Paris Bound
Book Review

Paris Bound BOOK SYNOPSIS

Professor Roy Musgrave has been "exiled" to the last resting place for teachers - Morocco. He is wasting away the time teaching classes like Spoken English to Moroccan students and living with a housemate by the name of Keith who has a foul mouth and a hatred for anything not British.

On the last day of exams, Nadia breezes in like a breath of fresh air and quickly takes Roy up on his offer of a ride from Morocco to Paris. He is taken with her and excited to explore a possible relationship with this eccentric, and slightly fat, young woman.

As the journey begins the pair fall into a comfortable companionship and their relationship seems to grow as they talk of Paris and marriage. They spend many nights breathless with anticipation in their pitched tent but never take things to the next level, Nadia claiming she wants to wait until they are married.

But it's not all the perfect fairy tale as Roy started off believing. On the road they are met with many strange people and places. What is stranger each time is Nadia's reaction to situations and her apparent affinity for "crediting her husbands account" with expensive items!

By the time they actually reach Paris things are unraveling and the destiny of these two lovers does not seem to be intertwined anymore.

QUEENIE D SAYS

Paris Bound is a perplexing book. The two main characters, Roy and Nadia, are so completely different it's hard to understand how either of them thought they might have a chance at a real relationship. But then, that seems to be the point by the end - Nadia didn't believe it and was just using Roy.

I felt sorry for Roy most of the time because it was apparent to me that she was playing with his emotions. She wanted a ride, she wanted to use his money, and she wanted to steer clear of sexual situations between the two of them. She gives him just enough to keep him wanting more but not enough to blemish her integrity. She may have been quite clever after all. As a female reader it was totally obvious what was happening to poor ol' Roy and pathetic because I can't believe he didn't see it.

The end of Paris Bound did surprise me a little bit but not in the "oh my, I can't believe it!" way. More of a surprise that Roy was surprised. The author does a good job making Roy a pitiable character and Nadia an annoying one. The story itself is a little slow and at times can get to the point where you think enough already, just get to Paris and put yourselves out of shared misery. So when they finally do, it's with a sigh of relief for them and for the reader.

I think the brilliance of this novel is the slow, steady build up to the finale of arriving in Paris. For Roy, it's all sexual tension. He can't wait to get to their "wedding night" hotel in Paris and finally consummate this supposed marriage. For Nadia, it's all a means to an end which she desperately needs to achieve. The mood and tone of the novel is one of anticipation and then it's so unfulfilled that both characters, and the reader included, are utterly let down - but that's life isn’t it?

Paris Bound DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Does Roy truly believe in their love or is it something to occupy his time?
2. For Nadia, Roy was a means to an end. Was she in the wrong or should Roy have known better?
3. Is loneliness the root of many relationships?

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