The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue (audiobook)

 genre: historical fiction

The Paris Express is en route to the City of Light. The passengers that fill its cars and the baggage (both physically and mentally) that they bring with them is at the heart of this novel that takes place over one journey on the tracks. Between First Class and Third, the discrepancy is wide and that gap has created a real sense of anger in a large part of the populace. Between the scientists and the businessmen, the freight handlers and stokers, the children traveling alone and the women at the end of the their rope for a dozen different reasons - this is a story of stories. There isn't a particularly overarching plot but it is more of a dissection - what is each person on this train, right now, dealing with and how are they managing it. In a France on the cusp of a new century, before the war has disrupted the stratification of society, a train full of people is a literal slice of life.

It took me too long to keep people and names straight. There were so many. I never really did, if I'm honest. What I did do was figure out all the storylines and once I could quickly remember which storyline I was in, then I was able to enjoy it so much more. The writing was good enough that the story flowed well and sometimes felt especially earthy, in the way human bodies can be described in all of their physicality. There are no locked doors here, which some readers might not appreciate but for me, it felt somehow strangely intimate in a way that just felt very real. By the last 25% I was SO all in. The author created some great tension and by the time I put two and two together, I loved what I'd just read. It went from maybe 2.5 stars at the beginning to a solid 4 at the end. The author's end notes were exactly what my brain wanted to wrap things up and help me sort out fact from fiction.