Paris in the Present Tense

By: Mark Helprin

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-selling author of Winter's Tale and A Soldier of the Great War, Mark Helprin reveals a powerful, rapturous novel set in a present-day Paris caught between violent unrest and its well-known, inescapable glories.

Seventy-four-year-old Jules Lacour - a maître at Paris-Sorbonne, cellist, widower, veteran of the war in Algeria, and child of the Holocaust - must find a balance between his strong obligations to the past and the attractions and beauties of life and love in the present.

In the midst of what should be an effulgent time of life, with its days bright with music, family, and rowing on the Seine, Jules is confronted headlong and all at once by a series of challenges to his principles, livelihood, and home, forcing him to grapple with his complex past and find a way forward. He risks fraud to save his terminally ill infant grandson, matches wits with a renegade insurance investigator, is drawn into an act of savage violence, and falls deeply, excitingly in love with a young cellist who is a third his age. Against the backdrop of an exquisite and knowing vision of Paris and the way it can uniquely shape a life, he forges a denouement that is staggering in its humanity, elegance, and truth.

In the intoxicating beauty of its prose and emotional amplitude of its storytelling, Mark Helprin's Paris in the Present Tense is a soaring achievement, a deep, dizzying look at a life through the purifying lenses of art and memory.

©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2017 Mark Helprin

A great listening experience.

A very good book well read. It took a little while to get into. But eventually I got into the rhythm of the book and didn’t want to stop listening.

Incandescent and uplifting! Beautiful!

When I first started this book, I found the French accents a bit jarring, but I persisted and in a short time, the narration was as beautiful and natural as the writing. The story is complex, with many threads weaving together, and many characters whose paths cross and uncross.

Getting to know the main character, Jules LaCour, reminded me of the Count in “A Gentleman in Moscow”. Both men are educated, erudite, philosophical, gentle, far-seeing and living in difficult circumstances not worthy of them.

The novel is like a slow burn, lighting up like a fire taking hold and bringing warmth, colour, leaping shadows and something of the sacred... Many times I became teary-eyed and felt that sense of loss when something brushes by and slips from your grasp. The novel is such a beautifully written story, with an over-arching tension, and love in all its forms - paternal, filial, romantic, humanitarian, hopeless, imaginary, patriotic, and eternal...

Kudos to Bronson Pinchot who brought the story even more alive and textured - if that’s possible. He added colour and drama to the characters, and his talent is supreme!

If you like a complex, philosophical, character-driven, intellectual and unusual story, you will love this novel. After you’ve read it and savoured it, I recommend A Gentleman in Moscow because both novels are masterpieces built around a character you would love to meet, respect and pay homage to!

Pinchot tour de force

A lovely character study by Helprin...one of my favorite of his. The story is made wonderful to listen to by the excellent performance of Pinchot...every character distinct, every emotion palpable. Bronson Pinchot truly 'acts' as opposed to some narrators who simply read.

Being familiar with the compositions noted in the story, it was a bonus to be able to listen to those works in conjunction with the book.

A beautiful book

I got this book from the daily deal special. so glad I did. I got this book from the daily deals special. So glad I did. it started out slowly but after a couple of chapters I was hooked. at times it was heartbreakingly sad, at others laugh out loud funny. throughout just full of life and love. a very special bonus is Bronson Pinchot. just more proof that he is one of my favorite narrators. so used to his work in science fiction that it was refreshing to hear him do modern fiction. highly recommended.

The reader’s accents were distracting.

The book was fine, although I thought In Sunlight and in Shadow was better. The reader’s French accents were too frequent and thick for my taste, and distracted from the story.

Helprin Sucks You In

Mark Helprin offers another complex and engaging narrative masterpiece with an unforgettable protagonist. Jules, a 70 something Parisian who hides behind a simple facade, experiences a series of cascading events that lead to betrayal and death. Helprin's novel addresses themes of racism, intertwining Jules' memories of hiding from the Nazis with his Jewish parents during World War II with his experiences in French controlled Algeria and the racially motivated hate crimes plaguing contemporary France. Jules nostalgically longs for simpler times as he faces the dismissiveness of a high-tech world that treats everything as disposable, including people. Helprin creates a feeling of suspense as Jules' actions ensure inescapable consequences. While Pinchot's narration suits the novel and its characters, the audio quality sometimes lacks, requiring volume adjustment. Overall, the novel provides a satisfying listen that transports the reader to the Paris of the past and present. #PastMeetsPresent #Suspenseful #GoodGuyGoneRogue #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

Excellent writing with a big but . . .

This book is lyrical and almost poetic at times, with a deep and appreciative view of life. It also has some surprises. For the most part I enjoyed it.

I took a point off because, despite the title, much of the book takes place in the past, and there is a huge emphasis on events taking place between Jewish people and Germans. I felt a little bit imposed on by the topic, particularly because I’m currently listening to another book in which that is a main theme. If I had expected it and chosen to take it on that would have been different.

That being said, the book is not heavy-handed or redundant, and in fact has thoughtful and introspective insights into love. Maybe a bit too much of the women all being beautiful and the main character obsessing about them.

Paris in it's Beauty

a wonderful tale about life in Paris for a slice of its people. the story is written beautifully and it is narrated superbly. It is a must-read for all

Phenomenal.

Just a spectacular book. Amazing story and highly relevant. Highly recommend. Love love love love

The intoxication of deprivation

Norms, loves, expectations dance in and out of view, held together by a thread of composed sound.