Paris in the Present Tense: A Novel

Mark Helprin wrote one of my top 3 favorite books, A Soldier of the Great War, so I had high expectations for this novel. In addition to the many other accolades posted here & on other sites, I'd have to add it's perhaps the best book I've read in 5 years. His poetic style, his come-alive cityscapes, his characters full of longing & paradox, his "sweet revenge" against corporations & bureaucracies: it's all here. I had to pace myself to savor his book slowly because I could have read it in one sitting. All I can say, is thank you, Mr. Helprin & bless you. Please, keep writing & don't make us wait too long for the next treasure.

I love Paris and classical music, so I picked this book to read because its subject appealed to me. I was very disappointed. The cloying prose, the melodramatic, unbelievable plot, the cliched characters and their cliched lives, and the author's bombastic political ideas turned me off and did not bring one bit of illumination to classical music or contemporary Paris. I would not recommend this novel to anyone.

Beautiful descriptions highlight this book--of L.A. from the air (my favorite) and many beautiful passages describing Paris. The theme of music resonates throughout the book and story. Plot is the weakness--many coincidences--but the plot isn't the main point of the book. Some of France's current dilemmas are part of the story--racism and tolerance of differences, making it very contemporary. This book also tackles moral dilemmas, especially when a lifetime of honesty, integrity, and loyalty are called into question. I found the book thought provoking.

But not this book!
The only interesting characters are the dumb policemen.
Way too many words and descriptions of all things from love to topsoil, from music to carrots, from Nazis to big insurance companies.

Really tedious reading with very little satisfaction in the end.

... required reading for every Stupid Old Man Baby Boomer in America who retains a modicum of courage and heroism and is a sucker for beauty in all its forms - and of course, the capacity for love of a good woman.

His books from the 80s and 90s were brilliant. This book? Not clever in any way. No great story or meaning that I could discern. Sort of a holocaust story meets Bridges of Madison County? Sorry. I will always respect Helprin for A Winter’s Tale and Soldier, but this book? I just didn’t see the purpose.

Helprin is the only writer going who combines exquisite phrasing with exquisite and important thought, always within the construct of the classical novel form. There are writers who are great with phrasing, or rumination/philosophizing, or sometimes (but rarely) even both. But to be able to achieve both, and frequently, while staying within an important and compelling story, within the complete novel form.........that's a feat so rare that it's almost disheartening to read Helprin knowing that at 70, he may not have many/any left in him. For the sake of the novel today, I sure hope not.

I am happy to join the other reviewers who really liked this novel. It is very well-written, often evoking great beauty. I, too, became attached to Jules Lacour, as we followed his life and loves and music. There is so much in the novel, yes, reflections on life and love, but also music, without which the novel does not exist. A subplot involves French anti-Semitism, which the author would have us believe is on the increase along with Muslim immigration and a rightward trend in general. The prospect is scary, given how it once dominated France and its neighbors. Wrap it all up, this novel evokes feelings in the reader that linger as the pages turn. Well worth reading.

(Audio CD version) I can't give this absorbing, sad, humorous book 5 stars because I found the ending a bit of a let-down. (Not enough followup info, just, well, it ends.) Let's first say the audio CD version was wonderful, the kind of wonderful where you sit in the parking lot at work and listen to the CDs in your car instead of going in to work. The different voices and accents were entertaining, and the exceptional pronunciation of French words carried me back to Paris, where i have passed many, many vacations.

The first quarter of the book is a bit discombobulated, but you will see why the author edited the book this way as you progress deep into the story. Stick with it. I almost didn't. The story takes off about 1/3 of the way through. If you are a Francophile who loves Paris, this will be the best book you have read in quite a while.

I should add I have not heard of this author but i will now seek out his other works.

This is a beautiful novel about how an elderly but vibrant man who faces disaster in almost every aspect of his life finds a way to turn the disasters into good. The novel describes how this Frenchman pulls the various threads of his life -- hiding from the Nazis from birth to age four, then made an orphan by them during the liberation; a soldier in Algeria; a loving marriage, but now a widower; a mediocre professional career performing and teaching the cello; his only grandchild fighting leukemia; confronting antisemitism in contemporary Paris; a sudden December-May romance with a student -- together in a way true to his principles and beneficial to those he most cares about.

Mark Helprin is a master of prose and while the novel deals with serious themes -- some at length in conversations and events, others seemingly in passing -- the book makes easy and enjoyable reading.

The story unfolds in surprising ways. Some characters are introduced in independent chapter-length sketches with no obvious connection to the story. When they finally enter the main action Helprin brings their back-stories to fulfillment. With other characters, he artfully suggests what will become of them after the protagonist's story concludes.

The main theme of this novel is how to live a good life. Along with spinning out this theme in a compelling way, Helprin discusses some cracks in our contemporary culture. A rich, enjoyable, and exceptional novel, artful at the highest level.

this novel will appeal to those who regard certain parts of Paris as the next thing to Paradise. Helprin not surprisingly has a low opinion of Americans. He regards the brutal Occupation by the Germans in WW2 as a sad era but pleased that Paris picked itself up after the Germans had left. He voices all opinions through his main character jULES LACOUT . This character view is that the Arabs living in FRANCE will never be part of French culture as the teaching of the Koran is contrary to FRENCH tradition. However he regards the place of JEWS in FRENCH society in spite of DREYFUS as accepted in spite of the danger to JEWS who openly show signs of their JEWISH faith being attacked by anti-Semitic groups. JULES has a passion for classical music and

the novel beautifully records a love affair around a cello. Jules suffers from stage fright and it is suggested that his career has been ruined as a result but the possibility of studio recording is never contemplated.
Women are treated as beautiful objects by Jules which i think works well with FRENCH readers. SOMETIMES
Helprin likes to convey the thought that listening to the music Jules appreciates is like being in HEAVEN..
It is HELPRIN'S description of parts of PARIS AT TIMES DURING THE YEAR is so chaming which made for me the most memorable aspect of the novel

First the good. Helprin is an exceptional writer and his feeling for the essences of the human condition is unsurpassed. In fact I regard his "A Soldier of the Great War" as one of my all-time favorite novels. While not quite at that level "Paris..." is pretty darn close in terms of lyricism and scene-setting, and Helprin gets additional points here for developing and nailing the connection between music and the spiritual. But, unfortunately, there are some unforced errors. The most egregious is having the protagonist, Jules, regard almost every female (young, old or deceased) he encounters as the most beautiful creature in the universe and not only instantly falling in love, but sensing that the feeling is instantaneously reciprocal. After reading repeated lengthy descriptions of each woman's perfection a definite numbness and compulsion to skim sets in. Secondly, in Helprin's attempt to wrap his observations around a plot, he comes up with one that has distinct holes and depends way too much on repeated coincidences. Finally, about a half-dozen times in the book we get "treated" to Abbot and Costello comedy routine-like interactions that just don't belong in this kind of a book. On the whole, though, It's another fine novel by a uniquely gifted author

A wonderfully written novel telling the story of a Jewish man who was born during the German occupation of France. By jumping back and forth through time we are told the life story of Jules Lacour. He is a man who can fall in love with a woman at first sight, and play entire pieces of classical music in his mind. He is a character who will stick in my mind for a very long time.

This is a beautifully written novel. Through the eyes of the septuagenarian protagonist Jules Lacour, a secular Jew who survived the Holocaust by being hidden as a child, we slip effortlessly between observations of the present and reveries of the past, challenging how we view what we are now seeing through the prism of memory. We are also pulled along by a plot line driven by an old man’s need for ready cash for a grandson who needs cancer treatment (and whom we never meet in the novel). This gives Helprin the device of unexpected plot turns and twists, in which he can discuss human frailty, greed, romantic attraction, and fate leavened by a wonderful (and sometimes sarcastic) eye for the humor in life.

This novel is told from the viewpoint of its narrator, Jules Lacour, with occasional relief as it follows two police partners in their investigation of a case. Jules is a musician who deeply responds not just to music, but the sounds of Paris, Paris itself and its interaction with changing light, and to the women he falls in love with almost at first sight.

Helprin is good at conveying emotion, while his descriptive prose is a mixed bag. The following illustrates the good and then the bad: “Like remnants of Pacific spray sparkling in the sun, a million swimming pools were sprinkled across the hills, ravines and flats of Los Angeles, ….Veins of blinding molten silver in newly burgeoning watercourses testified to a recent October rain.” There is a serious tone throughout this novel, but Helprin does have a public intellectual ruefully reflect that “Instead, I’ve lived like a caffeinated parrot”.

The narrator’s reflections tend to be repetitious, and there is a lack of nuance. At 5 years old he lost his parents to the retreating German Army, to which he attributes his lack of interest in success (does he protest too much), while it is also stated elsewhere that he freezes while playing in public as if success would somehow be a betrayal of his parents. His tragic youth does not interfere with his ability to take joy in so much.

First of all, I loved the poetry, fluidity and beauty in Mark Helprin's prose. I read the book around a trip to Paris, and it was fun to relate to places I had recently seen. As a 70's year old, I found the mood and insights of the book to be relevant. Did I love it, not really, because who wants to have to deal with aging and death. But you do.
I must add that I love Helprin's writing, although I don't like everything that he has written. No rose colored glasses.

This is a captivating novel for anyone who has spent time in Paris. The author captures that spark of the city that lies before you even when just nibbling a croissant in a sidewalk cafe, or strolling along the Seine. There is a magic to the city, only amplified by knowing how often the city has figured in the dynamics of history. The plot is less satisfying than the descriptions of the city. Too many incredible twists in the plot make the final 50 pages all but a shaking-your-head resolution. There is power in Helprin's dialogue, covering the role of art and music and fidelity in a society that ranks money often above all else. This is a good read, well-written, and transformative for a reader sensitive to what a life apart from the rat race can endow.

The novel fulfills what the author says he strives for. "Not advocacy, which is a distortion of that idea, but, to echo Keats, truth and beauty."
With so much advocacy and distortion in the world, Helprin tolled a bell for me that I can't stop hearing. I have recommended this book to everyone I know. I have read most of Helprin's novels, savoring them, rereading, absorbing his prose like nourishment into my bones.

I listened to the marvelous audio version by a seasoned narrator who added his depth of emotion to the experience.

Paris in the Present Tense sheds brilliant light into the past, future, and most of all the present. To compare it to War and Peace is not hyperbole.
Thank you, thank you, Mark Helprin. You deserve more than 5 stars.

An excellent book by Helprin, far better than his last, much different than but on the same plane of excellence as A Winter's Tale.
Beautiful prose, death with honor, and an honest look at the Jew-hatred prevalent in France today, emanating mostly from Muslims and their allies on the left.

What a beautiful masterpiece. I have to confess that having come off of a couple of lightweight books, I looked at this book as a challenge, but almost immediately I was caught up in the elegance of language and dialogue. I cannot recommend it enough.

First of all, I loved the poetry, fluidity and beauty in Mark Helprin's prose. I read the book around a trip to Paris, and it was fun to relate to places I had recently seen. As a 70's year old, I found the mood and insights of the book to be relevant. Did I love it, not really, because who wants to have to deal with aging and death. But you do.
I must add that I love Helprin's writing, although I don't like everything that he has written. No rose colored glasses.

This is a captivating novel for anyone who has spent time in Paris. The author captures that spark of the city that lies before you even when just nibbling a croissant in a sidewalk cafe, or strolling along the Seine. There is a magic to the city, only amplified by knowing how often the city has figured in the dynamics of history. The plot is less satisfying than the descriptions of the city. Too many incredible twists in the plot make the final 50 pages all but a shaking-your-head resolution. There is power in Helprin's dialogue, covering the role of art and music and fidelity in a society that ranks money often above all else. This is a good read, well-written, and transformative for a reader sensitive to what a life apart from the rat race can endow.

The novel fulfills what the author says he strives for. "Not advocacy, which is a distortion of that idea, but, to echo Keats, truth and beauty."
With so much advocacy and distortion in the world, Helprin tolled a bell for me that I can't stop hearing. I have recommended this book to everyone I know. I have read most of Helprin's novels, savoring them, rereading, absorbing his prose like nourishment into my bones.

I listened to the marvelous audio version by a seasoned narrator who added his depth of emotion to the experience.

Paris in the Present Tense sheds brilliant light into the past, future, and most of all the present. To compare it to War and Peace is not hyperbole.
Thank you, thank you, Mark Helprin. You deserve more than 5 stars.

An excellent book by Helprin, far better than his last, much different than but on the same plane of excellence as A Winter's Tale.
Beautiful prose, death with honor, and an honest look at the Jew-hatred prevalent in France today, emanating mostly from Muslims and their allies on the left.

What a beautiful masterpiece. I have to confess that having come off of a couple of lightweight books, I looked at this book as a challenge, but almost immediately I was caught up in the elegance of language and dialogue. I cannot recommend it enough.

Sigh, I am breathless at the end . The writing , the story, the stories, the music of this book are a delight to read . This is my first book by Mark Helprin but not my last. I found many times while reading that I had to slow down to savor the writing and found much to reread. Highly recommend this book .

A beautiful novel, a wonderful read! Great writing (other than a couple of missteps like "Paul Roget" champagne rather than the correct "Paul Roger" and "stationary" rather than the needed "stationery.") A lovely story, well-plotted and well worth the reading. I highly recommend it!

Easy to read and kept my interest. The character development is phenom and you fall in love with who he is and what makes him him. Spoiler alert, its so poetic and shakespearean the ending was exactly what you wanted it to be. loved it.

As magnificient as any book written by Mark Helprin. He writes about my beloved city of Paris, where I was born and lived many years, which makes it even more touching and personal. My only question is this: why is Jules' daughter called Cathérine? The correct spelling in French is "Catherine". I should know, since it is my name also, and I am French. If anybody has an explanation, we would love to know!

Comfortable to read. Never need to worry about silly word choices and weird sentence structures while reading. My first Helprin's book. After reading the first page, I realized that Helprin is a trustworthy writer and decided to buy this novel. Enjoyed it on vacation.

The language and descriptions are heavenly. I will read it again because it is like the best story and then to have poetry type of sentences as a plus. I had to write a regular letter to express my gratitude for getting to experience the best book and I will continue to read all the others Mr. Helprin wrote that I have not read. What a joy!

I so enjoyed the vivid descriptions, the wisdom, the characters and the action! Yes, the action! It is such a thoughtful lovely book, yet I couldn’t wait to see what happened next... all the way to the very end.

Half liked, half couldn't stand. So many words. Lyricism is good when succinct. He falls in love that hard, that often? What about what he did. . . A hero? The end justifies the means? Not a fan.

Paris in the Present Tense is beautiful and timeless. It’s wonderfully written and heart-warmingly cathartic: I cheered for, cried with, and laughed at Jules. Mark Helprin’s latest flows like a river to the sea: I found myself re-reading passages aloud to hear the artistic majesty (much like listening to a favourite musical passage again and again), but perhaps also subconsciously to stem the tide of the oncoming ending. When I would turn off my light at night and drift off to sleep, I would revisit all of the sights, sounds, and smells. Paris in the Present Tense is brilliant in every sense. Mark Helprin is truly a genius.

Mark Helprin is a throwback to an era of literary lions writing novels of social significance. And, oh boy, is this latest ever a dandy! Some readers might find it be overly teachy -- yet since the main character, Jules Lacour, is a 74-year-old music instructor preparing for his own demise, that fault is much like the flaw in a diamond, part of the package. To live and love in 'Paris in the Present Tense' requires the reader to take heed of the real world as refracted through the novel's lens, which does not shirk from presenting that which is detestable cheek-to-jowl with that which is worthy. At the risk of sounding like a 'trigger warning', I believe anyone prepared to invest their sensibility in reading this novel ought to know in advance that this is serious stuff, Literature deserving of the title.

Half liked, half couldn't stand. So many words. Lyricism is good when succinct. He falls in love that hard, that often? What about what he did. . . A hero? The end justifies the means? Not a fan.