The Beasts of Paris by Stef Penney

On July 15th, we met to discuss 'The Beasts of Paris' by Stef Penney.

Several of the group had read 'Tenderness of Wolves' by the same author and loved it - and the short option for this review is to say "if you want to read a Stef Penny novel, read the Wolves one, not the Paris one". But there was a discussion, and it's only fair that we attempt to summarise it!

On the positive side, there was some interesting social and not-so-social history involved. Not many of us had heard of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, but to be honest this book wouldn't be the best way to find out about it. It's such a 'bitty' novel, held together by the characters. They all had interesting back stories but were, in the context of the novel, little more than ciphers to hang the novel on in place of a plot.

Not all of us finished the book, or even started it. Daunted by its thickness and small type size one member gave the publisher, if not the book, a thumbs down. One of us got distracted researching the siege of Paris. And another browsed one of the most famous incidents of the Siege - what people had to eat. Both the 'distracted' readers concluded the side-quests were more interesting than the novel, and couldn't pick it back up again.

However, it did have its fans. Several of us loved getting our teeth into such an interesting book; the development of Anne from exhibit in the Paris asylum to a strong female character drew some people in; and others really enjoyed the way it made history feel real and the emotional depths of the characters.

There were strong political points to be made about social classes and who are most affected by War. Facing starvation, commoners resorted to eating horses, rats, cats, and dogs. The rich, who had stockpiled food, could also dine in restaurants on exotica such as kangaroo stew, zebra steaks, elephant trunk rissoles, stuffed donkey head, and bear chops when many animals from the city menagerie were sacrificed.

Several of us empathised with some of the characters, using our experiences of lockdown as a minor taste of the restrictions a siege would bring. The Beasts of Paris in the title were very definitely human.

All in all, our conclusions on 'The Beasts of Paris' were a very mixed bag - almost a contradictory mixed bag. Were we all reading the same book, or can we just blame the heatwave? The majority of us gave a thumbs up, but nobody would enthusiastically recommend it to someone else.