2.5**

The Basic Facts: In 1887 William (Buffalo Bill) Cody’s Wild West Show went to Europe to perform for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Celebration. A young Lakota man, listed as “Choice” on the group roster but later known as Black Elk, was among the performers. But when the ship left England to return to America, Black Elk and another Lakota man were mistakenly left behind. With no money, Black Elk joined another show run by Mexican Joe, hoping to earn enough to get back to America. In later interviews he described his severe homesickness, which led him to take refuge with a woman friend in Paris and her family.

Horsley takes this snippet of history and imagines a psychological, spiritual and philosophical journey for her three lead characters. The novel is narrated by Philippe Normand, a physician who is employed by several wealthy patients, including the Balise family. The youngest Balise daughter, Madeleine (known as Madou), is a free spirit and Philippe is especially drawn to her. It is Madou who befriends Choice. I was intrigued by the basic premise of the story, and Horsley does a fine job of putting us into the late 19th century Parisian culture – including the excitement of the World Exposition and the building of the Eiffel Tower.

I typically like books with a philosophical or spiritual bent, and Horsley had her characters indulge in several interesting discussions on such topics. There were passages that were beautifully written and some thought-provoking ideas put forth. I especially liked the way in which Choice/Black Elk explained his spiritual journeys. I wish Black Elk had been the narrator.

I never warmed to Philippe and I saw him as the weakest character. Other novelists have used a weak character as narrator to great effect (Nick in The Great Gatsby comes to mind), but I just didn’t buy it here. The central relationships just didn’t work for me. The three friends form an odd sort of ménage à trois – their interactions fascinated and puzzled me, but ultimately left me cold. I definitely felt like the third wheel (or is it fourth) in the “relationship,” and this resulted in my feeling talked AT rather than drawn into the discussion.

I’d be willing to try another book by Horsley because I did like elements of her writing, though I didn’t particularly like this novel.
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The characters in this book are are so well-developed that you can guess their birthdays by their personalities. The story takes place, as the title suggests, in Paris in 1888. The narrator of the book is Phillipe ("Tic-Toc"), a single doctor that endures the dysfunctional family antics of his patients for the occasional free home-cooked meal. He doesn't seem to be like other doctors in town that feel that the best remedies must be the most painful. Phillipe is the casual friend of a free-spirited young girl named Madou. She can be found riding her bicycle around town in scandalous bloomers or attached at the hip to Choice, a native American Indian she's become enamoured with that is visiting Paris as a part of a Wild West show. Madou's father is constantly threatening to send her or her sisters to the Salpêtrière insane asylum for "hysteria" just because they don't really fit into polite French society. So the book centers around 3 people that are out of place: the doctor that doesn't agree with the extreme remedies of the day and feels no need for love, a French girl who was born a hundred years too early to be as free-spirited as she is, and a native American Indian that is incredibly depressed with homesickness in a city whose parks are nothing like the wilderness he knows and loves.

I love this conversation between Madou and Phillipe:

"What if I don't belong anywhere, Phillipe? What happens to people who don't belong to any group or family or political movement?

I was glad that perhaps she had an insight about herself when she couldn't keep up with her man of the Wild West. ...

"Well," I said, "I suppose one could be given a place on the outskirts of the community and status as a wizard or hermit."

"You've created your own place, Tic-Toc, your own little 'outskirts' with your profession, and your books, and your music. I don't want to be alone like you."

"Loneliness is not the worst thing in the world, is it? What about being imprisoned with someone who doesn't admire who you are - in a society or a marriage with people who increasingly despise you?"

... "Will you marry him," I asked.

"She looked away again and said, "I don't know. I just know that I don't belong in Paris."

Some people spend their entire lives looking for a place to belong. ( )