TITLE: Seven Ages of ParisAUTHOR: Alistair Horne
STARTED: August 6, 2009
FINISHED: August 19, 2009
PAGES: 458
GENRE: Non-Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: [From the preface] Whereas London, through the ages, has always betrayed clearly male orientations, and New York has a certain ambivalence, has any sensible person doubted that Paris is fundamentally a woman?
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] When Paris was a small island in the middle of the Seine, its gentle climate, natural vineyards and overhanging fig trees made it the favorite retreat of Roman emperors and de facto capital of western Europe. Over two millennia the muddy Lutetia, as the Romans called Paris, pushed its borders far beyond the Right and Left Banks and continued to stretch into the imagination and affection of visitors and locals. Now the spirit of Paris is captured by the celebrated historian Alistair Horne, who has devoted twenty-five years to a labor of love.
THOUGHTS: Wow. There was a lot going on in this book. While it did feel more like I was reading a homework assignment, this book was not boring. There were stretches where my mind wandered, but I never wanted to walk away from Horne's text.
Horne's text is so expansive that there is no way I will be able to recall everything I learned. And, boy, did I learn a lot. Horne covers all aspects of Paris from architecture to leaders to life and art. In some ways, I did find myself wishing he had just focused on one of those topics. (I am now craving a book simply on this history of architecture and expansion in Paris.) Horne wanders in and out of all these subjects and, in many ways, it feels like you're walking through Paris itself. There are themes and storylines but I don't think there was a coherent "plot line." I would not call that a detriment to the book but, rather, an asset. Somehow, Horne managed to "get" the essence of Paris' ambiance (something everyone should experience at least once) into the book. If this structure had been in another book (or maybe in another's hands), I don't think I would have enjoyed the book as much as I did.
If I find fault in this book, it's because I think Horne took on too much. This would have been better as a 7 volume series rather than a compact history. Too many times I wanted Horne to explore a particular subject, person, etc. more than he did.
Then again, this book was incredibly ambitious and Horne was pretty successful.
RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]
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