Book Club Guide: The Paris Hours

The Paris Hours: A Novel follows the lives of four main characters during a span of 24 hours in Paris, France in 1927. With beautiful writing, the author connects and overlaps each character’s thought-provoking story–this means there’s a lot of opportunities for discussion. See our suggestions below (and don’t forget to read our book review for The Paris Hours).

Suggested The Paris Hours book club discussion questions:

1. Of the four stories–Camille’s, Jean-Paul’s, Souren’s, and Guilleame’s–was there one you especially connected to?
2. The author has said that he wanted to differentiate his book from others set in Paris by setting “the novel on the streets and in the parks where real Parisians live and work, away from all those famous tourist attractions.” Is that what you were expecting? Why is Paris so often used as a book setting?
3. Several real-life celebrities appear throughout the novel and have significant impact on the characters–Marcel Proust, Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein. Why did the author choose to use celebrities in this way and what impact did have on the story and the writing?
4. Jean-Paul is writing a story that features Americans in Paris and, on page 127, it says: “The Americans’ faith in the regenerative power of new geography astonishes him. It’s a myth, this idea that you can change you are simply by climbing on boat or boarding a train. Some things you cannot leave behind.” Do you agree or disagree? Is this a purely American concept?
5. Another opinion of Jean-Paul’s comes up on page 210: “If Americans behave with such self-satisfied entitlement when they are thousands of miles from home, how on earth do they behave in their own country?” What are your thoughts on that statement? Why do you think Jean-Paul (and others) have this opinion?
6. Creativity is important to the story–performing music, writing stories, painting, creating stories for puppets–how did each character use creativity?
7. The past seemed to haunt each of the main characters; are we ever free from our past?
8. While figuring out what to do, Guillame finds himself in a church speaking to a priest who says “I believe God wants us to be happy….I don’t believe God put us on this earth so we could be miserable. We only get so many chances at happiness. I think we should take every single of them.” (pg. 199) Are you surprised by the priest’s theory? Do you agree? How does that brief conversation affect the book’s ending?
9. What did you think of the ending? What do you think happened (or what do you wish happened) for the four characters?
10. How did the writing style affect the way you thought about the book? Would you have preferred four separate stories? Or the stories told from the first-person?

Other suggestions for your discussion:

• Listen to Passacaille, the third movement of Marice Ravel’s Piano Trio…the author calls it “one of the most sublimely beautiful pieces of music ever written” and it was the basis for the tune mentioned throughout the book.
• Decorate with old tourism posters from Paris.
• If you’re in a bigger city, you can probably find an art-themed restaurant or cafe to host your discussion.
• Learn more about the Armenian Genocide of 1915; discuss why it isn’t often included in history books.
• Listen to the album “Vintage Paris Jazz” while you talk; you’ll feel like you’re in a Parisian club.