Paris in the Present Tense

by Mark Helprin

The magnificent new novel by the gifted, singular #1 New York Times bestselling author of Winter’s Tale and A Soldier of the Great War
Mark Helprin’s powerful, rapturous new novel is set in a present-day Paris caught between violent unrest and its well-known, inescapable glories. Seventy-four-year-old Jules Lacour—a maître at Paris-Sorbonne, cellist, widower, veteran of the war in Algeria, and child of the Holocaust—must find a balance between his strong obligations to the past and the attractions and beauties of life and love in the present.
In the midst of what should be an effulgent time of life—days bright with music, family, rowing on the Seine—Jules is confronted headlong and all at once by a series of challenges to his principles, livelihood, and home, forcing him to grapple with his complex past and find a way forward. He risks fraud to save his terminally ill infant grandson, matches wits with a renegade insurance investigator, is drawn into an act of savage violence, and falls deeply, excitingly in love with a young cellist a third his age. Against the backdrop of an exquisite and knowing vision of Paris and the way it can uniquely shape a life, he forges a denouement that is staggering in its humanity, elegance, and truth.
In the intoxicating beauty of its prose and emotional amplitude of its storytelling, Mark Helprin’s Paris in the Present Tense is a soaring achievement, a deep, dizzying look at a life through the purifying lenses of art and memory.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, France, Audiobook, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

396 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 3, 2017

About the author

Mark Helprin belongs to no literary school, movement, tendency, or trend. As many have observed and as Time Magazine has phrased it, “He lights his own way.” His three collections of short stories (A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Ellis Island and Other Stories, and The Pacific and Other Stories), six novels (Refiner's Fire, Winter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir From Antproof Case, Freddy and Fredericka and, In Sunlight and In Shadow), and three children's books (Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows, all illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg), speak eloquently for themselves and are remarkable throughout for the sustained beauty and power of their language.

Reviews

[Larry H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first encountered Mark Helprin when I read his beautiful, magical book, Winter's Tale , many years ago. It utterly transfixed me, and took me into a completely different world. I read a few of his other books over the years and they didn't quite move or touch me the same way, but I still marveled at his storytelling, as it's sometimes much harder to tell a story rooted in reality than in a fantasy world.

Helprin's latest book, Paris in the Present Tense , definitely drew me in from the very beginning. It has an old-fashioned feel, yet I mean that in the most complimentary way. It really reminded me of one of Ward Just or William Maxwell's books, full of rich character development, reflections on life and mortality, and the travails of the human heart.

"Music is the voice of God (when done properly)."

Jules Lacour is 74 years old. He is a cellist, a veteran, a Holocaust survivor, a father and grandfather, and a man who deeply misses his late wife. He has never pursued the path of financial comfort, but he has never regretted it more than when he learns that his two-year-old grandson is suffering from leukemia. He wishes he had the money to help pay for Luc's treatments. How he decides to obtain that money is one of the main threads of the story, and it carries quite a wallop!

This book is a fascinating study of emotion and mood, a look at a man who doesn't believe you should stop being outspoken because you grow older. Helprin explores how racism and anti-semitism are attitudes still carried by many people, in Paris and elsewhere in the world, despite the destruction they have wrought.

Don't worry that this is simply a brooding, heavy story, however; Jules is a fascinating, complex character—at times irascible and cranky, at times flirtatious and romantic. He is deeply philosophical and there is a great deal of discussion about the importance of music in his life, which is something I share. There are just so many facets to this man and his story that kept me reading, even when the pacing slowed down a little more than I would have hoped.

Paris in the Present Tense is full of dialogue you'll want to read over and over again to be sure you didn't miss a beat, evocative imagery, and an incredible sense of place—I felt Paris around me at times when reading it. I'm still not 100 percent sure if the entire book worked for me as a whole, but Helprin's storytelling made it a book to savor. Amazingly thought-provoking.

NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!!....Sooooo deeply moving and beautiful! SUCH A WONDERFUL NOVEL!

Monseuer Jules Lacour ......is a character that will stay with me for long time....
I was completely mesmerized by this wise, and tormented 74 year old Jewish Parisian man.
.....cellist, lover of classical music, lover of women, ( but loved and missed his deceased wife most of all), lover of beauty, a teacher, and Holocaust survivor.....
His life was complex - he struggled —he loved passionately- his soul was pure - not a selfishness bone in him -and at the end of his harrowing life - he finds inner peace and redemption.

The supporting characters are also memorable— and the city of Paris comes alive through the dazzling prose, descriptions, and dialogues.

For Monseuer Lacour, though - his life was filled with so much tragedy: He watched his parents be killed by the Nazis near the end of WWII. His wife Josephine, had been dead for the past four years....a pain that never left him.
He felt as if he was a failure — as he never reached fame international status as a cellist. He couldn’t perform in public - just too uncomfortable- so it was music theory that he ended up teaching his students at the Sorbonne and living in Paris.
He was a fitness fanatic... in great shape for ‘any’ age - let alone a 74 year old....
Running - Swimming- Rowing.

Jules only living family was his sister Catherine and her husband David. Their 2 year old toddler had leukemia and was possibly going to die without specific treatment.....
the best being in the United States. Jules wanted to pay for it - but didn’t have the money. He ends up risking fraud after an insurance company offers a huge amount of money — things get complicated — ( not that he cared about the money)....he only needed it to save his grandson, Luc.
He also falls in love with a young beauty named Elodi.

Everything about this book is absolutely terrific. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
There are war flashbacks- and issues of Anti Semitism in France - race - history - mystery - love- hope - beauty - art- intimacy - death - music.....
and A WISE - BRAVE PROTAGONIST! Jules Lacour was a phenomenal character!

[Violet wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot lines in this novel wouldn't be out of place in a blockbuster movie.

The seventy-five-year-old hero Jules Lacour, a music teacher, comes to the defence of a Hasidic Jew being attacked by three Muslims. He kills two of them and the other flees as does the Hasidic Jew. There's thus no evidence this isn't a murder with no extenuating circumstances. Jules flees by swimming a good length of the Seine and taking refuge in the boathouse of the rowing club he belongs to. First point of interest, will he get caught?

Jules' grandson has leukaemia and needs an expensive operation no one in the family can afford. An Amazon style corporation (a filthy rich corporation that has never created anything) hires him to compose a short signature piece of music for their commercials. They accept his composition but after he has flown to the US and spent copious amounts of money they change their minds and aren't disposed to pay his expenses. Jules wants to get his revenge on Amazon (Acorn actually). Will he?

The trouble is these plot lines become submerged in Jean's relentless and rather dreary philosophising. The other Helpin novels I've read all carry this trait. I found it easier to forgive in those books because there was a lot more vitality in the writing and they weren't set in the present time. Jules' take on contemporary life was like listening to your grandfather deliver a sermon when you're ten and just want to be back out in the garden.

Neither did Jules charm me. He's no Leo (The History of Love) or Count Rostov (A Gentleman in Moscow). He's a rather humourless individual at odds with the modern world but in a sanctimonious rather than witty way and though it's very admirable that he'll do almost anything to save his grandson I felt this ended up an inexpensive ploy to get the reader on his side. The grandson plays little active part in the novel except to receive the gifts Jean lavishes on him. Jean's guiding character trait for me, overlooked by the author, is that he's an incorrigible womaniser. We're told he's been faithful to his dead wife and encouraged to admire his fidelity but there's little evidence of this. Every time he's out in the world what he seems to notice are beautiful women, especially young 'uns. How faithful is he? Eventually one of his students falls for him, the most physically stunning, talented and intelligent of course - I had to take very deep breaths in order to suspend disbelief here. We never see him teaching so have to take the author's word he's an inspiring teacher. Nor do we ever see him playing his cello. We're also told he has nothing but scorn for old men who pair up with women half their age. But that his case is different. I never understood why he was any different. He's Hugh Hefner with a bigger brain. I tired of the bogus moral constructions and justifications Helpin placed on this infatuation. And all the other plot lines went into abeyance while the will-they-won't-they saga played out. I suspect if you're going to write about the relationship between a twenty-five-year-old girl and a seventy-five-year-old man it's the female you need to write about. There's where all the interest lies. A single elderly man is merely going into default setting.

I never quite understood what purpose the early scene of Jules' heroics served or what the subplot about Jews and Arabs was all about. Jules himself barely gives a thought to the fact he's killed two teenagers. I found the depiction of Paris photographic. Rarely did he take me there. He was much more successful at evoking LA.

I also found it an outdated novel, a novel about today but as if written fifty years ago. I suspect it won't age well. I'd have much preferred a novel about what it's like to be seventy-five in the modern world; instead this is like someone who's seventy-five pretending they're still thirty-five. I'm all for celebrating the life of retirees but can we have some credibility and humour please?

[Koeeoaddi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dazzling! Just when I thought the plot was predictible, it wasn't. When I was about to roll my eyes at the May/December romance, it pivoted. When I worried that the author used one too many metaphors, his character made a joke about it. When I suspected that too much -- even death -- would be resolved by beauty, I was mistaken. A completely disarming, riveting and humane book. I love this author.

[Sharon Hart-Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a haunting story of love, longing and the meaning of sacrifice. It is also a tribute to the beauty of Paris. However, the book is not just an excuse for poetic musing. It has a gripping plot that keeps you wanting to read until the last page. A tragically beautiful story by a master writer.

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about the past and the present and the fictional character Jules Lacour. He is maître at the Sorbonne Musical Faculty in Paris. He writes music, teaches and plays the cello. The year is 2014. He is seventy-four and a widower, having tragically lost his wife four years earlier to cancer. He adored his wife; he still adores her, but this does not prevent him from falling in love--again and again and again. When he falls in love, he falls at the blink of an eye, with the touch of a hand and he falls hard. He is a man of feeling and emotion. Emotions are to be exalted in, not denied. Without strong emotion, music and love and all life fall flat. He is Jewish. During the Second World War, he and his parents are hidden by Roman Catholics in Rance, a town along the river of the same name in France. On the day of liberation his parents were shot. He was four. He is French and loves his country with his soul. He fights in the Algerian War in 1958. All of this is made clear in the first two chapters. None of this is a spoiler. Through flashbacks we discover the traumas of his past. In the present, we observe the antisemitism prevalent in France still today. We observe the cultural differences between American and French / European lifestyles. This is amusingly drawn. I am still not done listing all which the book covers—an infant dying of leukemia, double homicide, insurance fraud, convoluted big business deals and the promise of a million euros for a jingle.

Have you guessed the book’s problem? It does too much. Love and crime, philosophy and music, antisemitism in the past and present, cultural clashes within France and between American and European lifestyles, bureaucracy, lack of public funding, World War Two, the Algerian Conflict. The book fails to give adequate depth to the many topics covered. The book spreads itself too thin.

BUT……… I needed to discover how the story would end. It does have humor, particularly concerning modern day life. The writing is quite beautiful off and on and interesting philosophical ideas are posed.

The beginning starts off well. Quickly and clearly, readers are given an understanding of a large quantity of pertinent information and we are told what Jules is trying to do—get revenge, save a person’s life and give up his own. The middle section keeps your attention relatively well, but the end fizzles. Jules' death, on the right day and according to plan was a bit too convenient for me, just as is the ease with which the homicide investigation was dropped! On closing the book, I wondered what really had been the point of all this?!

The audiobook is very well narrated by Bronson Pinchot. The French speak English with a French accent, which is pretty good if a bit overdone. I guess the Arabs sounded as immigrant Arabs speaking French, but a listener cannot always hear what exactly is said. French names, places and expressions are accurately pronounced. The telling is dramatized. Effect is put before clarity. Whispered words are hard to decipher. American English is amusingly drawn. Over-all, Pinchot does a very good job of bringing out the humor in the author’s lines. I am not complaining about Pinchot's narration but explaining why I did not give the narration five stars. Four stars for the narration. I do believe many listeners will rate the audio performance as worthy of five stars, the highest rating.

****************

A Soldier of the Great War 5 stars
In Sunlight and in Shadow 3 stars
Winter's Tale 1 star

[Bruce Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, touching, and intelligent book. The title perfectly captures the theme of the novel, but it is only once you're fully immersed that you begin to appreciate the depth of the author's vision. The main character is a charming and capable septuagenarian who is a musician, widower, veteran of the Algerian war, committed runner/swimmer/oarsman, Holocaust survivor, a man quick to fall in love but still too much in love with his deceased wife to act, a loving grandfather of a desperately ill child... yes, there's a lot to the man. There's also a lot to the novel as each of these facets plays out. I've often wondered what reviewers mean when they describe an author's treatment of his/her characters as "generous". This book answers that question. Helprin is clearly fond of his characters, and he draws the reader into sharing his affection.

"Present Tense" offers the reader many rewards, both high and low. Every "intellectual" moment -- and there are many, all engaging rather than dry -- is balanced by something more earthy: humor (ranging from dialogue in the style of Joseph Heller to carelessly dropped observations about a waiter whose "pencil mustache made him look like he should have been in a silent film," and remarks like this from an executive about a piece of music commissioned for advertising purposes: "Isn't a jingle supposed to be irritating, so it becomes a brain worm, and you can't forget it? This isn't irritating, it's inappropriately beautiful. These days, people don't like that."), tenderness, even real suspense that leaves the reader wondering to the very last pages about who will live and who will die.

What the reader begins to perceive as the pages go by is the realization that the past is always present in people's lives, as it is in the life of a city like Paris. Not in the tragic sense of Faulkner's famous "The past is never dead. It's not even past," but in a manner far more touching and humane: "Although Jacqueline is gone, she is still there in the reddening sun as he saw her the first time somehow still alive and vivid, with each day that passes, than even the present. Everything he loved, he loved in her." Jules, like all of us, is constantly wrestling with the past as he lives the present: he falls in love with a young woman less than half his age but doesn't act because his love for his dead wife endures; he intervenes in an attack on a young Jew because he still sees his parents being taken away by the SS.

The philosophical conversations and digressions on the synesthetic nature of music ("the only thing powerful enough to push aside the curtain of time. When it does, everything becomes clear, perfect, reconciled, and just, even if only for the moments when we rise with it") reinforce and strengthen this conceit:

"He was loyal to the secret power of that which blessed the homely and unfashionable, the failures and the forgotten. Where theorists saw mathematical relations in music -- sometimes clearly and sometimes with foolish complexity -- he saw only waves and light. When sound could find and conjoin with these invisible and ever-present waves, it became music. High resolution images through great telescopes showed magical colors and heavenly light that the eye perceived only as a blur of white in the impossible distance. But there was much more to them than a pinpoint sparkle, and in the roseate clouds of effulgent galaxies was music in what was supposed to be silence... He saw the same thing in the undulating spray of the fountains as the wind struck their jets. A hundred million droplets shining in the sun moved in synchrony like schools of fish or flights of birds, rising suddenly to a rest and snapping back in explosions of silver and gold against a field of blue. Jules read this and heard it no less than the "Ma di" of "Norma," which was like a boat running with the wind, rising and falling gently on the sea..."

This is very much a book of ideas -- about love and obligation, time and trust, hope and memory -- but it wears its intelligence with grace and humor. I recommend "Present Tense" without reservation.

[Esther Krivda · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Paris in the Present Tense' surely must be written by a magician. For I don’t know who else could include on one page, in one paragraph and sometimes even in one sentence haunting memories; the reasoning of a philosopher; riffs on music musically written; asides written with such snark, Shakespeare himself would’ve envied them (‘…and you are both very tall and fat, so that although your desk might conceivably hide behind you, you cannot conceivably hide behind it.’); lampooning a corporate board as their bejeweled throats and their double-edged tongues crush yet another soul (‘They spoke either to show off or to discredit their colleagues without leaving fingerprints.”); all of which can be fall-off-your-chair-funny when it’s not heartbreaking and scary; and all while displaying such erudition that I confess, I had to have Google and both French and English dictionaries at hand as I read it. The central story is about a highly principled widower in his 70s who has a mission though he fears he might not be able to fulfill it. Jules Lacour must provide for his seriously-ill, young grandson, Luc. But he has one problem – he has very little money. Though a gifted musician, he has stage fright and can’t perform; though a talented composer, no one plays his work: therefore he teaches. And that was alright, til Luc. And now money is definitely an object. But what Jules has very much of is a hearted sleeve (watch a beauty in a dress float by); a tongued cheek (‘Jayne Mansfield’s poitrine’); and above all else, a master mind (his air-castles have at least, a hundred, if not a thousand rooms). Because Luc, little and sick, is all to him, his master-mind begins to entertain schemes criminal in nature and he’s soon crossing swords with anything in his way. And then our highly principled gentleman has a swindle, and far worse on his hands, and there I was turning pages faster and faster to see if, or even how, this master-mind could get himself out of the mess he’d gotten himself into and achieve his mission to provide for little, sick Luc.
And by the way, Mark Helprin, in the voice of the musician-hero, says something in this story that was so wise and that I, a debut author, so needed to hear, that I’m hoping I never forget them. And here they are. “Because we perform … we’ve become addicted to praise. At an early age we look not to the music but to the teacher’s approval, and later to the applause of the audience, the reviewer’s sentence or two … Grocery clerks, railroad workers, farmers, private soldiers, and street cleaners expect neither praise nor fame. Their reward comes quietly as they pass through life unrecognized. Learn to live like them. The music is all you need.”

[Chaitra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think Mark Helprin is my cup of tea at all. I didn't get Winter's Tale and I didn't get Paris in the Present Tense. But I liked Paris slightly better, because at least it was a bit more coherent. There's also a speech in it that the main character Jules makes, about how he has preserved Jewish culture even if he does not practice it. It's the most I've been moved in the two Helprin books. An extra star, just for that.

But otherwise? I don't see the beauty in the language, it does nothing for me. I was also extremely bored by the whole thing, even if it takes on a borderline caper-ish tone. I read it backwards towards the end. I don't think I missed anything that I didn't want to miss. It could be that I care nothing for the characters' philosophy - they all seem to believe the same thing - old nostalgia, how much the world was better when the world moved slower and people had better attention spans. Jules has a lofty way of putting it - that he is loyal to a destroyed world. I don't even really understand what it is that it's supposed to say - the destroyed world gave us Nazis and genocide and colonization and slavery and that's not even going very far back. Would you really want to go back to that if you could call flight attendants stewardesses? Eh.

One of the things that the book brought up for me was Jewish persecution in contemporary French society. I was thrown the first time it was mentioned, because I don't believe I'd ever read anything about systemic anti-Semitism. And it interested me enough to hit the internet and sure enough it's enough to make the Jewish people flee. Again. I had thought this is the Israel-Palestine conflict being fought beyond the borders, but apparently it goes beyond that. The stats are misleading, since it seems like the attacks against Jewish people have dropped in the past years, but really it's because the Jews are moving away from France, certainly from areas with a heavy Muslim presence, and from public schools where Muslims are present. I have no idea how to feel about that, and the book (and Jules in the book) doesn't make a broad sweeping statement (beyond that one major scene) but it has brought some awareness to me. A star for that too as short as the conversation was.

I really wish that was what the book was about, and not some stupid waffling about some girl a third Jules' age who is so beautiful that Jules must fall in love (enough to leave her a million euros - WTF old man? Your grandchild is mortally ill, and you leave a sizable chunk of money to some random female with whom you did nothing? Who cut you off because you were too old? Couldn't you just leave it to the little one? Maybe it would help?) And then there is another random woman whom Jules speaks to for all of 15 minutes and says he's in love and is almost willing to throw everything away just because she's stalking him. She's beautiful as well, and looks much younger than her age.

There were some interesting parts, but mostly I was colossally bored. I don't think I'll try another Helprin book, he's not for me.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the first few pages of this book, Helprin thrashes about with language like a bad actor in an extended death scene. He is in love with his command of the language and not afraid to shout that love from what ever promontory presents itself. The first chapter was almost enough to make me put down the book.

While one never loses the sense that the author is pretty pleased with his own writing, it does get a little less overworked, and so I stuck with it. I can't say that was a good decision, as the impotence the editor displayed in failing to rein in the opening language was again demonstrated by his or her inability to improve what might actually be the most cliched cast of characters ever assembled by a serious writer. A May-December, student-professor romance? Got it! Protagonist with the nearly supernatural powers of a pulp fiction hero? Check! Bumbling insurance salesman and slick American advertising huckster? Yes and yes! Mr. Helprin, could you throw in a desperately sick child? He could! How about a libertine French philosophe célèbre? Mais oui!

Meanwhile, said editor again watched in helplessness as the author smeared this formulaic group across nearly four hundred pages in a story that might have justified a novella, as the cellist-turned-criminal-mastermind plotted the crime of Tuesday afternoon. Interspersed with casual sexism--its possible to recall the French male's stereotypical appreciation of the female without disparaging the use of "flight attendant" to replace "stewardess"--and disconcerting Americanisms inserted in the minds and mouths of French characters, the novel fails even in its portrayal of Paris, which is not depicted nearly so potently as Southern California, nor even as the unpeopled beaches at which the characters seem to have invariably spent their youths.

There are gems of actual lyricism buried under the seemingly endless sands of overwrought language, and there was one passage that made me laugh out loud. Additionally, the book looks, if somewhat obliquely, at the realities of modern France and its struggle to deal with the multicultural reality of its present tense, as it were. However, the book is really about the elderly thinking they know everything and--groundbreaking!--the transcendence of music. In the end, the novel's paltry rewards do not justify the travails of reading it.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

So well written. A wonderful story.

[Tuti · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm not so sure about this book. there is without a doubt superb prose in it, "sparkling" - which seems to be one of his favourite words, would also accurately describe it. and wisdom, beauty... but also embarrassing "plot-turns", a super-athletic 74-year old cellist and university professor who runs and swims like an anthlete training for olympia, and also falls deeply in love with almost every woman he sees for even 30 seconds, while considering himself deeply loyal to his dead wife.
while there are lots of interesting and disturbing thoughts about anti-semitism in present day in france - which is in itself a very serious and important topic and would have been very valuable if treated more realistically, the policier-like turns of the plot, involving policemen chasing the hero and a scheme to make a lot of money seem childish and unnecessary and reduce the value of a book which could have been wonderful. even so it is worth reading - but, compared to the quality of the prose and wisdom expressed, the often naive, genre-like plot might come as a disappointment (it did to me).

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale is one of my very favorite books. Curiously, I’ve not read any other of his novels until this week, when I sailed through Paris in the Present Tense. The writing is stunning. Helprin makes marvelous lists, draws the reader fully into the world he depicts, uses humor wryly. His main character in this book became almost real to me, and I felt the urge to fly off to Paris just to sit on a bench with me. This is a book full of love, and while not quite as fabulous as Winter’s Tale, it really deserves all 5 stars.

[Karine · Rating 1 out of 5]

At times comic, tragic, or philosophical, Paris in the Present Tense varies between entertaining, absurd, and intolerable. There are some great moments, but they are overshadowed by the inconsistent tone, irritating protagonist, and frequent musings on the transcendence of music.

[Ed Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, simply, the finest novel I have read in a long time. It is gorgeously written, perfectly plotted and filled with deep yet accessible ruminations on ... well, everything- life, aging, living, dying, Paris, Judaism, beauty, music and much more. One review I read (after I'd finished) revealed a key plot development that doesn't happen until well into the book (WTF??) so I'm not gonna describe the story. Just read it.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best things about being in a book group is that it forces you to read books you might otherwise miss. Paris in the Present Tense is just such a book. I adored it. Not everyone in my book group did, which led to a terrific discussion.

There is music. There is love – and loss. There is the horror of the Holocaust. There is violence and family angst and corporate malfeasance. There is a police investigation that is, frankly, a hoot. Through it all, there is one man whose life has been shaped by sorrow and the eternal quest to survive it. And there is Paris.

As I have for so many of my recent books, I listened to this one. Just loved the accents, loved the flavor the narrator added. I’ve never read anything by Mark Helprin before, and I regret that. His prose is exquisite. As a writer, I learned much reading this book.

[Tony · Rating 1 out of 5]

Paris in the Present Tense starts strong with both an interesting plot and truly funny prose. Unfortunately, it fades quickly. The novel soon devolves into, principally, ruminations on various subjects, but most often on anti-Semitism in modern day France. When the story does reappear, it is a pale reflection of its former self, taking more and more silly twists and turns. Suffice it to say that reciprocal love at first sight happens not once, but twice, and to the same person! If you would like to hear a blowhard's opinion on the fate of Jews in France and other subjects, this is the book for you. Otherwise, move on . . . quickly!

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thin-ish plot, and I prefer a transporting one. But I enjoyed the reflective feel of this novel and the often evocative use of setting.

I’m rarely a fan of the common shifting of perspective back and forth in time, but it was necessary and done pretty well. This was an interesting, strangely quiet read for the subject matter it covers, and I enjoyed returning to it day after day.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as strange and beautiful as Winter's Tale, but a long dreamy meditation on life and life in Paris in particular. Jules was such a precious person, with his great love for his family, as well as his constant falling in love, and his appreciation for things: exercise, a good meal, music. This is also probably the least intense "murder mystery" I have ever read. The murders were almost irrelevant, sidelined instead by the exploring the characters of those involved.

And now I have to talk about the narrator. I mean . . . BRONSON PINCHOT. I have seen every episode of Perfect Strangers. It was my mom's favorite show when it was on the air. I think of him as Balki. I thought there was a mistake when I heard who was reading the book. (I have the physical book, but I was leapfrogging through it with the audio from the library.) I thought it was Alec Baldwin. My husband thought it was Mark Strong. He has a gorgeous voice! And does all the accents and voices so well! (Yes, I have now looked it up and realized that he's won awards for his narrations and has read dozens of books.) Anyway. It was great. It just surprised me.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect. Mark Helprin writes better than most, and this is a big book, along the scale of The Winter's Tale and A Soldier of the Great War. The plot is both simple and complicated. Jules Lacour, aging cellist, is a Holocaust survivor as a young child. At the end of his life, he embarks upon a plan that will both validate his life and ensure that love continues. If that sounds elliptical, it's because I don't want to spoil anything for the reader. But here's what is pretty wonderful. Helprin explains how aging feels. Not physically, mentally. Emotionally. Now that I myself am old, I appreciate what he has accomplished in ways that would have escaped me thirty years ago. That doesn't mean this is a book only for the elderly, not at all --- but life experience doesn't hurt. And there is a young woman in the book who understands already what Jules comes to know by dint of age.

One more thing. I borrowed the book from my mother, still a reader at 88. So many of the authors I enjoy first came to me from her. This book is especially moving, because as I read I chased behind her. On many pages she has left brackets around sentences or words that spoke to her. What a gift.

Highly recommended.

[Rissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paris in the present tense ⭐️

Star reasoning
⭐️The audiobook was done to perfection. And by that I mean, the accent made me love the story more then I would have if I read this.

⭐️ I enjoyed the music aspect because i am a musician and love everything music and the creation of great music.

+1 and also - 1. I feel as though i would really like this but right now its not what i want so im not enjoying it. When i want something like this though it will be perfect.

-2 I didnt feel like there was a sold story. Stuff was happening but it didnt seem to go anywhere.

[Ginger Bensman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fresh, beautiful, unpredictable novel! I loved spending time with Jules Lacour, the novel's protagonist. He is such an engaging and thoughtful character, and the novel has a presence, depth and intimacy, that touched me on so many levels. Loved it!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a perfect book but damn Mark Helprin is such a writer, lying on my couch I am fully immersed in another reality, all my senses, internal and external, 100% alive in his world.

[Sharon McNeil · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first experience reading Mark Helprin. Excellent, I shall read more!!!

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Helprin book, and now I’ll go back for all the others. Beautifully written tale of an old musician’s last adventure, with many other great characters and subplots—I loved it.

[John Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became acquainted with Mark Helprin's immense talent a couple of years ago while experiencing his magnificent epic novel A Soldier of the Great War, a work that still resonates with me after all this time.

In his latest novel Paris in the Present Tense, Helprin presents an unusual protagonist in French septuagenarian Jules Lacour, a music professor, cellist, grieving widower, and doting grandfather. Jules is a quiet, unassuming man who believes "heaven is to be found in simple things." At a time when most people would be preparing to live out their golden years in blissful retirement, he is suddenly rocked by a series of unexpected problems that threaten not only his own life and freedom, but that of his family as well.

It has been said that Mark Helprin luxuriates in words. This complex and beautifully written novel passionately illustrates his great love for language and expression. It is one of those novels that you occasionally find yourself closing after reading only one page, in order to ruminate on its beautiful words. I realized Paris in the Present Tense was something special when I found myself already dreading its conclusion after reading only thirty pages. This is truly a gem.

[kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn’t sure about this as I read but finished and appreciated how well done it was. Paris was my favorite character.

[Rod Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

I must surrender at page 78, a victim of this horribly overwritten, dreadfully dull book. All I could think is how much this is the antithesis of the lean prose of Richard Stark's The Hunter.

Also, as I neared the end of my patience, I started to realize that this is perhaps supposed to be humorous. I mean, not in the way I found it funny how awfully verbose the author is, how many pages it took him to say even the simplest things. But I think this is all intended to be witty and satirical in some urbane way that will never get a chuckle from me.

Done. Now don't I have a John Steinbeck book around here somewhere I can use to cleanse this from my brain?

[Lilisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Mark Helprin book and it was interesting…about a very active 74-year old Jules Lacour who both looks back on his life and lives in the present. There was a lot going on - back to his childhood, active duty in Algeria and his life in France. While taking stock of his life, as well as the challenges his family is facing with the illness of his grandson, he begins to formulate a plan. Throw in a violent episode, plot to help his family, encounter with a very young cellist and then a woman more in his age group and we have far too many coincidences taking place. But this is fiction, and with a lot of self-reflection on Jules' part, the book made for a three-star listen. I’ll probably try another of the author’s book some day.

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love is absolute. It can't be measured or contained It's the one thing that you hold onto as you fall into the abyss....And, like music, it enables you so far to transcend your bounds that you can't even begin to understand it. p25

To be alive is not to be systematized; to be systematized is not to be alive. p55

Mark Helprin's latest novel is essentially a languid meditation on mortality and music. The actions that divide the sections of the book propel it forward and there is a lot of vigorous exercising; there is a murder and a murder investigation. In no way however is this a murder mystery or action packed thriller, just as it is not a tale of a man in his dotage clamping on his young student. Jules Lacour could in fact be anyone attempting to make sense of and perhaps come to terms with their hectic life. His search for meaning may be considered by some as old-fashioned; maybe it is. Maybe the young have accepted the meaninglessness that my generation struggled with. Maybe the notion of integrity has proved irrelevant. Very much anchored in the tense present, aware of his limitations, Jules can lose himself in the past if he allows it, but he wants to determine a more hopeful future for those he is leaving.

Jules had no desire to see a world where one was guided by machines rather than vice versa. p54
Were he not continually moving through fresh air and light he would have no escape from fear and despair. p212

Contemplating the extremes contained in human nature, he is no longer distracted by "a million things happening simultaneously, which blocks... awareness of oblivion." p172

Once, I was animated by ambition. Not only have I failed, but part of the reason ambition has fled is that the people I wanted to impress are dead. Though my own stature is in no way increased, their places have been taken by midgets, idiots, and mediocrities. Impressing such people, even if I could, would be worse than failure. p56

Oblivion and grief, the darkness that gave meaning to life.had turned him away from games, respect for status, and the desire for position, influence, power, or even a good name in the eyes of others. These he rejected in favour of his family and the honor of doing what was right- all conveyed and confirmed by the beauty and flow of the world in transient flashes, in faces, and in the way things came together when seen in tranquility. p172

Streaming throughout are the arpeggios and the sudden changes in tempo, the rise and fade of music. Jules might feel out of synch with the world; a traumatic past, a stubborn adherence to his own exacting standards, and severe performance anxiety have all contributed to hold him back from expressing his full creative potential. How he overcomes the final obstacle to creating his own symphony is the real journey of the novel.

Keeping faith with the theme of my life is more important than living itself. There can be changes in tempo, but one must always preserve the tone. p205

So how does murder fit in with the elegant visions of beauty that elevate his life, now that his beloved wife is long dead and he somewhat impatiently prepares to join her? The echoes of antisemitism jumping out to degrade the democratic pretensions of his country and the racism that never seems to lose its grip on bitter and disillusioned people simmer in the background as events conspire to put his values to the test.

Real power depends on the ebb and flow of events. It comes from riding and floating on them, but it doesn't matter who you are, you're just a passenger. Eventually, you're thrown off or you sink in. p219

I have managed to write this review without major spoilers, avoiding the temptation to bring in the women, and without gushing over the exquisite writing. As always, MH manages to be both precise and sumptuous; tender and detached. It is up to the reader to reflect on this morality tale that is also an elegy, and take what caution we can. The question of where we hang our identity is always open.

Half of humans troubles arise from the inability to see that contradictory propositions can be valid simultaneously. p256