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Crossing on the Paris

Dana Gynther

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Dec 14, 2012 Jenifer rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

I requested Crossing on the Paris from the netgalley catalog because of my love of historical fiction. I was drawn to this title for a number of reasons. First, one of my favorite novels, Birdsong, is set in the same era (early 20th century). Second, I love stories that interweave different narratives. And thirdly (is that even a word?) the cover is professionally done and is just beautiful.

The novel spans the trans-atlantic maiden voyage of the fictional luxury liner, the Paris. The book is sep I requested Crossing on the Paris from the netgalley catalog because of my love of historical fiction. I was drawn to this title for a number of reasons. First, one of my favorite novels, Birdsong, is set in the same era (early 20th century). Second, I love stories that interweave different narratives. And thirdly (is that even a word?) the cover is professionally done and is just beautiful.

The novel spans the trans-atlantic maiden voyage of the fictional luxury liner, the Paris. The book is separated into five main sections, one for each day of oceanic travel. Within each of these “sections” or “days”, we learn the history of the three main characters. Although the three women are living at the same time and are traveling on the same ship, they each have very different experiences during the five day trip.

Gynther does a beautiful job bringing in the historical details that truly bring her story to life. I did find a couple of situations/characters predictable but this did not detract from the story for me. In fact, although I did predict one situation, I was still a bit shocked with how it played out and did not expect it to happen quite like it did.

On a personal level, I appreciated the detail that the author went into with the descriptions of the ship and it’s three levels of passengers, particularly the experiences and plans of the character Julie. My great-grandmother, left Ukraine to escape the communist revolution, in 1918 or 1919, just a couple of years before the start of this novel. She was approximately Julie’s age and as far as I know, was traveling alone. I’ve always pictured her trip across the ocean in small old boat but after reading this novel, I now wonder if she wasn’t actually in the steerage level of some type of ocean liner. While she did not have the exact experience that Julie had, she most definitely did experience the chaos found in the overpopulated steerage level and I appreciate being able to better imagine what it must have been like for her during that voyage.

This is the debut novel of Dana Gynther. If her future novels live up to the promise in Crossing on the Paris, I will be a very happy reader. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 28, 2012 Suzanne marked it as to-read

Shelves: historical-fiction, kindle

Nov 09, 2012 Deedee marked it as to-read

Shelves: title-has-city-name, historical-fiction, indie-next-2012, historical-fiction-1918-1940, year-2012, title-city-capital-city, c2, c2-no-articles

Aug 07, 2014 C. rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

Aug 04, 2015 Kim rated it liked it

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