Michael Sims
[Robb] is an encyclopedia of French history. But this is no ordinary history book. Although the form varies—one chapter, for example, is presented as a film script—the book is a series of character portraits in chronological order, evolving into a rich and layered history of one of the great mythological cities of the world…Charles Dickens once complained that an essay lacked "the elegant play of fancy." Robb could never be accused of this shortcoming. His fancy plays across Parisian history, darting down every alley and into the minds of kings, novelists and painters.
—The Washington Post
Brenda Wineapple
Although Robb often narrates various sections from the point of view of his characters, inhabiting them and fudging, to a certain extent, the line between traditional history and make-believe, his characters don't sound alike, which can be a hazard when a historian affects the pose of a novelist. Robb claims he wrote with "a flavor of the time in mind," and insists he didn't insert anything artificial into his stories. That Parisians required as much research as his earlier, more conventionally structured book The Discovery of France is evident on every page. Yet if Parisians resembles Simon Schama's Dead Certainties, which is also about the limits of historical knowledge, Robb, in employing the techniques of the novelist, animates his characters mainly for "the pleasure of thinking about Paris." That pleasure is also the reader's.
—The New York Times Book Review
Dwight Garner
…a pointillist and defiantly nonlinear history of Paris from the dawn of the French Revolution through the 2005 riots in Clichy-sous-Bois, told from a variety of unlikely perspectives and focusing on lesser-known but reverberating moments in the city's history…Mr. Robb's prose is fleet and ingenious…His good humor is infectious.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
This audiobook version of Graham Robb's volume of strange-but-true Parisian narratives offers listeners a fascinating history that is frequently encumbered by heavy-handed, often overblown narration from Simon Vance. Robb offers a series of bizarre tales that touch on everything from the first sexual experience of Napoleon Bonaparte to the creation of the Catacombes de Paris, but Vance narrates as if all of Parisian history is weighing on him: his reading is too grand, overly inflated, and pompous, his French accent frequently fails to ring true, and it simply sounds as if he is trying too hard to narrate what should have been an intriguing and charming audiobook. A Norton hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 1). (May)
Newsday
"Robb’s stylish and stylized tale of the town turns you into a sightseer, visiting the past, uncovering what time has hidden and observing anew what’s there. It’s a tantalizing tour. Robb wanders but is never lost."
Daily Telegraph - Philip Hensher
"Ingenious...Marvelously entertaining, boundlessly energetic and original...This book is the sort of triumph that we have no right to expect to come from anyone in the steady way that Robb's masterly books come from him."
The Independent
"A superior historical guidebook for the unhurried traveler, and altogether a book to savor."
"Book of the Week" - The Times [London] - John Carey
"Graham Robb's new book is so richly pleasurable that you feel it might emit a warm glow if you left it in a dark room. Essentially it is a collection of true stories, culled from Robb's insatiable historical reading and lit by his imagination. He has the passion of a naturalist displaying a wall of rare butterflies or a cabinet of exotic corals, but his specimens are all human and walked the streets of Paris at some point between the French revolution and now...[A] generous and humane book."
The New York Times Book Review - Brenda Wineapple
"Robb, in employing the techniques of the novelist, animates his characters mainly for 'the pleasure of thinking about Paris.' That pleasure is also the reader's."
The New York Times - Dwight Garner
"[Robb] has proved himself to be one of the more unusual and appealing historians currently striding the planet. In a better world his books would be best sellers everywhere....His book—argumentative, gallant, parked athwart oncoming historical traffic, as if on a dare—is as Parisian and as bracing as a freshly mixed Pernod and water."
From the Publisher
"Simon Vance narrates the history with an eloquent British-accented voice that leaves room for human moments and humor.... The strong sense of place in Robb's descriptions may make listeners feel like they're visiting the City of Lights." ---AudioFile
Library Journal
To Whitbread Book Award-winning biographer Robb (Victor Hugo), Paris is clearly "a miraculous creation where even the quietest street is crowded with adventures." Serious Francophiles who share his point of view may enjoy this quirky journey through time and space. Part history, part travelog, part "Ripley's Believe It or Not!," this creative historical geography takes us on a tour of Paris via a series of chronologically arranged vignettes stretching from the eve of the Revolution of 1789 to the present. Through the use of rich imagery, masterly attention to detail, and basically good storytelling, the book records a series of moments and meetings when characters both obscure and famous interacted with key landmarks like the Palais Royal, Notre Dame, or Place de la Concorde. Robb artfully re-creates the drama and turmoil of key events like the bloody horrors of the Commune, De Gaulle's triumphant 1944 entry into Paris, or the tumultuous student demonstrations of May 1968. This is not history as such but a creative montage of how history, individuals, and geography intersected at key moments in Paris. The results may interest those who share "the pleasure of thinking about Paris." VERDICT For serious Francophiles or large, specialized collections in French history and culture.—Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., N.J.
JULY 2010 - AudioFile
Graham Robb's "mini human comedy of Paris" takes the city from the French Revolution to recent times through the lives of its people. Simon Vance narrates the history with an eloquent British-accented voice that leaves room for human moments and humor. He gives a lively tone to stories such as Marie Antoinette's flight from Paris and the rise of Vidocq, the ex-con who headed the Sûreté. Elsewhere, he lingers reflectively over the description of an old photo and captures the poignancy of the experiences of Jewish Parisians during WWII. The strong sense of place in Robb's descriptions may make listeners feel like they're visiting the City of Lights. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
