Every so often with me, a book comes along that I just can't stop thinking about. Sometimes these books aren't necessarily good, but something about them either the premise or the characters intrigues me and leaves me wanting to know more about the world.
I have just finished reading Honore De Balzac's book "The Wrong Side of Paris", which is probably the most obscure title in my summer book series. I bought it rather impulsively in a book store in Edmonton. I have never read any of Balzac's work and "The Wrong Side of Paris" wasn't one I was familiar with.
I was taken by the premise on the book jacket about a young man of 30 who takes in with a group of good Samaritans in the city of Paris not soon after the French revolution. The cover of this copy looked very contemporary, consisting of what looks to be a subway station with a few silhouettes scattered about. There is one silhouette who does stand out slightly in the centre, I take this to be the hero of the book.
The book itself was a quick read, it's about 200 pages and is separated as two books, I learned later that this was in fact the final book in Balzac's "Human Comedy" series which consisted of over 80 novels.
Personally I didn't know what to expect from this book, I didn't know the author other than by name, and being that this wasn't one of his classics I was unsure going in, still it was a quick read, and like I said I was intrigued.
I was surprised at how "The Wrong Side of Paris" effected me, and how much of a very spiritual book it really is, plus it begs the question how much goodness can a human being be capable of, in this case I would say the book is rather optimistic in its conclusion. It also isn't afraid to be rather blunt about its agenda, from what I understand Balzac had a nack for writing about contemporary Paris in the 1800s, which I guess is what I found so fascinating. The book is set in post-revolution Paris and many of its characters have been affected greatly by it,and Balzac isn't afraid to deal with both sides of those bloody years. There are characters who are filled with regret, while others can't seem to face the past, which is the cause of some of them turning to going into this society of good deeds.
Balzac actually reminded me much of Dickens in the way he describes the characters and how he focuses much on the lower class people of Paris. Indeed Adam Gopnik, a writer for the New Yorker describes Balzac as a "French Dickens" in the introduction to the book.
When I finished the book, I was very pleased with it, nothing much happened afterwards other than I started a new book right away. A day went by and suddenly I found myself thinking of the book over and over again in my head. I was intrigued with this idea of a spiritual belief system that isn't governed by a church. It started making me ask questions like can something like this actually exist, a non-corruptible anonymous organization where its soul purpose is to help people. Are there people out there today who are willing to give up all their possessions and devote their lives to good without giving compromising your belief system. In other words can people live a real christian life?
I'm not sure if the book was meaning to ask these questions, I would probably have to reread it before I'm certain, nevertheless, I was provoked with these questions. This is coming from someone who grew up going to church and has seen his share of hypocrites in that society. That's not saying everyone is, but if you look at the news today and see just how much of this country and the United States is run by a faith system it makes one wonder.
Even though "The Wrong Side of Paris" takes over 150 years ago, I found this concept to be very contemporary, it's a book that made me think even if it wasn't one of their main themes, but I suppose it's good to get anything out of something you read, you find something that is important to you.
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