These Dividing Walls

This was really special. Lovely to read something set in contemporary Paris. It's a city that holds really special memories for me yet I don't know it that well.
The lives of the residents are so neatly yet gently interwoven, and the political unrest backdrop, so timely at the moment, gives a really authentic backdrop. The eruption of violence in the city such a contrast to the meandering lives of our main characters.

A tale of love, loss, grief, loneliness, intolerance that is just all the richer for being set in Paris.

Such a beautifully written book!
It's easy to fall in love with Paris and it's chic and romantic lifestyle but this novel goes behind the shiny veneer and gives us a glimpse of what can really lie lurking, in this precocious city,
All the inhabitants at number 37 in a distinct corner of Paris live their complicated and interconnecting lives dealing with the darker and the sometimes, more real side of human nature. As a negative energy seems to rise you begin to see how easy it is for a blame culture to develop.
Essential reading.

Such a cleverly interwoven plot. The interconnections between each of the characters is effortlessly portrayed as we witness the whole spectrum of emotions and complex parallel lives residng under one roof in a seemingly ordinary corner of Paris. A deeply affecting, intelligent read.

Paris is easy to love, isn't it? Think of the sleek, chic boulevards and grand buildings; the art, department stores and pavement cafes... But this is only the side of the city that the tourists see. Over on the rive gauche, in a quiet apartment building, a group of mismatched inhabitants deal with another face of the world's most romantic destination. In these rooms, jumbled cheek-by-jowl and yet rarely connecting, the inhabitants of number thirty-seven live their complicated parallel lives, negotiating the paths of grief, love, loneliness, failure and a growing sense of hatred. For this is a sweltering summer and tensions are rising, directed against a scapegoat 'other'. In this, Fran Cooper's debut novel has its finger firmly on the pulse of a world in which tolerance hangs by a fraying thread.

When I began reading the novel, I thought it was going to be a bit like one of Frederik Backman's stories, focused on the members of one particular block and their inner lives. But, as I read more, it became clear that this isn't that kind of ultimately heartwarming escapism. These Dividing Walls goes beyond the divisions inherent in architecture, to look at deeper divisions of tolerance, attitude and acceptance. It's a book very much of its time, focusing in on questions that exercise us all at the moment. What makes us French (or British, for that matter)? Is it the colour of our skin; our religion; where we were born; or where we've chosen to make our home? How do we react when bigots hide their prejudices behind a cosy desire to 'keep things as they've always been'? Do we spit venom at the nameless mob of migrants who, we've been assured, are stealing our jobs and plotting to kill us all? Or do we take time to get to know those around us for the people they are?

This book chimes with modern concerns and taps into the current conversation about nationality, immigration and the obligations of common decency. The thing is that, because Cooper is dealing with such a topical subject, she risks seeing world events run away with her. Things have already moved on a little since she wrote this novel, although not to the point of outdating it, but one wonders how the world stage will stand in May, by the time the book is published. Perhaps it doesn't matter. It's a novel, after all, and it's as much about emotional resilience and healing as it is about intolerance - though, unsurprisingly, it's the latter theme which resonates. Timely and thoughtful, it's perhaps one of the first novels to reflect back the state of our current society. And, even in one of the most photogenic cities, it ain't a pretty sight.

The full review will be published on 21 April 2017 at the following link:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/04/21/these-dividing-walls-fran-cooper/