The Parisian

This book is beautifully written. It conjures up the dreams of young characters set against the context of their upbringing and the tragic events of their time. The lead character studying in France is particularly well described. He is challenged by the expectations of his father when he fits more comfortably into the easier life style of his adopted country. The historical background is particularly well used to support the fictional story. The book is sensitive,evocative and challenging.

The Parisian is an epic novel spanning WWI and its aftermath. It is set in Paris and the changing Levant. Borders shift after the First World War and Nationalism is rising in territories once part of Turkey's Empire. The French and British occupy the area. The Jewish population quests for a homeland. Arab nationalism with varying factions seeks independence. It's a novel that has profound relevance for today. It is out of this Nationalism that Syria comes into existence as a state. Through fiction a reader appreciates how past affects both present and future. I could wax lyrical about the political scenario underpinning this book but it is enough to say that the History is seemlessly integrated into the novel's more personal story; that this story is spellbinding and memorable.

Midhat arrives in France after an early education in Istanbul to study medicine in Montpelier. In France he meets the love of his life. Due to misunderstandings and disagreements he removes to Paris where he becomes involved with an expat community. He evolves into the sophisticated and cultured Parisian. The label sticks. Throughout the story's longevity he cannot forget his first love and ,of course ,this does return to haunt him with a seriously sad betrayal which threatens to destroy him. The novel's realism is pitch- perfect. Midhat works for his father and in time he marries as expected. But there are other betrayals to make life hard for Midhat.

The Parisian explores the quest for identity, personal and national. Its pages contain skirmishes in Jerusalem, protests, a spying priest, a hospital of nuns, a portrait of family life, marriage, friendship and what it is to be human. A frisson of danger runs through the book. The writing is beautiful. There are excellent descriptive passages and fabulous fully rounded characterisation. It sparkles like the Levant sea. The novel's scope is reminiscent of other great novels in this genre such as The Jewel in the Crown, The Fortunes of War and Dr Zhivago. The Parisian is a truly gripping novel about a family who dwell in a city close to Jerusalem and this family's fortunes. At its heart is the sorrow of war and a heart-breaking romance. It's a great read.

Wonderfully written - well observed - our Arab protagonist who we track from his first taste of France and the mores of Paris to his eventual revulsion and return home - manages to convey the subtle differences in culture that make him walk away from european life. We sense the oddness from his pov in brilliant ways as his love life, at first with a French woman, and then detecting his otherness to her and her father, with colleagues after an introduction on board ship ... later, married, we see how he has fit into life with barely adequate wife - his story moves us an reaches us across cultural boundaries. Really exceptional ...

This book has received some high praise and its easy to understand why. For a debut novel this book was fantastic. I loved learning about a different era especially as us westerners don’t necessarily see the human beings caught up in the situation, who are essentially just the same as us.

I loved the story but found the characters difficult to warm to - Midhal especially was self absorbed and selfish.

Despite this I would definately recommend this book to family and friends.

Sometimes I write reviews that praise books for keeping me reading through the night and then sometimes there are books that you read slowly because you don't want them to end - this is one such.

This debut novel by a young London writer tells the story of Midhat Kamal, a wealthy medical student in Paris, who “knew the names of his internal organs as ‘le poumon’ and ‘le coeur’ and ‘le cerveau’ and ‘l’encéphale’ ” but never feels quite at home in France. When he returns to his native Nablus, events feel a little unreal and distant at first, such is his nature - but his life, his relationships, his beliefs are turned upside-down time and again. Midhat's journey is set against the story of Palestine in the early C20th and, as Zadie Smith has said: "everything that happens feels not so much imagined as ordained".
Hammad covers a great swathe of history whilst making this an intimate journey for one man - it tells one story, but it tells the many stories of Palestine.