Composed with journalistic language that reads like non-fiction, Paris Metro is a timely study of the issues of the Middle East and their collision with the West. Although dry at times, this was a thoughtful journey through the issues that now affect all of us.

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm still digesting this story. The layers and storylines and sides are still a glorious muddle, much like real life. On the one hand, it's a heart-gripping, heart-wrenching story of a journalist trying to sort through the atrocities she's seen, the stories she's heard, the path life has taken. On the other, it's a beautiful introspection on what it means to be a woman, a journalist, a mother, a British-American living in Paris, a Muslim, a friend, and any other number of identities.

The characters are wonderful and unique and flawed, each with their own voice and quirks. I struggled with the historical events in the beginning because I only have a rudimentary working knowledge of what transpired. But I learned a lot as I progressed and as more recent events were portrayed, I felt I had a more concrete understanding of why. Granted, this is fiction. But it does such an amazing job of forcing the reader to consider the other side of any situation. It doesn't ask you to choose a side but instead asks that you look at something through the eyes of your fellow human who you may not agree with.

I couldn't stop reading this. I would happily, even eagerly, read another book by Wendell Steavenson!

I would recommend this book to everyone. Absolutely everyone.

Wendell Steavenson takes all of our thoughts, impressions, questions, and perceptions about life and death in the Middle East and puts them into a brilliant novel called PARIS METRO.
Kit is a reporter for an American newspaper, and the story covers events from the Iraqi invasion to the Bataclan Club massacre in Paris. Kit narrates the story of her life, the people she loves, and those she meets in her travels.

In 2003, Kit fell in love with Ahmed Solemani in Baghdad. At the time, Ahmed was a fixer for Kit's godfather, Jean, a veteran journalist who managed to get Kit a job and a way into Iraq in the early days of the war. Kit had a British mother and an American father. She grew up traveling the world. Her parents separated when she was very young, and her mother never recovered from the divorce. Kit spent much time with her grandmother in the USA. She didn't know exactly where her father was at any given time. Kit and Ahmed get married but are not always together. They both have jobs that call them away to places where the action is explosive, and a need for people with their skills is needed immediately.

Wendell Steavenson has created a complicated story looking at all sides of the violent crises we have been living with since 9/11. Kit's characterization leads to questions, many of which are unanswerable. She becomes a mother to Ahmed's son, (Little) Ahmed when he is just four. She didn't know he existed until the day his mother died, and he was sent to her husband. Once Kit becomes a mother, things change in her internal world. I think it is that way for many mothers who discover that they must find a way to interpret the world for their children who have questions about everything. The novel is a well-crafted saga of life as a mother of a boy who both loves her and hates her. They do not look alike, do not share cultural or religious values. The boy and his mother are quite the opposite in most ways, and their conflict mirrors the conflict we have facing us in the world today. Who is to blame for all the bloodshed? Who can bring it to an end? These questions make for a typical conversation that Kit's family of friends discuss at dinner, over drinks, after posting stories about the carnage at "Charlie Hebdo."

PARIS METRO is a novel for thinking and examining one's core beliefs. It is a beautiful piece of work about the love for a son and the willingness to do anything for that son. It is a novel that made me question so many things, and I am grateful for WS's work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wendell Steavenson, and W.W. Norton for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an initial response. The publication date for the novel is in March.

This is a slow-burn of a novel. It deals with great compassion and complexity the issue of terrorism and prejudice in the modern world. Kit, an English/American journalist covers the Middle East and meets and marries an Iraqi diplomat, Ahmed. The two marry and have a son, who, in the present day of the novel, is a teenager living with his mother in Paris. Kit feels that she has carved out a safe existence for herself and her son when Paris is attacked (the Charlie Hebdo shooting of 2015) and she has to face prejudice and questions her life, herself and those she has been closest to.