Monday 4 May 2015

At the End of the Day by Ed Levesko

At the End of the Day

From Goodreads
1968—Paris. Europe. The 60s. Turmoil and innocence. Self-discovery and new freedom. Alex, a young American, Vietnam veteran, lives in Paris. The absurdity of that ugly war had turned the youth of America into cynics. Many went to Europe not just to flee America but to try to find another way of life. Alex, a freelance journalist, keeps getting too involved in the stories he covers: Greece and its police state; "Prague Spring" and the Russian invasion; Parisian students facing the gendarmes across the barricades around the Sorbonne.
And then there are the women: Cécile, French, sophisticated, worldly; Iris, Greek, earthy, as mysterious as ancient Greece itself; Lisa, American, from a set of twins, innocent but not naïve, and as American as apple pie, along with a cast of unique and exotic characters, idealists, poets, artists, gangsters, and revolutionaries, all caught up in the powerful events of great historical significance to their generation.
In 1968 our lives and the world changed. And the changes are still echoing and will continue to affect our lives in unforeseeable ways. Two major and momentous occurrences took place in Europe in 1968: The May students’ revolt in Paris which was one of the most tumultuous events to happen in this city that nearly toppled the government, paralyzed France, and defined the generation that experienced it. And the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Russians and its eastern European allies meant to crush the Prague Spring freedom movement.
At the End of the Day is a novel set mostly in Paris, a magical city that has always been a great magnet for expatriate Americans. An intense, funny, rich and unique tale that deals not only with the events of 1968, but also with each character’s journey in his search for love, hope, self-identity, and for the place he will occupy in life. The first novel that uses the events of May ’68, in Paris, as a canvas to tell a beautiful love story that captures, in dramatic and vivid details what happened when the City of Love is bent on crushing youth and freedom.

Ed Levesko studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Visit: www.edlevesko.com
edlevesko@gmail.com
 

My thoughts

I don't often give up on books but this one was just ok in my eyes. 3/10 from me.

I read about a fifth of it and it wasn't grabbing me at all. It was quite wordy and I have so many other books to read that I felt that I couldn't go on with it.

I am so sorry Ed Levesko I am sure that it wasn't your fault as I have read reviews were the readers have really enjoyed it, it must just have been the frame of mind that I was in when I was reading it.

I felt that reading it was becoming a chore and reading is something that I do for pleasure and I should not feel like that about a book. I didn;t have the time to invest in the book and feel that it is probably better read in larger chunks.

I was given a copy of this story from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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