The Paris Library: A Novel

“People are awkward, they don’t always know what to do or say. Don’t hold it against them. You never know what’s in their hearts.”

Advising her daughter, Lily’s mother teaches her not to judge people. Perhaps speaking about Lily’s father who works many hours and is a man of few words, Lily’s mother tries to explain the depth of his love. The author repeatedly emphasizes people’s complexities.

“He covered my foot with his. ‘And I need you. Without toi, there’s no moi.’”

Rémy says this to his twin sister Odile when he goes to the Library to see if she got the job instead of going to a rally. The author invokes the French language to describe the relationship between people. The language has a formal version of you and an informal one for close friends and family. Here Rémy not only invokes the informal version but emphasizes his close relationship to his twin by saying without you, there is no me. When Rémy later dies, Odile loses part of herself.

“I tucked the bills into my pocket. This was the real reason I wanted the job: Money equaled stability. I refused to end up destitute and alone like Aunt Caroline.”

Profoundly impacted by her mother’s unwillingness to help Aunt Caro after a divorce, Odile recognizes the need for women to have their own financial security. The author exposes the precariousness of any woman’s position via this tale of Aunt Caro. Additionally, her mother’s treatment of Aunt Caro leads Odile to question the possibility of unconditional love.

“‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ There was more I could have told her, but in my family, we didn’t discuss our feelings.”

In this moment, Odile recognizes what a true friend she has in Margaret, who has given her courage and reminded her of the beauty of the French language. The author repeatedly emphasizes the importance of friendship. Later, Odile regrets not speaking these words and not acting as a true friend to Margaret.

“Grief is a sea made of your own tears. Salty swells cover the dark depths you must swim at your own pace. It takes time to build stamina. Some days, my arms sliced through the water, and I felt things would be okay, the shore wasn’t so far off. Then one memory, one moment would nearly drown me […].”

Describing her grief over the loss of her mother, Lily articulates the depth of the pain in such a loss. Odile suffered much loss in her life—the deaths of her twin brother, son, and husband as well as the loss of Margaret’s friendship. Both have this experience of grief in common. In appreciating the way that grief can grab one unexpectedly, Odile’s having survived so much grief is remarkable.

“‘What war?’ she tittered. ‘Europe is tired, no one wants to fight.’ ‘You’re delusional,’ Professor Cohen said. ‘Children fight over toys, men over territory.’”

Professor Cohen—one of the few to see the coming threat of World War II—responds to the scold, to Madame Simon, and to all who doubted a looming war. Most were oblivious to the danger, putting their heads in the sand while Germany prepared for war. In this passage, Professor Cohen highlights the inevitability of war given men’s nature.

“But seriously, why books. Because no other thing possesses that mystical faculty to make people see with other people’s eyes. The Library is a bridge of books between cultures.”

Convincing the French press of the benefits of Miss Reeder’s Soldiers’ Service, which would send books to French and British troops, Odile highlights the Library’s important contribution during the War. Books can transport people away from their own situation into the world of others. A story can change the reader forever; it can impart wisdom, empathy, and perspective.

“A library is a sanctuary of facts, but now rumors made their way into the periodical room, where Professor Cohen and Mme. Simon chatted at the table.”

As the Germans are about to occupy Paris, fear grips everyone. No one can concentrate on reading given the uncertainties. Still, the Library provides a place for people to gather and support one another. Ironically, Professor Cohen has much to fear from Madame Simon, who later turns her in to the Nazis.

“There was not another soul on the vast Concorde Square, not a single car motoring down the Champs-Ѐlysées, France’s grandest traffic hazard. In the liveliest city in the world, she could hear a pin drop. The stillness was strange. She’d never felt so alone.”

Immediately after the Nazi occupation, Miss Reeder describes an unrecognizable Paris on her way to the Library. The spectacle of Nazis in the City of Light, a symbol of “Enlightenment,” is devastating. With the Nazis in power, Miss Reeder must fight to keep the Library, a source of light, open. It represents a worldview antithetical to that of the Nazis.

“Paul looks angry enough to kill someone. He says his job now consists of directing traffic for the Nazis. They ordered him to wear white gloves, which make him feel like ‘a goddamn butler.’”

In her letter to Rémy, Odile describes Paul’s growing anger. He isn’t in the resistance but is working for the Nazis. He depicts himself as simply a cog in the machine but is seething with self-loathing. Paul’s uncontrolled anger, which this passage foreshadows, eventually destroys his relationship with Odile.

“‘Your books are lucky,’ I said, eyeing her shelves. ‘They have an exact place they should be. They know who they’re next to. I wish I had a Dewey Decimal number.’”

Speaking to Odile, Lily articulates her search for her place in the world. Odile has always loved the Dewey Decimal system for its placement of books into the proper categories. Encouraging Lily to think what her number would be, Odile assures Lily that the two are kindred spirits who will always have a place for each other.

“I’d assumed the Nazi would be an illiterate brute. Instead, he worked at the most prestigious library in Berlin.”

Referring to Dr. Fuchs on his first visit to inspect the American Library, Odile expresses surprise that he supports keeping the Library open and assures them that books needn’t be destroyed. The author exposes the complexity of some of the Nazi occupiers in Dr Fuchs’s support of Miss Reeder and the Library. Still, when leaving, he tells Miss Reeder that certain people, namely Jewish Parisians, may not enter. This shows that the intellectually sophisticated are just as capable of evil as illiterate brutes.

“I wondered how we could tell the professor that she was no longer welcome. I wondered how we could face our Jewish subscribers. I wondered if we would deny children books. Of course, the diktat went deeper than books. The Bibliotheksschutz demanded that we cut subscribers from the fabric of our community.”

Following Dr. Fuchs’ order to exclude Jewish subscribers from the Library, Odile realizes the horror of its repercussions. The author personalizes the story via Professor Cohen and invokes the image of that hurt if multiplied by all the subscribers. This order causes the Library staff to plot a means of resistance: They soon begin delivering books to Jewish subscribers.

“Anyway, calculus paled next to Odile’s lesson: Love is accepting someone, all parts of them, even the ones you don’t like or understand.”

As Eleanor struggles to care for two babies, Lily does an enormous share of the work at home. Lily often feels as though she doesn’t count at home, but—much like the geography lesson she learned about girls in China—loves her family. While she’s unhappy with Eleanor’s reliance on her, she lets her grades slip for now as an act of love.

“When I heard Professor Cohen’s collection had been pillaged, I boxed up my books and took them to her. Stealing books is like desecrating graves.”

The author’s love for books is apparent in Mr. Pryce-Jones’s remark about the Nazis’ theft of the Professor’s collection. The books that one accumulates and retains over a lifetime are personal. Each person has distinct tastes and finds comfort in different types of stories. Robbing someone of that is barbaric. Mr. Pryce-Jones offers his books to the Professor as an act of solidarity. In reality, though, her collection is irreplaceable.

“Your father’s old, he won’t change. And dogs don’t have kittens, so you’re as stubborn as he. The only thing you can change is the way you see him.”

After Odile expresses her frustration with her father for wanting to marry her off quickly, Professor Cohen encourages her to speak with him and explain why she wants to wait for Rémy. The author brings forth her message of accepting people as they are via this advice.

“In any case, I never could have finished it without you. Not only for the books you brought for my research, but your company and kindness. You became my window to Paris. Books and ideas are like blood; they need to circulate, and they keep us alive. You’ve reminded me that there’s good in the world.”

Referring to her book, which won’t be published because she’s Jewish, Professor Cohen emphasizes the importance of books and the life of the mind. Through this character, the author expresses the significance of small acts of resistance and the comfort that books can bring. Professor Cohen, cut off from public life, remains a part of the community through Odile’s visits and her research.

“Someone needs to tell the bastard that the decent thing for him to do would be to pay for a Library subscription.”

When the Gestapo bursts into Boris’s card game, he remembers that Odile said these words about the spy in the Library. That spy is now leading the Gestapo on the raid and shoots Boris, who is laughing at the memory of Odile’s words. The author thus exposes the insecurity of these brutes, who want people to fear them. The greatest insult is to laugh at them, at their absurdity.

“‘Denunciations,’ Papa said reluctantly. ‘We call them crow letters.’ ‘Crow letters?’ ‘From black-hearted people who spy on neighbors, colleagues, and friends. Even family members.’”

Odile’s father’s job is to investigate and follow up on these anonymous tips. Parisians reported their friends and neighbors and sometimes profited from their subsequent arrests. Forever haunted by these betrayals of friendship and community, Odile later advises Lily never to divulge a friend’s secrets. One should never allow petty motivations to influence conduct.

“Meetings that had once teemed with staff had dwindled to the secretary, the caretaker, Bitsi, Boris, Margaret, me, and Clara de Chambrun.”

As the war dragged on, many members of the American Library must leave Paris. Some are interned as “enemy aliens.” Despite having a skeleton crew, however, the Library remains open. The staff does its best to keep the life of the mind alive for all its subscribers. It’s a beacon of hope in a world of darkness.

“She stared out the window, and I knew it was because she couldn’t bear to look at me. I had no right to dig in her closet, to rifle through her past.”

When Lily confronts Odile after being caught reading her personal correspondence, Odile is horrified that Lily suspected her of writing a crow letter. This is the worst possible thing that a person could do, in Odile’s mind. She sends Lily away, refusing to speak with her. Lily must seek forgiveness from Odile, who withholds it for a time before reuniting with her friend.

“She was right. This wasn’t a parade, it was a mob. There was no stopping them. People were savages; I’d had years of proof. ‘Bastard, bastard,’ they chanted. ‘Son of a whore!’”

Holding a crying infant, a man swings the child around while the crowd chants. Behind him, two men drag the infant’s naked mother, who they deem guilty of consorting with the Nazis. Parisians imitated their oppressors’ behavior after the Liberation. The Nazis didn’t have a monopoly on savagery.

“‘The thing about friendship is that you won’t always be at the same place at the same time,’ Odile said. ‘Remember when you had your hands full with Ellie and the boys? It’s Mary Louise’s turn to be busy. First love is like that. It takes all your time.’”

Drawing on her own experiences with a destroyed friendship, Odile advises Lily that jealousy is normal but urges her to give Mary Louise space and to have patience. If Lily respects Mary Louise’s needs, Odile insists, she’ll come back to Lily, which is what happens.