What do readers think of Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba? Write your own review.

Wow, was this book well researched and the life of women under Nazi occupation meticulously documented! I don't think I have ever seen this much data accumulated and presented in just under 400 pages outside of academia. While I greatly appreciated getting a detailed look at the very complicated, stressful and dangerous situation of living in Paris during this time frame,

With presentation of this massive amount of data comes complications, some of which Anne Sebba did not overcome. Because she chose to tell the story in almost strict chronological order, the stories of individuals were at times disconnected and hard to follow. Because there were literally hundreds of stories, facts and names of individuals, I found it hard at times to follow the thread of connection. She also, at times, used French phrases without translations or a context that I understood, which I found very distracting. And at times put in a quote, from some one famous at the time, which I found did not add any better understanding to the story she was trying to tell.

Even with those criticisms, I felt I learned a lot about an incredibly sad period in our history. These are the types of stories that need to be told and retold, so that we never forget.

I enjoyed this book. I really didn't know very much at all about Nazi regime in Paris. It got a bit bogged down in places, but overall it was a good read.

Les Parisiennes covers the history of women in occupied France during World War II. All aspects are addressed from heroism and sacrifice to fraternizing with and aiding the Nazi occupiers. The occupation and post war period is covered year by year. Best are the stories of individuals and personal experiences, many of which prove to be quite powerful. Unfortunately since many of these stories are covered in short segments appearing throughout the book, some prove difficult to follow. But overall Les Parisiennes is a long overdue and vital overview of a historically neglected part of World War II.

This is a very, very dense scholarly book concerning the women of Paris during WWII. I ended up reading it as a collection of brief episodes as it was difficult to follow any one person's activities because of the chronological order of events and the various names used by the women during the course of the war. The "Cast list" was almost useless as women were listed under their family name, or their husband's name, or their resistance name, etc, but not all of them.

There are many French language phrases and words used throughout the book without translation.

You really need a very good working history of France and WWII to understand the enormity of places and events mentioned in passing, ie, the Hiv d'Vel roundup, Ravensbruck medical experiments, the Comet Line and others.
I would not recommend this book to my book group although I did appreciate the work that went into the writing of the book.

Anne Sebba's history of the German occupation of Paris, seen through the eyes of its women, has much to recommend it. The book is extensively researched, using both primary and secondary sources, and covers the impact of the Paris Occupation by the Nazis from a variety of perspectives: the social and artistic elite, the fashion community, collaborators, Resistance participants, Jews, mothers - in addition to providing lots of contextual information. The cast of characters provided at the end of the book is an essential item, so many women are discussed. In fact that strength is also a huge problem. The book is organized chronologically, with chapters named by year. A character first discussed in 1940 may not show up again until 1944 - so keeping a story line in mind (when there are nearly 100 women on the list and lots of men show up in this book ,too) is nearly impossible. The material is just not well organized, and that makes the book very frustrating. The subject is fascinating but this presentation of it is just not very satisfying.

This book was a very long 381 pages. The first 100 pages read like treacle, the middle read well, and the end seemed to never come. The content, women's lives during the occupation of Paris by the Nazis is very important information that should not be lost. But many people will give up on this book because the organization is difficult to follow. For that I am sad. It seemed to me the parts that were fleshed out with historical context were fascinating. But especially the beginning did not have sufficient historical context to hold the attention. It seemed to be bits and pieces of a story. Because of its presentation I don't think I can recall much of the history that I read. There were two quotes, already mentioned in previous reviews that increased my understanding of the world.

I looked forward to reading this book as I thought it would be similar to Erik Larsen's style of telling an historical story. I was especially excited as it was a woman author expressing women's voices. I was moved to tears by the Forward and the author's recollection of attending a WWII surviving women's event in Paris. However, the book did not live up to my expectations. To me, the reading became tedious because we never really got to know any of the women quoted in the book. Instead, the reader was presented with short descriptions or quotes from so many woman it destroyed the continuity and I lost the thread of the story. I was hoping to learn more about women had to go through during the war, and I didn't learn anything that I didn't know already.