Apr 30, 2018

Book review: Honeymoon in Paris

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@annawchristensen

Information about the book

Title: Honeymoon i Paris
Original title: Honeymoon in Paris
Author: Jojo Moyes
Number of pages: 119
Published by: Cicero, Rosinante & Co.
Published: 2012
Language: Danish
Original language: English
More info: It's a prequel novella to the book The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes, which is also available in both English and Danish.

Résumé

"Sophie, a provincial girl, is swept up in the glamour of Belle poque Paris but discovers that loving a feted artist like Edouard brings undreamt of complications. Following in Sophie's footsteps a hundred years later, Liv, after a whirlwind romance, finds her Parisian honeymoon is not quite the romantic getaway she had been hoping for...This enthralling self-contained story will have you falling in love with Liv and Sophie, and with Paris then and now, and it is the perfect appetizer for the The Girl You Left Behind, a spellbinding story of love, devotion and passion in the hardest of times."

- From www.saxo.com

Reading Honeymoon in Paris was a rather mixed experience for me. It was fine for such a short story, but at the same time I felt kind of disappointed. Throughout the whole story, I was waiting for something groundbreaking to happen, but it never did. There were issues and trouble for both couples, but not something truly earthshaking in the way I was waiting for something to be. I found this quite sad, since it left me with a feeling of having read something unfinished. However, all of this started making a little sense to me when I found out that the novella is in fact not a standalone but a prequel to the book The Girl You Left Behind. After having learnt this particular fact, I understand why you aren't getting the same kind of klimax as you would have if it had been a standalone novella. This doesn't change the fact that I was a bit disappointed by the story, though.

I also thought the novella was very filled with clichés, which I usually don't think is a problem, but this was just too much as opposed to other stories by Jojo Moyes. There was absolutely nothing surprising in it for me, which I found a shame since the characters seem better than this to me. I really hope they're less typical/cliché in The Girl You Left Behind.

I think perhaps those, who read The Girl You Left Behind first, might get a different kind of reading experience, when reading the novella, than someone, like me, who read Honeymoon in Paris first. Perhaps knowing what happens after, makes what happens before much more interesting?

Even though the novella wasn't that interesting in my opinion, it did do one very good and important thing - it made me interested enough in the characters to want to read The Girl You Left Behind. I want to know what happens to the two couples, we are introduces to in the novella, and therefore, I've decided to give the book a go as well and read it with an open and refreshed mind instead of letting the experience of reading the novella ruin the book's chances. Then, once I've read the whole story about Liv and Sophie, I can make up my mind and see if my interest in the novella suddenly changes.

All in all, the novella didn't impress me much, and therefore, it is Moyes' great style of writing and creating characters that carries it through for me and makes me give it 2,5 stars out of 5. I'm excited to see if my opinion changes, when I someday read The Girl You Left Behind, because I do think the story and the characters have potential. I just don't think it was that well portrayed in this part of the story.