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Leaving Paris
A decade after the events chronicled in Conquering Venus and Remain In Light, Irene Laureux, Martin Paige and Christian Kigali are confronted by a journalist who has uncovered their connection to the Paris underworld. Meanwhile, a plot by the chief of police, Michel Arnaud, to stem the tide of immigrants ensnares Christian's father and brings unrest to the City of Light. And in Memphis, Diane Jacobs finds herself on the verge of divorce, caring for her elderly father and, once again, on a collision course with former student David McLaren, whose self-destructiveness threatens Martin's life half a world away."
- GenresFiction
308 pages, Paperback
Published April 15, 2016
2 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Collin Kelley
25 books84 followersCollin Kelley is the author of Wonder & Wreckage: New & Selected Poems, 1993-2023 (Poetry Atlanta Press). His other collections include Midnight in a Perfect World (Sibling Rivalry Press), Better To Travel (Poetry Atlanta Press), Slow To Burn (Seven Kitchens Press), After the Poison (Finishing Line Press) and Render (Sibling Rivalry Press), chosen by the American Library Association for its 2014 Over the Rainbow Book List. Kelley is also the author of The Venus Trilogy of novels – Conquering Venus, Remain In Light and Leaving Paris – also published by Sibling Rivalry Press. Remain In Light was the runner-up for the 2013 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Fiction and a 2012 finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. He is also the author of the short story collection, Kiss Shot (Amazon Kindle Exclusive). Kelley’s poetry, reviews, essays and interviews have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 7, 2017
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
The timeline of CCLaP's history is also roughly the timeline of Collin Kelley's "Venus" trilogy; we received the first volume from him, 2009's Conquering Venus , not long after opening for business, read through the second, Remain in Light , a few years later, and are just now checking out the conclusion, last summer's Leaving Paris which came out while we were on hiatus in 2016 from accepting new books for review. A sprawling tale that covers multiple generations, two continents, and a political conspiracy that gets deeper with each book, it's ultimately the story of two main people -- Martin Paige, a young gay American southerner who finds himself in and out of various complicated relationships over the years, and Irene Laureux, a now elderly veteran of the 1968 Paris student riots, the two pushed together by the universe through a series of waking dreams about the other, as well as a coincidental tattoo that they both just happen to have at the same exact places on their bodies. Their story then also has encompassed a growing amount of minor characters on the peripheries, all of whom engage with and inform the main story of love, murder and right-wing politics at its core -- from Martin's Memphis friend Diane Jacobs, a sassy Jewish teacher and divorcee trying to figure out what to do with her life, to Martin's new French boyfriend Christian Kigali, the shadowy French police inspector Michel Arnaud, closeted former Tennessee boyfriend David McLaren, and a lot more.
I've never claimed in these reviews that the trilogy is particularly great, an opinion I'm sticking with for this third volume; but certainly they're very readable, entertaining, and well put-together, and I admit that it's very satisfactory to see this story come to a conclusion after almost a decade of writing. In the world of small presses, where companies come and go in the blink of an eye and authors often lose the the financial incentive to continue ambitious projects, merely finishing a complicated, interlocking trilogy like this is an achievement unto itself; the fact that it's thought-provoking and tells a good yarn is merely a bonus, despite the fact that its scope threatens to get too big for Kelley to handle here by the third book, the characterizations are sometimes a bit inconsistent, the dialogue is a bit too sentimental at points, and especially here in the third volume he has the habit of making too many random people these characters encounter cartoonishly homophobic in the style of a 1950s moral panic film, an attitude that certainly existed in the Bush-dominated 2005 when this third book is set, but that feels like too much too often in the way he handles it. These are all minor quibbles, albeit ones you should keep in mind before reading the trilogy yourself; in general, though, I was very satisfied with these three books, including the way the entire saga is eventually summed up, and give a general if not strong recommendation to check them out for yourself if you have the chance.
Out of 10: 8.4
The timeline of CCLaP's history is also roughly the timeline of Collin Kelley's "Venus" trilogy; we received the first volume from him, 2009's Conquering Venus , not long after opening for business, read through the second, Remain in Light , a few years later, and are just now checking out the conclusion, last summer's Leaving Paris which came out while we were on hiatus in 2016 from accepting new books for review. A sprawling tale that covers multiple generations, two continents, and a political conspiracy that gets deeper with each book, it's ultimately the story of two main people -- Martin Paige, a young gay American southerner who finds himself in and out of various complicated relationships over the years, and Irene Laureux, a now elderly veteran of the 1968 Paris student riots, the two pushed together by the universe through a series of waking dreams about the other, as well as a coincidental tattoo that they both just happen to have at the same exact places on their bodies. Their story then also has encompassed a growing amount of minor characters on the peripheries, all of whom engage with and inform the main story of love, murder and right-wing politics at its core -- from Martin's Memphis friend Diane Jacobs, a sassy Jewish teacher and divorcee trying to figure out what to do with her life, to Martin's new French boyfriend Christian Kigali, the shadowy French police inspector Michel Arnaud, closeted former Tennessee boyfriend David McLaren, and a lot more.
I've never claimed in these reviews that the trilogy is particularly great, an opinion I'm sticking with for this third volume; but certainly they're very readable, entertaining, and well put-together, and I admit that it's very satisfactory to see this story come to a conclusion after almost a decade of writing. In the world of small presses, where companies come and go in the blink of an eye and authors often lose the the financial incentive to continue ambitious projects, merely finishing a complicated, interlocking trilogy like this is an achievement unto itself; the fact that it's thought-provoking and tells a good yarn is merely a bonus, despite the fact that its scope threatens to get too big for Kelley to handle here by the third book, the characterizations are sometimes a bit inconsistent, the dialogue is a bit too sentimental at points, and especially here in the third volume he has the habit of making too many random people these characters encounter cartoonishly homophobic in the style of a 1950s moral panic film, an attitude that certainly existed in the Bush-dominated 2005 when this third book is set, but that feels like too much too often in the way he handles it. These are all minor quibbles, albeit ones you should keep in mind before reading the trilogy yourself; in general, though, I was very satisfied with these three books, including the way the entire saga is eventually summed up, and give a general if not strong recommendation to check them out for yourself if you have the chance.
Out of 10: 8.4
October 16, 2019
In the book Leaving Paris, the author Collin Kelley completes his Venus Trilogy. While this book might stand on its own, I think a reader would probably struggle with understanding the various plots and sub-plots and would probably despair over keeping the characters separated from one another.
This is a good suspense novel that held my interest throughout. It’s characters are clearly differentiated from one another, each entering into the lives of the others in various manners. There is one central plot and many sub-plot and one arch villain earning the fear and hatred of the characters and the novel’s readers.
While there are several relationships portrayed within this and the previous volumes, the foremost is the one centering around the central character, Martin.
In the previous volume, the relationships often focused on the sex, but in this volume, the characters have grown and evolved and the novel focuses upon the mature relationships among them. The relationship between Martin and his lover Christian reflects intimacy, commitment and caring and in every way is different from all other caring relationships, heteronormative gay. Thus, the male love affairs and male sexual behaviors recede deeply into the background as the commitment of the various relationships take center stage.
The book(s) hold many sub-plots and each is interesting all by itself, but all are finally resolved by the end of this book.
Throughout the books, there has been a slight thread of supernatural or metaphysical relationships and occurrences, but in this book, these become more prominent, although not really too much until close to the end.
Leaving Paris is a fun book to read. Kelley writes skillfully, never tipping his hand or otherwise destroying the direction of the novel. It is a book I read with such pleasure that I hardly noticed how long I was spending reading it. I am glad I was on a long air flight and he’d the opportunity to read Kelley’s crooks.
This is a good suspense novel that held my interest throughout. It’s characters are clearly differentiated from one another, each entering into the lives of the others in various manners. There is one central plot and many sub-plot and one arch villain earning the fear and hatred of the characters and the novel’s readers.
While there are several relationships portrayed within this and the previous volumes, the foremost is the one centering around the central character, Martin.
In the previous volume, the relationships often focused on the sex, but in this volume, the characters have grown and evolved and the novel focuses upon the mature relationships among them. The relationship between Martin and his lover Christian reflects intimacy, commitment and caring and in every way is different from all other caring relationships, heteronormative gay. Thus, the male love affairs and male sexual behaviors recede deeply into the background as the commitment of the various relationships take center stage.
The book(s) hold many sub-plots and each is interesting all by itself, but all are finally resolved by the end of this book.
Throughout the books, there has been a slight thread of supernatural or metaphysical relationships and occurrences, but in this book, these become more prominent, although not really too much until close to the end.
Leaving Paris is a fun book to read. Kelley writes skillfully, never tipping his hand or otherwise destroying the direction of the novel. It is a book I read with such pleasure that I hardly noticed how long I was spending reading it. I am glad I was on a long air flight and he’d the opportunity to read Kelley’s crooks.
May 30, 2017
The final book in this amazing trilogy does not disappoint. Kelley is a gifted writer, and should be even better known and renowned that he is. He writes in an authentic, witty style, and brings characters and stories to life in an amazing way. I was impressed with his ability to remind readers about what happened in the first two books without it feeling obtrusive. In the end, the commentary on relationships, people, and the world around us comes through with strong impact here.
September 18, 2016
Sad yet satisfied on Leaving Paris
I waited a long time for this third volume of Collin Kelley's trilogy. It completes and surpasses the excellent Conquering Venus and Remain in Light. I particularly love that it wasn't predictable - I hate being able to second-guess stories, as I so often can - yet there was a lovely rightness about the unfoldment and wrapping up of the interconnected stories. I was reluctant to leave these characters, and wanted the book to go on forever, yet I couldn't stop reading even though that brought the end closer. It's beautifully written, and after all I don't feel I have said goodbye to these favourite companions. I have a sense of them going on living their lives in the reality Collin Kelley so convincingly created for them. And that makes me happy.
I waited a long time for this third volume of Collin Kelley's trilogy. It completes and surpasses the excellent Conquering Venus and Remain in Light. I particularly love that it wasn't predictable - I hate being able to second-guess stories, as I so often can - yet there was a lovely rightness about the unfoldment and wrapping up of the interconnected stories. I was reluctant to leave these characters, and wanted the book to go on forever, yet I couldn't stop reading even though that brought the end closer. It's beautifully written, and after all I don't feel I have said goodbye to these favourite companions. I have a sense of them going on living their lives in the reality Collin Kelley so convincingly created for them. And that makes me happy.
May 21, 2016
In this unique thriller, Kelley confronts growing xenophobia in Paris while still capturing an alluring energy only found in the City of Lights. Supernatural elements heighten relationships in this original and timely novel.
Postcard review: http://ow.ly/Wkvt300rqSr
Postcard review: http://ow.ly/Wkvt300rqSr
July 7, 2016
Couldn't get into this book. Is third in a series and lots of gay and lesbian relations. Do my best to avoid these kind of books as am not interested in that lifestyle. Is a mystery taking place in paris and US and all sorts of people. Tried my best, but could not get interested.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews