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Paris in the Present Tense
Paris in the Present Tense: A Novel | Mark Helprin
Mark Helprin's powerful, rapturous new novel is set in a present-day Paris caught between violent unrest and its well-known, inescapable glories. Seventy-four-year-old Jules Lacour--a maitre at Paris-Sorbonne, cellist, widower, veteran of the war in Algeria, and child of the Holocaust--must find a balance between his strong obligations to the past and the attractions and beauties of life and love in the present. In the midst of what should be an effulgent time of life--days bright with music, family, rowing on the Seine--Jules is confronted headlong and all at once by a series of challenges to his principles, livelihood, and home, forcing him to grapple with his complex past and find a way forward. He risks fraud to save his terminally ill infant grandson, matches wits with a renegade insurance investigator, is drawn into an act of savage violence, and falls deeply, excitingly in love with a young cellist a third his age. Against the backdrop of an exquisite and knowing vision of Paris and the way it can uniquely shape a life, he forges a denouement that is staggering in its humanity, elegance, and truth. In the intoxicating beauty of its prose and emotional amplitude of its storytelling, Mark Helprin's Paris in the Present Tense is a soaring achievement, a deep, dizzying look at a life through the purifying lenses of art and memory.
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Trace
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Book follows the typical demeanor and values of his other works protagonists. There are a lot of references to current events in France and the political climate.

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Becker
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This book surprised me constantly. One chapter would be very touching and serious and the next chapter would be filled with the most entertaining and amusing banter between characters. It was in the present, then the past. It was one type of novel and then it was something else entirely. It took me all over and I really enjoyed the ride.🥰

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Penny_LiteraryHoarders
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The cover of this matches the skies outside making this the perfect weekend read! Just a few pages in and wow the writing is divine!

Penny_LiteraryHoarders Alright, although the writing is beautiful this is a little slow to hold my attention. I'll try to pick it up at a later time. 6y
27 likes1 comment
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tricours
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Pickpick

What an unexpected story! It kept me engaged from start to finish, and now I really want to read Winter's Tale.

44 likes1 stack add
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AlexGeorge
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An unexpected delight. Heart-warming, complex, meandering, intellectual and erudite. All the good things. Highly recommended.

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AlexGeorge
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So far, so wonderful. My new novel is set in Paris, so I was a little cautious about starting this, but it‘s fabulous - rich, complex, engaging, with beautifully drawn characters.

17 likes2 stack adds
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Booksnchill
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Not an #ARC any longer but starting on this- #DogsofLitsy Whiskey is ready to sit for a bit as well🍸

Zelma What a sweet face. 😍 7y
Booksnchill @zelma Thanks he is sweet! 7y
TricksyTails Whiskey! 😘♥️🐶 Love those sweet eyes. 7y
79 likes1 stack add5 comments
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PegStar
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(As you grow old)things become more beautiful, more intense, and more inexplicable....If at the end life takes on the attributes of art, it doesn‘t matter if you‘ve forgotten where you put your reading glasses.

Simona Looking forward for your posts 😘 Welcome to the Litsy❣️ 7y
Simona ... and I like your necklace 😍 7y
DebReads4fun Welcome to Litsy! 7y
Mommamanzi Love this and love your necklace. Welcome!!! 7y
RaimeyGallant Welcome to Litsy! #LitsyWelcomeWagon P.S. I just posted a screenshot of this month's #LitsyGames in case you want to play along. It's a great way to get to know the community. 7y
20 likes1 stack add5 comments