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terramilo's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the story but all the jumping around between years and storylines was confusing.
att2detail's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting historical fiction about the resistance and women in France during WW2.
sofiawren's review against another edition
4.0
Loved it! It has a little bit of a slow start, and the timeline jumping can be a bit hard to follow at first, but I started getting into it and could not put it down. Love the dressmaker trope in a Nazi occupied Paris story...and this one took an interesting twist on it. Couldn't predict where the story was going.
martyomenko's review against another edition
5.0
Sometimes you put off reading a book because you need the brain space to read it. This was one of those, but not because it was not good. It was deep, very French and one of the best displays of feminine battles in France. The women that saved Paris faced abuse, death and the loss of everything they loved to save the country, the art and the city. This book encapsulated that in grim detail, but to the point you do not want to set it down.
sdecoste's review against another edition
4.0
In 1939, the Nazis have invaded Paris. Lila cannot get her parents out of the city, so she must provide for them and herself any way she can. She uses her skills as a dressmaker to fashion couture dresses for Nazi mistresses. With her time spent fitting women in their boudoirs, Lila is privy to many secrets, which she able to pass on to the Resistance. At the same time, Sandrine has caught the eye of a Nazi officer. He places her at the Jeu de Paume, an art museum used to process paintings being sent to German destinations, as well as paintings being sent to the fires, when they were viewed as degenerate (such as works by Picasso). Sandrine is able to work with her supervisor to secretly catalog the art and its destination. The 2014 movie The Monuments Men is about the ledger and the attempts to get the art back where it belongs. A wonderfully written story based on historical events and people who endured unimaginable hardships to do what is right and moral.
authorcagray's review against another edition
3.0
It's possible that my opinion of this book doesn't do it justice, because I wasn't listening closely at all. Then again, I listen to fictional audiobooks all the time, and usually either like them or lose interest and give up. This one was strangely in between... I had a vague overall impression the action without really following all the details, probably because the story didn't grip me enough to warrant my full attention.
The story follows two Parisian women during WWII, and I never did figure out the relationship between them. I don't think there was one--it was just a parallel story. Sandrine is married to a resistance fighter, and the couple has a little boy, Henri. Her official job as far as the Nazis is concerned is to catalog artwork confiscated from the Jews for Hitler's collection, but she searches for information for the resistance along the way. Meanwhile, one of the high up officers takes an interest in her--and she has to put him off as best she can without outright rejection. This becomes more difficult when her husband turns up in secret, and Sandrine becomes pregnant with their second child. The Nazi officer believes she is the paramour of one of the other officers.
Lila was an apprentice to Coco Chanel, and a very talented dressmaker in her own right. Prior to the war, she fell in love with a well-to-do Jewish man named Rene, who seemed to jilt her and then vanish. Lila believed that something she said to a thoughtless friend led to his death and that of his family--and this part confused me, since it seemed like there were segments told in flashback. Again, I wasn't paying enough attention, I suspect. Rene appears again as a member of La Resistance, and Lila's talents as a dressmaker are turned toward helping her infiltrate the Nazi elite. But of course, this comes at great personal peril.
I've read so many WWII books now that I can get the overall emotion of them even without attending to all of the exact details. They're always stories about courage, good vs evil, harrowing encounters, and focusing on what truly matters.
The story follows two Parisian women during WWII, and I never did figure out the relationship between them. I don't think there was one--it was just a parallel story. Sandrine is married to a resistance fighter, and the couple has a little boy, Henri. Her official job as far as the Nazis is concerned is to catalog artwork confiscated from the Jews for Hitler's collection, but she searches for information for the resistance along the way. Meanwhile, one of the high up officers takes an interest in her--and she has to put him off as best she can without outright rejection. This becomes more difficult when her husband turns up in secret, and Sandrine becomes pregnant with their second child. The Nazi officer believes she is the paramour of one of the other officers.
Lila was an apprentice to Coco Chanel, and a very talented dressmaker in her own right. Prior to the war, she fell in love with a well-to-do Jewish man named Rene, who seemed to jilt her and then vanish. Lila believed that something she said to a thoughtless friend led to his death and that of his family--and this part confused me, since it seemed like there were segments told in flashback. Again, I wasn't paying enough attention, I suspect. Rene appears again as a member of La Resistance, and Lila's talents as a dressmaker are turned toward helping her infiltrate the Nazi elite. But of course, this comes at great personal peril.
I've read so many WWII books now that I can get the overall emotion of them even without attending to all of the exact details. They're always stories about courage, good vs evil, harrowing encounters, and focusing on what truly matters.
bethrings's review against another edition
4.0
I feel like this would be an excellent book club pick. The multi perspective story of two women involved in the French resistance during WWII was slightly romantic, often tragic, and left with a hopeful ending for them both. It wasn’t quite what I expected but I think having just seen the cover and read a few sentences was enough to grab my attention.
nancyflanagan's review against another edition
3.0
Is it just me—or has there been a surfeit of WW II stories lately? It feels like I have read this book before, a half-dozen times, with evil Nazi officers, reckless gun-toting irregulars and La Resistance.
This one was fairly undistinguished. I think what was supposed to set it apart was Paris. And couture. But it was such a mishmash of plotting and a non-chronological timeline that that author loses us every now and then. Which came first— the Chanel gown or the patisserie bombing? It felt like she did her homework about the time and events, then stuffed it all into the book.
The writing is occasionally clunky, too. I did read it straight through to see how it turns out, but...as I said,undistinguished. Three-minus.
This one was fairly undistinguished. I think what was supposed to set it apart was Paris. And couture. But it was such a mishmash of plotting and a non-chronological timeline that that author loses us every now and then. Which came first— the Chanel gown or the patisserie bombing? It felt like she did her homework about the time and events, then stuffed it all into the book.
The writing is occasionally clunky, too. I did read it straight through to see how it turns out, but...as I said,undistinguished. Three-minus.
pswords72's review against another edition
4.0
Had a hard time following the story and dates at first. Very good listen