A review by jenn9621
The Mistress of Paris, by Catherine Hewitt

2.0

The historical aspects of this book were the only things that kept me reading it. You would think that a story about a 19th century courtesan would be interesting but it was incredibly tedious. Instead of coming to understand the character of the subject or given a view of any criticism of her, it feels as if this is a book report. It was almost as if the author had interviewed this narcissistic person and just wrote down every glowing thing she said about herself. She apparently did no wrong, was as close to perfection as possible and was instrumental to French society and politics. And while I support the “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” idea, and I don’t think it is impossible that she made something of herself, she was essentially a poor, uneducated prostitute and some of it seemed difficult to believe, and definitely one sided.