A Paris Odyssey

This was an easy and enjoyable read. I am planning a trip to Paris and this book gave me ideas on sights that I must see. The characters of the book were pleasant. I could feel the anguish that the main character had when he arrived in Paris and suffered the fate of being a victim of being pick pocketed, Losing his keys. Money , credit cards and passport. Thankfully that was resolved without much fan fare.

A Paris Odyssey was indeed an appropriate title. It was long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience that was had.

A big thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is part of a series but reads well as a stand alone. The character says the same but the local changes. These books are about joy, trials and freedom. Exploring new places. I enjoyed this book. 4 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read A Paris Odyssey by Axel Forrester. The protag, Grant Decker, is delightful; refreshingly exuberant and curious. He had what were, to me, honest reactions to his experiences in Paris. I remember having some of those very same reactions to similar experiences during my first visit. The realization that i was truly, finally, in Paris, having a cup of coffee and a croissant. It is no small thing to experience that rush of joy., just as Grant Decker did.
And his openness to adventure helps him meet wonderfully eccentric and interesting people. Very enjoyable read, and a gorgeous cover. I adored reading this lovely, funny, sweet book.

Grant Decker, an American photographer living in Cornwall, arrives in Paris to find he has been pick-pocketed and has no wallet, passport or keys.

Grant doesn’t speak French, despite his wife, Katie, having tried to teach him a few words and he is fortunate to discover very quickly that Paris is a city of colourful characters, one of whom, a man who appears homeless, takes pity on him and buys him a coffee.

Whilst I absolutely loved this book, set in one of my favourite cities in the world, with the opportunity to see it afresh, through the eyes of a photographer, I did feel the initial part of the story, where Grant discovers he has been robbed, added little to the story, other than to portray him as naive and almost child-like, which I didn’t find him to be as the book progressed. I was also not convinced that a homeless man would buy a traveller a coffee nor that a cafe would give him a crepe on the house the following day, simply because he didn’t have the correct change.

Moving on from the initial part of the book though, I was captivated. The beautifully written descriptions of sights, sounds and smells, made me feel like I was right there in Paris, sharing in Grant’s journey as he discovers croissants and crepes that taste better than he could ever have imagined, beggars and buskers on the metro and his observance of the Parisians as they react to their quirky companions, and Centre Pompidou with it’s eclectic mix of street performers.

Grant befriends a group of street performers on their break and as they take him under their wing, he slowly discovers what makes them who they are, what has drawn this unlikely group together and how strong their loyalty is to each other.

“What drew me were the vagabonds, the crêpe makers, the performers. Just people, struggling to have a life in Paris. People with talents and troubles. Who were one thing on the outside and another on the inside. Like the rest of us.”

Grant sees “their” Paris, rather than the usual tourist traps and through them, he is able to find “his” Paris, and to find the depth he has been lacking in his photography and, as his boss in Cornwall had put it, to “grow as an artist”.

I was able to relate to Grant as he found the less obvious sights in Paris utterly captivating;
“I soon found myself before a strange and beautiful window. It was a store that sold paper. There were several huge picture windows each featuring a gorgeous display of thick, luxurious sheets. What it was used for, I didn’t have a clue, but was astounded to learn I could get excited about paper.”

Riding the metro, wandering the streets, cemeteries and islands, the reader is taken on a beautiful journey into the heart of Paris and it’s people.

4.5 stars, rounded to 5. Thank you to NetGalley and the author for giving me an ARC, in return for an honest review.

A Paris Odyssey is the third book in the Odyssey series by Axel Forrester.

When I found this one on Netgalley, I realised that I hadn't yet read the second story - A Chinese Odyssey. Fortunately they are all short stories and only takes an hour or two to read each, so I went and read the previous first; I definitely recommend reading them all in order!

In this instalment Grant heads to Paris (surprise, surprise!) for a few weeks to get inspired by Parisian life and develop his art - again his cameras are the main instruments.

Using his cameras and a lot of walking he explores mainly the non-touristy parts of Paris; all made even more interesting with the characterful people he gets to know and hangs out with.

As with Forrester's two previous stories, it is part autobiography, part fiction, written like a diary documenting life in Paris. What you see is what you get and a great way to explore a new place.

I wonder where Grant is heading next!

Not a very long book, less than 200 pages. A photographer has the opportunity to live in his bosses apartment for a month and photograph Paris. What an amazing opportunity.

He is pickpocketed before exiting the train station. (Another reviewer commented that it is highly unlikely that someone on the train would have taken such pity on the man and purchased a coffee for him before sending him off in the right direction. Agreed.) His money, credit cards, everything but his cameras are gone .. and the address of where he is going.

This short story describes the cast of characters that the author meets in Paris; most of them being street performers.

It was a quick read. Most of the books I read don’t have a 40+ year old male as the central point of view (although I can think of a couple recent exceptions … Big Two-Hearted River: Centennial Edition by Ernest Hemingway and Bear Necessity by James Gould-Bourn which also – interestingly - included street performers). I really enjoyed this male perspective. Probably a case of just what I needed at the time; but I really enjoyed it. Evidently there are several other Odyssey books in the series; this is the first book that I’ve read by this author/Axel Forrester. I didn’t feel like I had missed anything by reading this book first.

Thank you to NetGalley for introducing me to (yet again) a “new to me” author Axel Forrester. Thank you to Axel Forrester and publisher BooksGoSocial for approving my request to review the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Debating between 4 and 5 stars; but deciding to round up. It was just the book I needed at the time. Not a lot of conflict, but a nice easy story.

I enjoyed this story! This felt like I was watching a stream of consciousness type of move- not in the writing style, but in the way the story was portrayed. This book gave me travel- nostalgia, going back to my European adventure several years ago (pre-covid) and how exciting, terrifying, calming, and wonderful it was to explore new cities and people. I felt kinda pressured to see the main character, Grant, as some naïve, lost soul, and I just couldn't wrap my head around that-- he is a grown man with plenty of travel experience, I fully sympathized with him in the beginning when he is the victim of pickpocketing, but after that (and the constant references to Hemingway) I just didn't feel much for him as a character.
Overall, this is a quick and easy read showcasing the beauty of Paris and its people.
Thank you for the ARC!!!

This is a very short book but I must say a quite enjoyable one as I started ready and finished before I even knew it. Although I now realise it is the third book in a series I didn't feel as if I had missed anything and I felt as if I was on a holiday right along with all the characters in the book.

The main character Grant Decker takes you on a ride, an adventure, a journey. So easy to read and yet a nice story. There is humour, magic, fun, adventure and life lessons to be learned from this book and I now look forward to reading what else this author has written.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

At first I thought this was a memoir, the details sounded to true and the narrator so authentic. Then I realized that the novel about a man, Grant the photographer on his first trip to Paris, was written by a woman! This really didn't matter, in the long run.

The details of how Grant is robbed by professional pickpockets of his wallet, passport, and other IDs, and how easy it was to have them replaced at the American Embassy, rang so true. I had heard about pickpockets in all the major cities of the world.

I enjoyed the character's candid comments on visiting the famed catacombs, the underground tunnels of Paris filled with human bones from over the centuries. It's a place I have decided I'd never visit, as I hate anything speaking of horror!

The visit to the Louvre was also interesting, especially as Grant was in the company of a motley crew of street impersonators whom he spent most of his time with during his three to four week stay in Paris.

The people he decided to hang out with on the streets of Paris - the impersonators - seemed to be not only bizarre, but almost homeless, and Grant had to feed them most of the time. They seemed unreal yet authentic at the same time, and I wonder how much of what the author wrote in this novel is close to the truth of the streets of Paris, away from the tourist spots.

An enjoyable read, so much so I've decided to read Forrester's previous novel, A Chinese Odyssey.

How lucky is this photographer given the opportunity to photograph Paris? This short story describes the cast of characters that the author meets in the streets of Paris. This book is part of a series.

A celebration of the many facets of Paris, including history, background and modern views. This is a charming, yet fun, story of the main character, Grant, as he explores Paris. His adventures start with being pickpocketed before leaving the train station on his arrival and his struggles finding his way through the city. I enjoyed the descriptions and his interactions with the people he encounters.

The book is an enjoyable fast read. I want to thank Net Galley, Books Go Social and author, Axel Forrester for the opportunity to read this joyful book in exchange for an honest review.