Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation by Charles Glass
So I really wanted to like this book, and it started well. Here’s the official description of the book “Americans in Paris recounts tales of adventure, intrigue, passion, deceit, and survival under the brutal Nazi occupation through the eyes of the Americans who lived through it all”. There lies the problem, this book is a collection of stories of Americans that happen to be living in Paris at the time, there’s really no cohesive story to tell here. Especially when in some chapters, the background story before Nazi occupation is 95% of the material. If you happen to find that person’s life interesting, great, if not (and for a number of featured Americans, I personally did not), then its a dull read. For example, Sylvia Beach, a left bank book seller’s life is recounted in detail here – almost none of it having anything do with living under the Nazis. If you find American literary expat of the 1930’s fascinating, you will be enthralled. So all in all, not a bad book, but unfortunately the official description is a bit misleading.
