3.5
Perestroika in Paris
ByPublisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author: a captivating, brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals—and a young boy—whose lives intersect in Paris in this "feel-good escape” (The New York Times).
Paras, short for "Perestroika," is a spirited racehorse at a racetrack west of Paris. One afternoon at dusk, she finds the door of her stall open and—she's a curious filly—wanders all the way to the City of Light. She's dazzled and often mystified by the sights, sounds, and smells around her, but she isn't afraid.
Soon she meets an elegant dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Frida, who knows how to get by without attracting the attention of suspicious Parisians. Paras and Frida coexist for a time in the city's lush green spaces, nourished by Frida's strategic trips to the vegetable market. They keep company with two irrepressible ducks and an opinionated raven. But then Paras meets a human boy, Etienne, and discovers a new, otherworldly part of Paris: the ivy-walled house where the boy and his nearly-one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother live in seclusion.
As the cold weather nears, the unlikeliest of friendships bloom. But how long can a runaway horse stay undiscovered in Paris? How long can a boy keep her hidden and all to himself? Jane Smiley's beguiling new novel is itself an adventure that celebrates curiosity, ingenuity, and the desire of all creatures for true love and freedom.
Paras, short for "Perestroika," is a spirited racehorse at a racetrack west of Paris. One afternoon at dusk, she finds the door of her stall open and—she's a curious filly—wanders all the way to the City of Light. She's dazzled and often mystified by the sights, sounds, and smells around her, but she isn't afraid.
Soon she meets an elegant dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Frida, who knows how to get by without attracting the attention of suspicious Parisians. Paras and Frida coexist for a time in the city's lush green spaces, nourished by Frida's strategic trips to the vegetable market. They keep company with two irrepressible ducks and an opinionated raven. But then Paras meets a human boy, Etienne, and discovers a new, otherworldly part of Paris: the ivy-walled house where the boy and his nearly-one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother live in seclusion.
As the cold weather nears, the unlikeliest of friendships bloom. But how long can a runaway horse stay undiscovered in Paris? How long can a boy keep her hidden and all to himself? Jane Smiley's beguiling new novel is itself an adventure that celebrates curiosity, ingenuity, and the desire of all creatures for true love and freedom.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities189 Reviews
3.5
Malla
Created 4 days agoShare
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“Creative way of representing interactions, growth, relationships and cooperation. It was repetitive at times but entertaining.”
AvalonMoon
Created 8 days agoShare
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“This was a beautiful, low stakes, wholesome read. The writing was lovely and the characters were so endearing. Halfway through the kindle version of this book I checked out the audiobook version, narrated by Suzanne Toren, and it really enhanced my experience to listen as I read. Her narration was excellent! She gave each character their own voice and pronounced all the french beautifully.
I wasn’t sure if I could enjoy a book written in the pov of animals and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did. There are various pov’s in the book: a horse, a crow, a dog, two ducks, two rats, a young boy and his grandmother, a groundskeeper, a baker, a shop owner and a horse trainer! It’s a linear narrative and I was never confused by the multiple pov’s.
Highly recommend to anyone who loves animal stories, is looking for something trigger-free and wholesome or just wants to take a stroll through Paris with a horse and the friends she makes along the way. 💙”
Angela Winfrey O'Rorke
Created 13 days agoShare
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Sarah Mills
Created about 1 month agoShare
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“personally—rare instance where a book would’ve been more affective as a movie”
Heather Cee
Created 2 months agoShare
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About Jane Smiley
JANE SMILEY is the author of numerous novels, including A Thousand Acres, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and most recently, the Last Hundred Years Trilogy: Some Luck, Early Warning, and Golden Age. She is also the author of several works of nonfiction and books for young adults. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she has received the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature. She lives in Northern California.
Other books by Jane Smiley
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