Book Review: 13 rue Therese

 And here I thought I had lost this review! There it is..hidden in the draft section. I read this book back at the beginning of August….

I finished this last night, in fact stayed up later than my normal bed time to finish. At first I wasn’t too sure how I felt about this book, it ended oddly, yet it had the same oddness about it all throughout, so it’s not like I was disappointed about it. This book has everything that I love about some books: history, letters, cheeky heroine, WWI info, etc. etc. I mean how cool is it that Shapiro actually possesses these postcards, pictures, letters from the actual Louise (Victor) Brunet and created an intriguing fictional story about Louise’s life, her lost love and brother during the war, her life with a husband that seems to be a marriage of convenience (he works with her father). I did love following Louise through her days, she’s a bit racy in that she gets off on saying false and steamy confessions to unsuspecting (and now uncomfortable, fidgety) priests, and listening to her memories of her love, and her cousin Camille.

I read a review from Goodreads where the reviewer says you cannot really explain the plot (there really is none) you just have to let it wash over you and enjoy each chapter as a small treat and to enjoy each moment as it happens. And I think that sums it up properly, it’s just a nice story about Louise and her post-WWI life as she goes through her days as a wife, piano teacher and a person dealing with hurt and loss from the war. It is simply wonderfully fascinating that Shapiro created a story of Louise around real mementos and other personal artifacts. This is definitely a book to be enjoyed in “book” format though, as if I had read this on my Kobo, all those necessary images would not have appeared and therefore the essence of the book would have been completely lost.