Fran cooper is a lyrical writer, almost ethereal in fact. Frm what I've read this far it is perhaps too ethereal and I couldn't understand why k should be interested in these characters.

“How many other people have stood here, she asks herself. How many sleepless feet have trodden these boards?”

‘These Dividing Walls’ is an interesting tale as it could be described a social commentary. Very topical (particularly for the French) but really for all of Western society, as this one building is like a microcosm of society. Played against this is an array of characters that face their own personal struggles and battle their own inner demons. On the whole, there is really not much of an overall plot, but rather, a reflective study on character and society.

The author takes a group of very different people and reflects on the range of their reactions to some of the current upheavals in today’s society. It is well written, with on the whole, believable characters and of course, it is very topical. Personal stories - loneliness, grief, depression, prejudice, lose - played out against the wider political situation - immigration, unemployment - in France where tensions are about to boil over. Will the end bring about reconciliation? unification? renewal?

‘These Dividing Walls’ is a clever literary fictional commentary that can be viewed as either a social dissertation or simply a tale of people living in the same building brought together through a crisis situation.



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

Stories about people in apartment buildings are a bit like stories about groups of school mates for me – you invariably have a mixed bunch of characters who are tied together because they have one (physical) thing in a common – a building. I generally quite like these stories, which is why I picked up Fran Cooper’s These Dividing Walls (the very pretty cover also swayed me).

These Dividing Walls is about a particular apartment building in Paris. It’s described beautifully, just as I imagine the quintessential apartment building in Paris to be – a courtyard, heavy wooden doors, flower boxes, winding staircases, a garret room at the top and, the pièce de résistance, a bookshop at the bottom.

There’s a mix of characters, dominated by Frédérique, the book shop owner, and Edward, a visiting Brit, in Paris to grieve the sudden death of his sister.

Thankfully Cooper avoids a stereotypical cast and her descriptions of the apartment block residents are playful and intriguing. However, afforded the opportunity to assemble an unlikely group of characters, Cooper takes it one step further and throws in some unlikely plot twists. When you’re building a story around characters whose lives would not ordinarily cross paths, I think their interactions must be believable. And it’s enough for the plot to be dominated by these interactions. Unfortunately, in These Dividing Walls, the interactions felt contrived, the characters built around pushing a certain (political) agenda and there were too many parallel story-lines that had to be hastily resolved at the end.

There are some lovely passages in this book – an awkward one-night stand described as “…a night where the only bits that bumped were the bits you didn’t want to – a long percussion of teeth and noses” and some sensitive thoughts on grieving – “…everything that had suffocated her before in its intensity turned now a cushion against pain; scar tissue around her heart” but these sat alongside the ‘action’, upsetting the pace.

2/5 Not for me but don’t let that stop you.

I received my copy of These Dividing Walls from the publisher, Hachette Australia, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A topical read which gives insight into living in Paris. Loved the story and the characters.

In one building in Paris, its residents simmer in their stories of loss–of children, family, independence, romantic love, employment, hope. Divided by more than just walls, when riots break out in Paris, the building’s residents’ lives interconnect with violent and sad consequences.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this title. My review will go live closer to release date for you - on 1 May - on both my blog and Goodreads. I will also share on social media at that time. The full transcript is below and I will add a link to where it will be on my blog once live.

I found These Dividing Walls both a delightful and thought-provoking read. On the one hand it is the tale of a disparate group of people, all dwelling within the same Parisian apartment building, all with their own worries and hang-ups; on the other hand it is a thoughtful commentary on the issues facing us in current times with regard to hatred, fear, and intolerance. The characters are all beautifully drawn, and the social commentary weaves effortlessly through the story without being too 'in your face' or preachy. I found this book difficult to put down each night; I was so taken with the characters' stories, wondering what would happen to them next. These Dividing Walls is a wonderful literary fiction work that can be read as either social commentary or a simple tale of the interactions between a group of very different people and their various reactions to the same situation.