that appeals to all six senses of her readers as she stimulates your imagination with her impressive writing style.
  
  Can’t wait to read more of Ruth Reichl!
  
  Easy 5 stars 😍
  
  Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
• 
  Stacey B

  5.0
  
  -Love this book.
  -Love this author
  -Love the premise of this story. In a meeting with Stella's mother's estate lawyer,
  Stella is handed a very short note written in her mothers script that states "Go to Paris"
  The lawyer explains there is enough money to last her awhile but she must be frugal.
  Stella has a few thoughts about "why Paris" ?
  -Love Reichl's stellar job at developing each and every character. Who is Jules. He gave
  me quite an education.
  -Love the art, the museums, the wine, the food, and styles of chefs.
  -Love "all" the experiences including alleys and sidestreets tourists would never
  think to enter.
  -Love that Stella and Jules could drink so much fine and rare wine with lunch
  and dinner without having the repercussions I would have.
  -Love the bookstore "Shakespeare AND COMPANY" **
  -Love getting to know the "Tumbleweeds"
  -Love the "hunts"
  -But I love the fact of being so grateful Ruth Reichl took me on a journey very close to
  the extreme of envy. For me, the ability to spend a year+ to live as a local in Paris
  would be a gift. All of this is still resonating long after finishing the book; and in
  that vein, Reichl did her job.
  
  *** SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY is a real bookstore, pretty famous and is still there. I
  was fortunate to have been there three times. Ha, to many tourists. :)
  "George's bookstore quickly became a center for anglophone literary life in Paris. James Baldwin, William Burroughs, Anaïs Nin, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Wright, Julio Cortázar, and Henry Miller were early visitors and went there to read their work to "invited" guests."
  The author's notes at the end explain a bit of the fiction.
• 
  Kasa Cotugno

  Oh dear. Absolutely my favorite memoir author, so honest when she's writing about her life, such sensuality in her descriptions of food, so knowledgeable about the thing that made her famous. But this, her second foray into fiction, is not her best work.
• 
  Ruth

  My review is based on the advanced reader copy of this book in Oct 2023. Heads Up/Warning: not given in the blurb - an upsetting and very explicit child sexual abuse takes up most of the second chapter. I'm no prude but I found this highly upsetting! It could have been alluded to or toned down and the reader still would understand the impact it had on the primary character. I had nightmares about this chapter and have decided not to finish the book because I don't want any more nasty surprises at bedtime. Because of this, this new novel gets one star from me.
• 
  Jen

  I enjoyed the aspect of this book and the rich descriptions of Paris. I really struggled with some graphic child abuse scenes that were very unnecessary to the book. It felt salacious and caught me off guard. I think that the author could have skimmed over it without the graphic scenes and it would’ve worked better. The characters were interesting and I truly enjoyed the setting. This would’ve been a four-star for me if not for the unnecessary child abuse scenes.
• 
  Ann Sumner

  Ruth Reichl is a brilliant food critic and cook, but she is less than competent when writing novels.
  
  Stella, the unloved daughter of an ambitious harridan of many talents, is required to go to Paris in order to collect a small legacy following her mother’s death. She dutifully tittles off to the City of Light and spends weeks complaining, whining and squandering her time in the glorious city. Then she buys a gown, meets an intriguing old man, learns to eat divine food and viola! All is well in Stella Land.
  
  The saving grace is the detailed descriptions of the incredible food and drink to be found everywhere in Paris. Reading these made me long to return just to dine.
  
  So predictable. So strained and mundane. Not a favorite at all.
• 
  Katy O.

  As much as I love Reichl’s other work, this is not for me ~ the writing is so stilted that I just could not engage with it. And I’m so glad I read another early review that mentioned the graphic description of the sexual abuse of a child that occurs in chapter 2 so that I knew it was coming. I DNF’d after realizing it’s just as descriptive and unnecessary to the story as the other reviewer claimed. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the author’s food writing, but this is not her best work.
  
  Source: digital review copy via Edelweiss
• 
  Shannon

  Honestly a disappointment. I expected more. Too many coincidences and story holes to be enjoyable. And a quick, abrupt ending. I just wanted to be done. Sigh.
• 
  SusanTalksBooks

  **** 8/4/24 **** I'm a Ruth Reichl fan, but am embarrassed to say that I did not realize this was a fiction book when I picked it up at the LA public library. Realizing this was an adult coming of age fiction story I was hopeful, but I didn't love several choices Reichl made in her writing, and decided to DNF about 60% in. Reichl's food history shines, but in a way that felt like the food happened to the protagonist, instead of the protagonist being in control of the food exploration. Ultimately I was just not bought into this character or storyline, so I had to let it go, as is my 2024 resolution. Other readers may fall in love with the French- and food-centric story. 3-stars.
  
  *** 7/21/24 *** Snagged a hardcover of Ruth Reichl's new release at the library. I didn't realize she wrote fiction?! Quick thoughts at about 40% through: the novel is about Stella, an adult book editor, whose negligent and uncaring mother recently passed away, leaving her a small sum of money with instructions to "Go to Paris." She does so and seems to be blessed to find the most iconic and interesting people fairly easily! A woman selling a designer dress (who sewed for said designer and agrees to let Stella basically borrow a $6K dress), a wealthy widower who takes her to incredible dining experiences (the descriptions of which is where Reichl really shines), the owner of the famed Shakespeare & Co Paris bookstore, and more.
  
  The story about Stella's mother and Stella's upbringing was fairly painful to read in the beginning, but the oft-mentioned-in-reviews sexual abuse scene near the beginning of the book was unnecessary and distasteful for an otherwise 'luxurious' book. I also didn't love that Stella ate and drank so much in southern France that she fell asleep at the table and had to be carried to the car and also to bed by her wealthy friend's driver. Made me uncomfortable.
  
  But we'll see how this "adult coming of age" novel turns out - review coming soon.
• 
  Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

  Why did her mother want her to go to Paris?
  
  Stella liked her quiet, solitary life and her predictable job at the publishing house.
  
  She wasn’t a spender.
  
  She wasn’t one to be extravagant, and she definitely wasn’t someone that liked to socialize like her mother did.
  
  After her boss forced her to go on a vacation, she decided she might as well head to Paris. She didn’t like it at all.
  
  Or she didn’t like it until she was enticed by an eccentric woman to buy a very expensive dress created by Dior that made her feel amazing in all ways.
  
  She didn’t know this dress would make her see things differently and meet wonderful people or was it just Paris itself?
  
  Is this what her mother wanted her to feel and where she wanted her to be?
  
  Besides loving how Stella is able to find herself you will love all the name dropping of fashion icons, famous artists, places in Paris, and the mystery Stella was trying to solve and a mystery she was not trying to unravel, but so happy she did.
  
  You will love the characters - eccentric, sweet, and loving. And of course you will fall in love with Paris.
  
  A delightful, breezy read, but don’t read this book if you are hungry. 5/5
  
  Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
• 
  Victoria Klein

  Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. The Paris Novel is a story about Stella, who’s let life pass her by and is semi-haunted by memories of her estranged mother. But, when her mother passes away and leaves her with a ticket to Paris, her life takes a fun turn and she has fantastical new experiences, meets a host of exciting people, and takes some wonderful leaps of faith.
  
  This is a beautiful story about the unexpected pleasures of life and what happens when you open yourself up to new experiences. I am a sucker for any book set in Paris and Ruth Reichl really brings the reader straight there. I appreciated the many references to actual locations and the fleshed out Parisian characters she encounters. We were very much in Stella’s shoes throughout this trip and I was rooting for her to find some fresh meaning and excitement in her life, despite her initial reluctance. I also think it’s worth mentioning how absolutely spectacular the author describes Stella’s newly discovered passion for food and just the overall thoughts that she has while eating these dishes. I’ve never read a book that places so much emphasis on describing a characters culinary experience but, it is so well done here and I think appropriate for a book set in Paris! This book was well written and enjoyable to read, I was able to finish it quickly!
  
  I would recommend this book to any Paris lovers or fans of self discovery fictional novels! If you’re in need of a trip abroad, this novel will certainly give you a visceral feel of Paris and will make you feel like you’re living vicariously through Stella!
  
• 
  Jude (HeyJudeReads) Fricano

  Ruth Reichl has outdown herself. And that sure is saying a lot. Each book of hers is a gift through story that allows us to feel, taste, experience her world. I don't know if I could say it any better, "Bestselling author Ruth Reichl takes readers on an adventure of food, art, and fashion in 1980s Paris in this dazzling, heartfelt novel." I fell in love with Stella, Paris, Jules, art, fashion, and most of all food. This book make me laugh, cry and cheer for Stella!
• 
  Donna Nelson

  I will be brutally honest here. I have read everyone of her books. I waited with great anticipation for this one. I was so repulsed by the second chapter that I literally stopped reading. Why was that necessary? And there should have been some kind of warning about it. The description sounded so exciting and then you start reading and I wanted to throw up. Terribly disappointing.
• 
  Elaine

  I have loved Ruth Reichl’s previous books but this one fell flat in every way. The plot in no way gripped me and it was a struggle to finish
• 
  marisa

  this was too predictable for me! i knew how it would end within the first 50 pages, was able to guess every plot point, and was left wanting more. the food descriptions were gorgeous though ! felt like i was reading the script for ratatouille
• 
  Debbi

  Ruth Reichl is one of my favorite food writers and memoirists. I have read all of her books. Although The Paris Novel is fiction it transported me to Paris in the 1980's. In this book she incorporates the most important artists, writers and culinary figures of the time, their characters spring to life. I loved feeling like I was in the famous Paris bookstore Shakespeare and Company. I was charmed.
  The book begins with Stella and her lackluster life in New York. Her self absorbed single mother has died and left a conditional will that sends Stella to Paris. I have only one complaint, very close to the beginning of Stella's backstory is a description of her experience of child molestation, an incident that was overlooked by Stella's mother. I am not sure why this was included, it didn't seem relevant, but if this is a trigger it is disturbing. In spite of this issue I grew to love this book and Stella's adventure.
  
  My thanks to Random House and Netgalley for an advance copy
• 
  Amanda Beverly

  I have been a huge fan of Ruth’s since I first read Garlic and Sapphires ages ago. I received an advance copy of this from Netgalley and the publisher and I was beyond excited to get started. Unfortunately, I had to stop reading very early into this as a major trigger warning happens in a flash back to the main character. As this is brought up in detail at the start of the 2nd chapter, most likely it will be brought up again later in the book and I really can’t get past it. I couldn’t finish this. This was not a book for me.
• 
  Savannah

  I did not finish this. Trigger warning for child sex abuse. That turned me off completely and I didn’t want to read anymore. I received this as an ARC from NetGalley.
• 
  Stephanie

  Story of Stella, who is given money and one request from her dead mother- go to Paris. So off she goes and falls into some amazing chance encounters along the way. The story is pure historical fiction. James Baldwin and Allen Ginsberg make appearances.
  
  Didn’t hate this book, but definitely didn’t enjoy it either. While it reads as the ultimate travelers guide to Paris, it also has a lot of French language in it, and I had to do manual translation to decipher what was happening. The book jumped from random character to a really good meal, to another character, all while Stella who is still dealing with a horrible encounter from her childhood (trigger warning), and has woven her life to the routine to give herself a safe space in life.
  
  I couldn’t tell if this was an art history mystery or a family discovery, as it packs a TON of story in a short period of time. The food was written beautifully, however. (I would still never eat a horse).
• 
  Paula Korelitz

  While I completed this novel, it was certainly not on my Must Read List. It was interesting to see how Stella changed not only her life but also, her self-perception. However, I found the plot line quite contrived.
  
  It also contained one of my pet peeves: phrases in foreign languages with only the reader’s ability to get the nuance from contextual clues.
• 
  Kerry Lett

  This book is going to stay with me for a while, which is the very best kind…review to follow soon.
• 
  Zibby Owens

  This is a captivating adventure set in 1980s Paris, following Stella, a young woman who leads a quiet life as a copy editor in New York City. After her mother's passing, Stella inherits a plane ticket to Paris. There, she discovers a vintage store, tries on a stunning Dior dress, and meets an older gentleman who introduces her to the real Paris. Stella becomes immersed in French cuisine and unravels mysteries about her possible father from her mother's time in Paris. She also delves into the life of a female artist from the Impressionistic period whose work has been overlooked due to societal attitudes towards women in the arts.
  
  I admire Stella's decision to take the dress and negotiate until she can borrow it for the night, especially as a plot device. Her encounter with someone who changes her life sets her on an entirely new path. She transforms from a timid individual to someone open to embracing everything the world has to offer, including food, art, music, literature, and people.
  
  To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
  
  https://zibbymedia.com/blogs/transcri...
• 
  Nivi

  I have mixed feelings about this novel. We follow our main character, Stella, on a journey of self-discovery through the streets of Paris. She meets famous people, tries a lot of fancy food, and indulges herself in a life of adventure and luxury.
  
  There was a plot, but it felt like filler. When I was reading the book, it felt like the author just wanted to write descriptions of delicious food and beautiful clothes, and decided to make that a story. I later found out it was actually exactly the truth--an editor had read a previous novel of Ruth Reichl's and fixated on a paragraph about her trying on a dress and wanted her to make a novel with more just like it.
  
  And I'm not going to lie, she delivered on that front. The prose WAS good. I was mostly reading this on an empty stomach and there were at least seven different pages-long eating experiences that were written deliciously well. I also loved all the descriptions of art, literature, fashion, and French culture. The writing was so good, I was completely immersed in all of those scenes and it honestly kind of made me long for a trip to Paris.
  
  But the rest of it....
  
  The characters were meh. Stella was honestly a pretty good character and I loved her development from a rigid wallflower who always has a plan for everything to confident, ambitious, and free. But she was also, unfortunately, written as a complete Mary Sue.
  
  She'd never cared about food before in her life, but suddenly she's discovered to be a food connoisseur who can identify every ingredient in a dish with a taste and all of the fancy high-class French people think she's the shit! She's never cooked before, but suddenly she's the best chef in the world and even people raised on caviar and escargot say she's fucking amazing, a prodigy. And why does everyone around her love her or say she's special immediately after meeting her? The woman in the boutique. Jules. George Whitman. All of the chefs, artists, writers, and famous celebrities that the author name-dropped throughout the novel that Stella met.
  
  Everything about her personal life either resolves too quickly or is left with loose ends. The romance at the end came out of nowhere. Daddy issues brought up and resolved immediately in the last 20 pages. And let's not forget the extremely graphic childhood trauma written in at the very beginning of the story that served NO purpose for the rest of the book and was only referenced once. Why, why???? At least the mommy issues were handled somewhat okay, but like. Stella felt more like a lens for the readers to view the story through than an actual character.
  
  So yeah. Food was definitely the highlight of this story, and it was good. And I DID learn a lot about art history, cuisine, literature, and France in general which was really interesting. Definitely still going to plan that trip.
• 
  Jenna

  I love her memoirs but this novel was a DNF for me
• 
  Emily Bacino

  Oof. This book really fell flat for me. It had a ton of potential but wasted so much time on exposition and rushed through the rest. There were really interesting side plots that just were not developed at all, some only lasting a chapter. Tons of plot holes and loose ends that didn’t get tied up. I feel like it was supposed to have a found family vibe but the characters were not fleshed out enough for me to care about them. In fact, many seemed so exactly the same that I couldn’t keep them straight or tell them apart. Not quite sure what the point of the painting was. Spent over half the book looking for it just for it to have no real significance. I wish it would have gone deeper into the dad, restaurant, love story. Also the child sex abuse at the beginning is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the story. I felt like the author was going for the “shock factor” to make this a “serious novel” but it simply did not work.
• 
  Lisa Leone-campbell

  Ruth Reichl has had an amazing career in the food industry. The former editor of the late great Gourmet Magazine, and author of many non-fiction books, has now written a gloriously delightful story in The Paris Novel. It is uplifting, charming and magical and ripe for the picking!
  
  When Stella's mother Celia dies, she sadly is not very upset. Estranged from her and never having been pleased with her life choices, along with some terrible childhood memories, she barely has any feeling for the woman who raised her. Stella never knew who her father was and quite frankly was embarrassed by her mother's lifestyle.
  
  So, when Stella receives her inheritance from her mother, a one-way ticket to Paris, she immediately decides this is just Celia trying to control her from the grave. But when Stella's boss convinces her to try and accept the ticket and maybe live outside of her very strict and routine oriented life, Stella agrees to go.
  
  So as Stella arrives in France and is roaming the streets, she sees finds a vintage shop and sees a black Dior dress. She is somehow mesmerized by it. As she walks in the owner looks at her and say this dress has been waiting for you! And Stella does something she never would have ever done. She tries the dress on and buys it for an extraordinary amount of money. But...there's something about this dress that makes her feel different.
  
  And with that in mind, she goes to dinner with the dress on and has the most incredible experiences of her life eating oysters and enjoying a meal she never imagined existed. There, she meets an elderly gentleman named Jules who is a wealthy art collector who has lost his wife. He begins to tell her imaginative stories of his and his late wife's lives. Stella is spellbound. They become friends and Jules begins taking her to place she never imagined going, eating at restaurants she had only heard about and looking at art she witnessed only in books.
  
  Jules introduces her to the owner of a famous bookstore where writer's and such work there, assist at the shop and sleep and eat for free. He calls then his "tumbleweeds". There, she meets famous writers including some who knew her mother. She then begins to go down the rabbit whole of her mother's life and even though she didn't know she was really searching, discovers answers to questions she never even though about.
  
  The Paris Novel is a one of kind extraordinary read. The reader is taken on a delicious journey of food, art, life and love. The backstory as to why Reichl wrote the book is just as incredible and heartwarming as the story itself.
  
  Thank you #NetGalley #RandomHouse #RuthReichl #TheParisNovel for the advanced copy.
• 
  Samantha

  This is very tropey in that Eiffel Tower poster on your dorm room wall kind of way, but it was better than I expected from an entertainment standpoint, and I liked it better than the overly saccharine Delicious, Reichl’s first novel.
  
  I have always adored Reichl as a food critic and have been now twice-surprised by the slightly schlocky quality of her fiction. That said, where Delicious felt sappy and somewhat cringey, this is cute and fun, and perhaps a good reminder that sometimes a book can be read purely for pleasure and for immersing oneself in the story rather than for the sake of learning something.
  
  Reichl’s Paris is very much a tourist’s Paris (an Emily in Paris’ Paris, perhaps), but I don’t think that’s all bad. The foodie aspects of this are, unsurprisingly, very well-rendered, and though the Olympia “mystery” and the Shakespeare and Company stuff feels a bit obvious and surface-skimming, it’s also satisfying and charming and makes for a lovely—if predictable—feel good read.
  
  *I received an ARC of this book in exchange in exchange for an honest review.*