‘Paris Echo’, by Sebastian Faulks.
I’m told that the first sentence is key to writing a bestseller. And, on picking up a copy of Seb’s ‘Paris Echo’, I know this to be true. I read the first sentence:
‘I was taking a pee in the bathroom when I caught sight of myself in the mirror.’ (p.1)
Recalling my own horror on catching a glimpse of my morning face, I’m straight in there, and I read on:
‘My face looked so beautiful that I turned to look more closely, spraying the tiles round the toilet in my hurry. I shook my zib …’ (p.1)
No longer am I at one with the face in the mirror. All empathy vanquished, I’m now with my Cif bathroom cleaner, wiping off the yellowish speckles adorning the tiles round my downstair’s loo! What is it that makes a young man so careful when it comes to his facial appearance, and so careless when it comes to cleaning up his zib?
Time to find out.
I buy the book.
It doesn’t disappoint. The humour continues throughout as the young man in question, Tariq, travels the Parisian underground-train network, fantasising about any living being that happens to be female, and between the ages of eighteen and forty!
The author’s humorous side is juxtaposed with a more-serious tone, as Faulks relays the parallel life of, Hannah, Tariq’s American landlady. Hannah is in Paris confronting her demons, as she struggles to come to terms with the traumatic memory of a failed love affair.
As Hannah finds a new love, Tariq returns to the one he left behind in Morocco and ….
That’s it. That’s it and I’ve already told you too much. If you want the details, you’ll have to purchase the book.
Such a transaction is best performed via my link to Waterstones, i.e. I will then receive a commission at no extra cost to yourself, and I know you would love me to continue with my silly-savvy book reviews, a career choice that is not, on my part, proving to be entirely successful.
Still, I musn’t knock it!
The 40p I have earned so far, is not nothing!
Copyright owned by Jay Cool, November 2019
Silly-Savvy Cool Rating for ‘Paris Echo’ = 5/5
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