A sumptuous depiction of Paris in the 1980s, complete with food, art, fashion, and urban legends. Ruth Reichl enters the world of fiction with her story about Stella, a play-it-safe woman who finds herself on a whirlwind trip to Paris. When she finds an almost magical dress in a random shop, her whole life begins to bloom. Suddenly, she's tasting food like a chef, joining a community of expats in a bookstore, and befriending the locals. Inspired by an artist and model that she finds in an impressionist painting, suddenly Stella is tracking down the artist, and simultaneously tracking down her biological father.

While the plot is prone to wandering, the strength of this novel is the feelings evoked. Readers will become fully immersed in Parisian food, culture, and art, and will savor every last page.

Stella did not have a great relationship with her somewhat free-spirited mother and sought structure in her childhood and often played things safe. When her mom dies, she leaves her daughter some money with the caveat that it must be used for a trip to Paris. Stella finds this to be a frivolous request but goes on the trip anyway. Once in Paris she discovers the power of good food and in her search for new dishes and the paintings of an artist, also finds herself looking for her unknown father with the help of her new acquaintances. Overall, a story about a woman trying to not only discover part of her past, but also find a way forward and take more chances.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

The Paris Novel was a richly written novel that so heavily focused on Paris I felt like I was living it. While some of it felt like overkill, it was still a fantastic read!

When Stella's estranged mother dies, she discovers the only think her mom left her was some money and a note that said, "Go to Paris," and the rest of the story tells of her adventures there. Stella spends most of the first part of her trip living frugally, but when she passes a small vintage boutique, she goes inside. The saleswoman insists she try on a particular Dior dress then gives her instructions for the rest of her day there. Stella discovers a whole new Paris - and a whole new Stella. She eventually visits Shakespeare and Co and becomes a "tumbleweed" there - helping out at the famous bookstore and sleeping there. There was a lot of name-dropping, which I mostly didn't mind, and there was a lot of specific description of Paris, Having never been there, I couldn't quite picture the scenes, and I did skim over those sections. But Reichl's descriptions of food were fabulous, as expected from a food writer, editor, and chef. Thank-you to NetGalley, Random House, and Ms. Reichl for the ARC of this title.

In The Paris Novel, Reichl leverages her descriptive powers most beautifully in depictions of the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of Paris. Unsurprisingly, her descriptions of dining experiences, eating, and cooking are delightfully rendered. Throughout the book, the reader is immersed with Stella in exploration of her personal/familial history, and a simultaneous exploration of the senses as she learns to inhabit new aspects of herself in an entirely new landscape of belonging.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for this ARC copy for review.

I thought this was really cute! Would be a fun beach read/airplane book. Had similar vibes to Eat, Pray, Love but was lighter (and fictional!)

This novel was a fun romp through Paris.
Stella, the main character was Celia's only child, a lonely wallflower without friends. Celia was a larger than life woman and when she dies, she left Stella a round trip ticket to Paris and instructions to convert her remaining funds into travelers checks. Thus began Stella's Paris adventure where she checked into a modest hotel and pretty much kept to herself , following her safe predictable life.
Her first adventure was going into a designer resale shop where she found a gorgeous vintage YSL dress that was the first dress that he designed for Dior. The proprietor told her to wear it and return it the next day if it didn't change her life. Well, it did change her life as she met the man whose wife had originally purchased the dress and he introduced her to another side of Paris and the France. Without any spoilers - their story brought Stella self-discovery and confidence that she never possessed before. Coupled with her experiences with George Whitman and the Shakespeare & Co bookstore, Stella's transformation was great to follow. I must admit however, that I thought there were too many coincidences to the story. Also, I doubt that Stella would have had a palate sophisticated enough to discern the nuances of the French dishes that she ate. With a nod to the author - she did a masterful job describing these epicurean encounters.
The secondary story in this novel was Stella's research and discovery. Although this was not the main story, I found it more interesting than the adventure through Paris. I liked her search for paintings by a female artist as well as her search for her father.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and liked this novel; the opinions expressed are my own. Rated 3.5

Ruth Reichl's Save Me the Plums is one of my all time favorite books. Finding out that Ruth Reichl had written a novel, I was all in and requested it from Net Galley right away. There were some things I really loved about this book. It is truly a love letter to Paris. Reading about some of the classic Parisian places (Shakespeare and Company) and neighborhoods was like taking a trip. The descriptions of food and dinners are what Reichl does better than almost anyone. That said, I think this novel may have been better as a short story. I found it dragged in parts, which I never normally feel about Reichl's writing.
3.5 stars

Truly just a sweet, earnest treat of a novel that made me smile and also made me very hungry! perhaps much of what happens in this book is implausible, and maybe there's not much in the way of plot, but it can't be denied that i had an absolute blast with this book. just a really easy and delightful read

Ruth Reichl's books are a warm hug and this was no different! The setting, the food writing, it swept me off my feet. Recommend to anyone who needs a comfort read!!

While some of the dialogue and plot points felt forced, overall lovely sumptuous descriptions of food, fashion and Paris. A great escape.

I have read one of Reichl’s memoirs and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Paris Novel is a work of fiction. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I thought that the plot was a bit contrived.

Reichl transports the reader to Paris in the 1980’s: its neighborhoods, its restaurants, and its museums. The famous Paris bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, and its owner, George Whitman, play a large role in the story.

The novel has a cast of quirky and likeable characters as well as the inclusion of real-life literary figures and chefs. Stella, the main character, is in her early 30’s. She had a very lonely childhood. Stella never knew the identity of her father. Her mother was self-absorbed and thought of Stella as an inconvenience. With this upbringing and the fact that she was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend, Stella developed a lot of coping skills and rituals which enabled her to function in society.

The bulk of this coming-of-age story takes place in Paris after the death of Stella’s mother. Her mother’s will leaves Stella some money with instructions to take a trip to Paris. Going to Paris is not in her comfort zone, but eventually, Stella takes time off from her job at a publishing house in New York City and goes to France. In Paris, Stella makes friends and has some adventures. She is intrigued by the woman in one of the paintings by Manet and she embarks on a quest to discover more about her. Stella also discovers a passion for food.

Overall, a good book. I found it to be a light and quick read. Reichl is masterful with her descriptions of food, fashion, art, and setting. I felt like I was in France!

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for providing me with an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.
I did so much love the idea of Ruth Reichl writing a piece of fiction based in Paris, visiting so many of my very favourite haunts. I think possibly, I favour her memoir writing more. This isn’t to fault the author-I imagine I just put my previous experience with her wonderful non-fiction food writing into my expectations of this book. Ultimately, the character of Stella felt too young or undeveloped for my tastes. I’ll be curious to see if she tackles another novel. I do hope she does!

By the way, I wound up purchasing this novel as an audiobook and thought Kiiri Sandy did a wonderful job at narrating.

I love a book about food. Throw in a little fashion and the setting of Paris, and I'm hooked. Ruth Reichl's extensive knowledge of food is expertly showcased in this novel as she tells the story of Stella whose estranged mother has left her a ticket to Paris as her inheritance. Stella finds her true self as she discovers why her mother wanted her to go on this adventure. Highly recommend. Thank you netgalley for this arc.

What a fascinating look at the literary salons and epicurean delights of Paris in the 80s. I enjoyed the visits with notable authors, chefs, and other celebrities of the time. Stella’s quest to find more information about an artist leads to discoveries in her own life that will have you intrigued. It wasn’t that the subject matter didn’t thrill me or that Stella wasn’t lovable, but for some reason this just didn’t hold my interest, regardless of all the wonderful things that happened throughout the book.

I loved this book so much!! Much of my pleasure I think was because I got to visit Paris last year and I loved reading about the places I’d seen, and learning a little history about them. It is a bit tropey & cliche, but in the *best* way. Another review I read described this book as “part fairy tale” and I couldn’t agree more. I loved reading about Stella’s journey from a rigid, unhappy person to someone who learned to take risks & trust people. And of course, the food descriptions were divine. No one can write about food & cooking like Ruth Reichl & parts of this book literally made my mouth water. And makes me want to go back to Paris ❤️

Something about this book just turned me off. I kept trying to back to it but I couldn’t finish it. I feel like the tone was off and it just didn’t do it for me, which surprised me because I’m always into tales of Paris, real or imagined. Perhaps I wasn’t the audience.

2.5 stars rounded up.

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl was not for me. There is a scene very early on which disgusted me and I should have deleted this book at that point. This is Ms. Reichl’s second novel and she should probably stick to non-fiction.

The scenes in Shakespeare & Company and the food scenes are great but there’s just too much going on in this book that made it seem disjointed. Then it ended with a “romance” in the last couple of chapters.

Overall, this book just was not good to me.

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the advanced e-copy of #theparisnovel.

This book is like a fresh baguette just out of the oven. The way Ruth Reichl brought Paris to life took me back to my days growing up there. I didn't quite connect with Stella as much as with Billie in Delicious but it was still a very enjoyable read.