Liberating Paris : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous First Novel - Can't Wait for the Next!
Review: Fabulous first novel by multi-talented Linda Bloodworth-Thomas. I love to read Pat Conroy, Ann Rivers Siddons and Dorothea Frank and consider this book to be in the same genre. Well-developed, very likable characters populate a quick moving and touching story about taking a fresh look at life and our loved ones.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: Fun read for a rainy weekend. The relationships of the six friends pull you in, and you don't want to let them go. I was especially touched by the love the friends showed for their friend Jeter who is paralyzed. After hearing the author speak of her cousin who she based Jeter on, I felt it was even more special.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: I loved every minute of this book. It touched my heart. I experienced so many emotions and identified with these characters in a rare way for me. I believe the author is extremely talented and I, for one, will be waiting for all books and movies she has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly involving
Review: I loved this book! I truly hated for it to end. When I saw the author's name, I thought I'd probably like the book because I enjoy Southern fiction. No one knows the South and fewer write better than Thompson. I won't bother with a summary; others have done that already. Truth is stranger than fiction, and some of the reviews that I read mentioned that some of the characters' actions didn't ring true. I work with young people and nothing surprises me now.

I loved Thompson's tv series', and I look forward to whatever she writes next. She is wonderful, talented, and observant.


Rating:
Summary: Bravo, Ms. Thomason!! Outstanding!
Review: I'm a voracious reader, and normally post my books for sale on Amazon as soon as I finish them. This book, however, has earned the title "A Keeper" in my personal collection...one of those books that I hold on to, and read over and over again.

The story is not original, but the author's voice certainly is. I laughed (hooted, actually) out loud, I sobbed, and in the end, I was enlightened. In the words of a beloved high school lit teacher, "Liberating Paris" manages to be "teachy without being preachy". High praise, indeed.

This is southern fiction at its very best, with a cast of characters that anyone who's ever lived in a small town will immediately recognize. Even though I stayed up until 1 a.m. to finish it, that didn't keep me from wanting it to go on forever. I eagerly await Ms. Thomason's next novel.

Rating:
Summary: This Arkansas woman loved "Liberating Paris"
Review: If you liked the movie, "Love Actually," then you'll love "Liberating Paris" by Linda Bloodworth Thomason. Similar to Hugh Grant's hit movie, this book has multiple characters with multiple plots. The first chapter of the book leads the reader to believe the story will focus on one character - Wood McIlmore and his wife, Milan. But it's only a few chapters into the book that you realize you're going to know the intimate details of the lives of many other characters.

I only have one complaint about the book - Bloodworth Thomason does not seem to know Paris, Arkansas, as well as she should, given her story is set there. Less than 10 miles away from the small town of Paris is the town of Subiaco, Arkansas, which is comprised mainly of a large, Catholic, all-boys boarding school. Subiaco and Paris are "sister" cities, yet Subi was not mentioned once. Also, residents in Paris often travel to the nearest "big city" - Fort Smith, Arkansas - yet, it also wasn't mentioned. Bloodworth Thomason should have learned a little more about this area.

However, still worth a read!

Rating:
Summary: Liberating Reading
Review: In Linda Bloodsworth Thomason's first novel, Liberating Paris, Thomason plays on her strength of character development to create a rich and lively story full of wit and wisdom in a sleepy Arkansas town.

Liberating Paris chronicles the life-altering year for one group of old friends in Paris, Arkansas. Woodrow MacKelmore, better known as Wood, is at the center of this group. He comes from a well-respected family, and carries on the family's good name first as a star football player, then later as the town's favorite physician. But with the emotional pain of his father's death, he begins to ask himself a lot of questions, and begins making a lot of careless decisions.

Milan MacKelmore, Wood's wife, comes from a very different background, from poverty and a drunken useless father who kills himself right in front of her when she is still a teen. Then there's Earl Brundidge Jr., a single dad with two young girls. He owns the local liquor store and in a crusade to change the way the rest of America views people from Arkansas he meets an independent but sweet New Yorker named Charlotte. He even talks her into visiting Paris. Other outrageous characters that round out the bunch include: Mavis Pinkerton, Milan's oldest, dearest friend, who owns her own bakery and makes the best pastries in town; Carl Jeter, who became a quadriplegic at seventeen during a highschool football game and took to writing beautiful poetry; and finally, Duff, Wood's high school sweetheart, now an IHOP waitress, and a troublemaker. She hasn't been a part of the group in Paris for twenty years, but when her son goes off to college and falls in love with Wood and Milan's daughter, history rises up and knocks everyone off balance.

Thomason also takes aim at Wal-Mart and its destruction of small town main streets by injecting the plot of "Fed-Mart" in and out of the main story. Had the "Fed-Mart" storyline been more carefully weaved into the text of the ongoing lives, it would have made for a stronger message. Instead, the political agenda often overpowered the story, interrupting the flow and repeating a message already stated in a slightly different way. Ironically, the characters are so well-developed and the imagery of downtown is so alive and rich, that thee sad truth about downtowns and the reasons for their demise would likely have come through without ever mentioning "Fed-Mart".

I've recommend this book for its hilarity, refreshing vibrancy and rich, poignancy, and colorful characters. I've read some reviews that criticized Thomason's characters as being "unbelievable," but as someone born and raised in a small town in southeast Missouri, I found them quite believable, even reminiscent of people I knew growing up. In Liberating Paris, Thomason's genius for telling stories is in full force.

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Rating:
Summary: A witty, hilarious tale filled with pathos and hope
Review: Linda Bloodworth Thomason shows the same creativity she used as a writer for such television programs as "M*A*S*H" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in LIBERATING PARIS. The book's title leads a reader to anticipate a story about World War II. However, Thomason's first novel is set in Paris, Arkansas. Six childhood friends mature and deal with evolutions in each of their lives that affect the others. In addition, the town's face has changed and the characters must deal with the manifestations of that development.

Woodrow McIlmore the Third, "Wood" to his friends, is the epitome of success in his hometown of Paris, Arkansas. Married to the perfect wife, Milan, father of Charlie and Elizabeth, beloved town doctor Wood enters middle age with a generous lot of blessings. He reflects on his past and those souls whose influence has been the greatest in his life, at the funeral service for his father, Dr. Woodrow McIlmore, Jr.

Five compatriots from childhood join with Wood in his grief. Earl Brundidge, Jr., Mavis Pinkerton and Carl Jeter, along with Milan, share memories that none will forget. The unmentioned sixth member of the friends' group has moved from Paris. Her name is rarely mentioned. Wood's mother Slim is a woman's libber before her time and encourages them in unconventional behavior (for the era).

A complication in the form of one Sidney Garfinkel is apparent at the funeral. He offers consolation to Slim, and Wood resents him for interfering with his mother's grief. To intensify matters further, Elizabeth announces that she has fallen in love with and plans to marry the following summer Luke Childs, son of the maligned sixth member of Wood's friendship circle.

As Mavis puts it to Milan, "Do you really think it would matter that much to Elizabeth if she knew that her daddy had a - an affair with her fiancée's mother?"

Kathleen Duffer, "Duff," anticipates a joyful reunion with her former lover when their children decide to marry. But she's reluctant to renew a friendship with Milan, her rival for Wood's affection. Now divorced, her mid-life femininity renews with a vengeance. Wood finds himself once more the prize for the victor of the sexual battle.

The group evolves in life changes, but their friendships stand time's tests. Mavis discovers sexual realities and makes life-altering decisions. Jeter's life as a paraplegic takes on new meaning when he joins her in those choices. Brundidge, divorced father of two little girls, discovers a new relationship that will ultimately change him.

Thomason's witty dialogue and humorous metaphors make for a hilarious story, but one that is filled with pathos and hope as well. Underlying the problems faced, the six friends tackle feelings about the major event in Paris, a large discount Fed-Mart store. Small-town business will change forever.

My initial reaction to LIBERATING PARIS, with its misleading title, was cautious. Initially I wasn't certain that I would discover its redeeming qualities, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not the world-famous liberation of a great city but the emancipation of individuals in a tiny community fascinated me. LIBERATING PARIS is about ordinary people dealing with change in small-town USA, about bittersweet lives in a real world.

--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad

Rating:
Summary: Good, but....
Review: Parts of this book made me laugh out loud, parts made me cry, and Jeter's poem and some of the words from his journals took my breath away. That said, I felt the novel was a little disjointed. I'd find myself getting into a character or situation, then -- bam! -- we're off to another character or story, and I'd be thinking, "wait -- finish telling us about this, please!" I also felt the novel could have used a couple more proofreads, since there were some grammatical errors. Overall I enjoyed the novel, but probably not enough to recommend it to my friend who always asks me what she should read next. It would make a good movie.

(One minor rant: As the owner of an Austin Healey, I think any author who writes about one in a novel should first know how to spell it.)

Rating:
Summary: Loved every minute of it!!
Review: This was such a wonderful book! I fell in love with almost everyone from the sweet little town of Paris, Arkansas right away. Once I picked this book up I wasn't able to put it down. I became hooked pretty much from the get-go.

The story centers around a group of 5 friends. Wood McIlmore, the town doctor, and his socially perfect wife Milan. Mavis...the owner of the local bake shop, Brundidge...who runs the liquor store and is always impeccably dressed...and Jeter, their quadriplegic (due to a football accident in high school) friend who resides at the nursing home.

As Ms. Thomason takes us deeper and deeper into the lives of these 5 people, you actually begin to feel like you've know them all your life. The problems this group faces singularly, and as a whole grabs your attention and won't let go till you've finished the book. A lot of ground is covered in this story, infidelity, suicide, murder, interracial couples, homosexuality, the slow death of small town America, and the importance of friends in our lives.

I definitely recommend this book. If you're looking for a satisfying read, you'll most certainly find it here. I can't wait for Ms. Thomason to come out with another novel. I loved Designing Women, I loved this book, and I have high hopes for the next tale she graces us with.