Book Review - Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

Hello Readers!

I know I've been missing in action when it comes to being regular here on the blog but at least I have been still actively reading and following my #afewpageseveryday (More on my Instagram account). Small wins right guys?

Anyway here I am, back with another book review which has been due for more than a month now. Today I am reviewing "The Lost Girls Of Paris" by Pam Jenoff. 

Plot Summary: It is 1946 and Grace is a war widow, trying to return to normalcy after her sudden personal loss. One morning, on her way to work she finds an abandoned suitcase at the grand central station, NY - filled with a woman's personal belongings and 12 photographs of different women. She soon discovers that the owner of the bag and the 12 women were government agents who were deployed on a secret mission out of London but disappeared after the war. As she goes about unraveling the fate of these 12 agents and their leader, things get murkier as she realizes that there is a bigger conspiracy involved in their disappearance. Based on true events, this book is about brave women in WW II who played no less a part than their male counterparts in depicting bravery and patriotism.

By now you know my love for historical fiction. While this love has helped me find some gems like this and this, it does occasionally falter and stumble on books that are brilliant literary ideas but have been lost in written transition. This book is one such classic example. I loved and rejoiced when I read the cover blurb so much that I when this book finally landed in my hands, I finished reading it in a couple of days! But what was supposed to be an intense story line with a strong character build up turned out to be a run of the mill book with mushy emotions and character inconsistencies. I was excited about a woman being in the lead, especially in a book which already had a brilliant real life based plot to begin with. But I was disappointed to see seemingly strong women, who were trained to survive war zones melting into a pool of wax the moment a male lead came into view. And this particular theme stood out rather sorely throughout the whole book. What was supposed to be a stellar perspective of these women's bravery and sharp thinking on the field turned into emotionally driven wrong decisions at every corner. We have all seen and read many war stories showing men taking practical and hard decisions without letting emotions affect them and that is exactly what I wanted to see of a woman in the war field. While I loved the training scenes and the bonding between the women soldiers, I only wish the author had stuck with the same powerful narrative in the second half of the book!

I remember reading somewhere a long time ago about how authors are sticking to well trodden character stereotypes to appease to a larger audience and unfortunately, this book seems to have digressed in that direction. The book read like a breeze and did have a page turner pace to it. I must give it to the author for the efforts put into the research behind this book and a lot of that does shine through. But someday, I would love to read the same book rewritten with a stronger character narrative and plot. 

I rated this book 3 stars on Goodreads because I still believe it is a decent read and does offer a different perspective. 

Well that's it for today guys! 

Happy Reading!

SSB