Unfortunately, these complex relationships weren’t always matched with dialogue that felt real, and some of the issues just seemed to be resolved too easily.

Cecile is a pretty horrible parent and wife, but she’s sympathetic too. Laurel’s anger and mistrust towards Cecile - the woman who broke up her parents’ marriage - is completely understandable. At the same time she’s jealous and almost fearful of her stepdaughter Laurel – who responds by being mean and vindictive, creating a vicious cycle in their household. Viv is a very independent 14-year old, and Cecile feels alienated by this daughter who seems not to need her. This is a book where the relationships that don’t work are a whole lot more interesting than the ones that do.Ī good example is Cecile’s relationship with her daughter Viv and her stepdaughter, Laurel. On the other hand, the complicated brother-sister and parent-child relationships were much more nuanced. Some of the characters just fall in love without much story or character development. I was frustrated that the romantic relationships weren’t developed more.

I also liked how the characters intersected but not so much that it felt contrived.īut as the book went on, I felt the dialogue became a little wooden. Mira struggles to develop a relationship with her womanizing artist brother, Andre is trying to learn to be a father, and Cecile struggles to develop a maternal bond with her children. Their lives are complicated by their families. Cecile is self-centered and Andre is mean and bitter. The characters aren’t one-dimensional and they aren’t entirely likeable. I loved the setting, from train stations to sidewalk cafes to small art galleries.Īt the beginning of the book I was very drawn into the lives of these characters, and sympathetic to what each were going through. Makes it sound a little cheesy, but this book opens with compelling characters I wanted to know more about. Four stories entwine, four quests become one, as their paths cross amid the beauty, squalor, animation and desolation of a street in Paris, the Rue des Martyrs. Each one is on a quest: to uncover a family secret, to grasp a new chance at love, to repair mistakes of the past.

And Cecile is an unhappy housewife and a mother and stepmother to three teenagers.įour strangers in Paris.

Andre is an aging theater star, recovering from a serious accident and struggling to keep his career going. Rafael comes to Paris to find a mysterious woman who was mentioned in his dying father’s last words. Mira is an artist who leaves Italy when she finds her fiancé sleeping with her business partner. Paris, Rue des Martyrs tells the story of four main characters leading intersecting lives in Paris.

Mid Ocean by T. Rafael Cimino