“Nerdection Must Read”
American man, Scott Carpenter has spent decades living in Paris with his wife Anne. With Anne falling ill, her memories dissolved by the inescapable fog of Alzheimer’s, Scott wanders around the 13th Arrondissement alone, reflecting on married life, culture, and his interests. He captures the minutiae of Parisian life, all delivered in short postcard stories enveloped with wit, humor and heart cleaving grief. The City of Light soothes Scott’s like nothing else can. Its stereotypes, both maintained and subverted, viewed through the unique lens of Scott’s perception, rejuvenate him just enough to seek out a life beyond his loss. Readers receive an honest Paris with this book; a panoramic view of real life beneath the curated touristic facade presented by popular culture.
Spoiler-Free Plot
Unlike most midwestern transplants, Scott has a history with Paris. He wasn’t coaxed into a life in France as an adolescent on the horizon of real adulthood, spoonfed the commodified image of the European country by films and social media posts until the desire to pitch their fortunes spilled out of them, no longer able to be contained. Nor did he arrive as a retiree, eager to see what all the fuss is about, wishing to sample pastries, wines and cheeses to spite their advancing age and the inevitable deterioration of health. A family trip taken as a ten year old introduced him to the city where he learns the importance of souvenirs. How an item can be bound to something more than what it is. Re inspiring the urge to collect souvenirs for himself once his designated keeper of the past can no longer fulfill their role.
After existing as a part of a pair for so long, venturing out onto the streets, or even reposing in the comfort of one’s own home feels like a life altering condition; something vital has been lost. The imbalance of reality and Scott’s attempt to find his level warms the heart from its saccharinity and hilarity.
My Take on Paris Lost and Found
Scott is an inwardly interesting man, and as such, everything external recounted through his point of view entertains. I have laughed and cried, often at the same time, while reading this book; this intimate mosaic of memories. Every mention of Anne and the struggles of managing her condition shatters the heart. The shards aren’t meant to cut so deep—Scott’s valiant efforts to add extra padding to these sharp edges does not go unnoticed. Each dole of humor acts as a lacquer, gluing the broken pieces back together, so that grief and joie de vivre can find a stable coexistence.
And who knew that the mundane held more profound meaning than what was visible to the naked eye? Mr. Carpenter’s charm, which lies somewhere above sardonic and somewhere below infallibility, serves as the perfect antidote to Paris’ polished image. He may not welcome the comparison (or maybe he will), but the way he expresses himself does come across as quite Baudelaire-esque. His stories do not get carried away with the grandiosity or haughtiness expected from the location they aim to capture. They too are a distillation of Paris, of his little slice of residential life. He too becomes an element of the city. Just as he feasts upon the lives of its inhabitants from a measured distance, so is his own existence consumed by other passersby, by readers, by fellow aspirants looking to one day weave themselves into Paris’ peculiar yet beguiling tapestry. The description of Paris as a magnet, attracting people towards it like iron filings as it did with Scott and Anne—having sampled morsels of their personalities throughout this book—brings up an interesting thought about why Paris is the way that it is. Their idiosyncrasies perpetuate the city’s causality dilemma; does it attract the type of people who possess the specific type of “madness” required to comfortably call it home, or does the “madness” latch on to those who make the move into its borders, overseeing their transformation into a Parisian?
Like the soiled sheets of the chateau turned BnB Anne was once tasked to wash clean, the romanticisation of Paris is stripped all the way back. If this book makes one fall in love with the city, it’ll be for what it authentically is; its quirks, frustrating qualities, little magic and all.
Age Rating
14 years and above
Content Warning
Alzheimer’s, Bodily Functions, Death, Foul Language, Rats
About The Author Of Paris Lost and Found
Maybe it was the early job at a uranium mine. Perhaps it’s his fascination with the Paris catacombs. For whatever reason, acclaimed author Scott Dominic Carpenter relishes telling stories from beneath life’s mundane surface. A professor of French literature and creative writing at Carleton College, Scott Dominic Carpenter’s books include the 2021 Midwest Bookstore Bestseller French Like Moi: A Midwesterner in Paris, for which he was given a Next Generation Indie Book Award, and This Jealous Earth, a collection of short stories. In 2018, Carpenter won the Mark Twain House Royal Nonesuch Award, a national humor writing contest. His award-winning first novel, Theory of Remainders, a Kirkus Best Book of 2013, is currently under option by a major motion picture production company. Always searching for the next unexpected story, Scott Dominic Carpenter splits his time between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Paris, France.
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