Paris at the End of the World

Paris at the End of the World by John Baxter

I picked this up from the local public library's ebook collection partly because it's about World War I and partly because I mistook it for another book about Paris that someone recommended to me.  In reading this, I discovered the bad influence that the Kindle is likely to be.  "1 hour left in book" is not the kind of encouragement to stay up later that I need.

Regardless, about the book.

Paris at the End of the World explores life in Paris during World War I - being both removed from the war itself by distance and at the same time under constant threat, as it was a target of the German armies throughout the war.  Bombing from planes and zeppelins, and later the Paris gun, 40 miles away, lent some direct danger, but compared to what city bombing would become in World War II, the threat was relatively mild.

At the same time, Baxter is digging into his grandfather's service with the Australian army during the war.  The family knew very little, and talked about it very little, so he didn't have much to go on.  Through the course of the book, the emphasis on this part of the narrative increases, and it is, at least for me, the more interesting part.  As I got further into the book, I found myself occasionally skimming the descriptions of Paris life to get to where he's explaining what further information he's learned about Archie, his grandfather.

All in all, once it got going, the book was an enjoyable read, and Baxter sprinkles in enough current-day personalities involved in his research process to give that some flavor, as well.