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Betty_Taylor
New Details on the Life of Paris' Women During the Occupation
I was looking forward to reading this book. I read Kristin Hannah's "The Nightingale" which piqued my interest in how the women in France survived Nazi occupation. I also read CW Gortner's "Mademoiselle Chanel" which had a lot of information on how she and others like her survived.
This nonfiction book was well researched for the period 1939 – 1949. The majority of the book addresses the lives of "the rich and the famous" and, I admit, I scanned much of those sections. I was more interested in the everyday people, people like me. I also was not impressed with how much fashion – and entertainment to some degree - continued to be of prime importance during that time. Seems a bit shallow to me when people were just trying to survive.
Life did change for everyone, especially the women. Most of the men went away to war, leaving the women behind to carry on with live the best way they could. And it was indeed a difficult time. Food and other necessities of life were in very short supply. The Germans were the only ones that could afford food – or they just took it. Women faced daily humiliation as they had to queue for hours and then beg (and pay) for the few rations that were available.
Tremendous efforts were made to hide works of art – those in galleries and private Jewish collections. Part of Hitler's plan was the intention to destroy any sense of belonging by depriving Jews of what they owned. He planned to create his own art gallery.
The British were using women in combatant activities, although it was forbidden by the Geneva Convention. Thus, these women had no protection if they were captured. History has failed to note that many women were among those deported.
When the war was over people who survived were suspected of being collaborators with the Germans. Jews, political prisoners, and prisoners of war recently liberated from camps and prisons, poured into the city – a city in no way ready to accommodate them. Many returned with serious medical issues that Paris was ill prepared to deal with. Perhaps most devastating was that many returned to find that everything they had owned had been taken.
In an effort to try to return to "normal", women were encouraged to "return to a time of innocence and femininity, to stop making decisions, stop balancing cheque books, stop being aggressively punctual." This met with mixed responses.
I liked the discussion of what it takes to be a hero. I think I agree with this statement in the book: "Heroism isn't a matter of choice, but of reflex. It's a property of the central nervous system, not the higher brain." Heroes do not think; they act.
This is a book well worth reading, even though it does bog down at times. More and more people are now finally talking about what really happened during the Nazi Occupation. For a long time no one wanted to hear about it so the survivors kept quiet. Now their stories are being told – and heard.
Judith B. (Omaha, NE)
Fact Filled
Beginning in 1939 this nonfiction book chronicles events that impacted Paris through the next ten years. The focus is how the war changed the lives of the women of Paris and how they adjusted to loss, occupation, fear, and hunger. No woman gets an in-depth treatment. Fashion and jewelry get a lot of attention. The book is obviously well-researched and documented. I am much more a fan of historical fiction, and my reaction to the book is thus clouded. I wanted to "know" the women and feel their experiences. This didn't happen for me. The pure history buff will enjoy a good review of the period presented from a different viewpoint.
Mary M. (Dallas, TX)
Mixed Emotions
The first chapters in the book were slow - I dragged my eyes through the chapters but then I was caught up in the stories of the heroic women of Paris and while I sometimes wanted to walk away I felt Les Parisiennes was a book I had to read. A story we all need to read.
Dottie B. (Louisville, KY)
Les Parisiennes
In writing this important cultural history of Paris under Nazi occupation, Anne Sebba has assumed the task of uncovering events that many people who lived through them would rather forget. Her research covers secondary as well as primary sources such as letters, interviews, diaries, and other documents. The book is organized chronologically, introducing characters early and then picking up their stories in later chapters. This organization places on the reader the responsibility of establishing coherence and makes for difficult reading. Nevertheless, the book significantly covers territory that has been largely ignored by traditional histories.
Edie
Panoramic View
Having just finished and loved Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, I was eager to delve into a historical account of the women of Paris during transition of France at peace to France in war. My disappointment with Sebba's Les Parisiennes stems from its failure to engage me in the lives of these real women as I had been drawn into those of their fictional counterparts. This is mainly due to the scope of Sebba's project and the vast number of people in her cast. Some of it read like an encyclopedia of facts, some like a gossip column dropping names of celebrities, artists, the creme de la creme of society.
I confess to giving up and not finishing, but if a book can't draw me into its world in the first 100 pages, it's just not for me.
Anbolyn P. (Gilbert, AZ)
Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba
In Les Parisiennes, Anne Sebba examines what life was like for Parisian women under Nazi occupation during WWII. Using stories gleaned from interviews and primary sources, she documents the everyday hardships and life-changing tragedies suffered by these resilient women. Women from all walks of life were forced to adapt to food shortages, the disappearance of family members, and potential capture or unwanted attention from German soldiers. How they chose to respond to these challenges often determined the fate of generations. Sebba's lavish use of detail and her graceful, sympathetic writing add to this book's powerful depiction of an era that still fascinates us today.
Kathleen B. (Las Vegas, NV)
Hard to read
I applaud Anne Sebba's meticulously researched work on this book. But the telling is too hard to follow and 100 people listed in the book isn't something most people can manage. It was wonderful to be able to get a glimpse into what the Parisian women went through during WWII and shortly after. I usually read historical fiction so that could be why I found this book so difficult to read. I especially didn't like the French language phrases and words with no translation. I would only recommend this book to a real history buff.
Rosemary_Coffman
Interesting topic, Disjointed writing
I was excited to read this book when it arrived, and although it contains very interesting historical information, it is written in a very disjointed manner. Seriously, it needs some serious editing. It turned into a slog of a reading project although this topic should have made for a fascinating read.
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