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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: Harry I. Freund Publisher: Carroll & Graf |
One day while out shopping for some new blue shirts, Irving Caldman was standing on a street corner in Manhattan
with three other people when a car jumps the curb and kills the four on the sidewalk and the driver of the car. Soon
all five of the people killed in the car accident are facing the angel Malakh, whose job is to prepare the five people for
the upcoming judgment. Each of the people have to review their lives with each other and decide how they will face
the upcoming judgment. This is who “I Never Saw Paris” begins and quickly draws readers into the story.
Each of the characters has their own different story to tell. The car driver is a Hungarian Jew who survived
Auschwitz. A fashionable middle aged woman is a personal shopper for the rich of New York City. A young man left
Ohio when he was out of high school and moved to New York where he was able to make a fortune. An older black
woman is an evangelical Christian who has spent her entire life doing domestic work. Irving Caldman himself is a 64
year old Jewish man who married his boss’s daughter and since then has done very well for himself.
Anyone who wants to read this book needs to know that they should not try to read “I Never Saw Paris” from any sort
of theological viewpoint. It is a fiction story with an open view of the afterlife in Jewish and Christian terms. Author
Harry Freund’s writing has a bit of a biting edge to it. Malakh explains to each of the new arrivals that they are all
average people, they are not overly good but they also aren’t extremely bad by any means. They have all done
some bad things as well as good things in their lives. Which of the events from their lives will be more important, the
good or the bad? How will these five strangers bond in this most intimate of circumstances?
Author Harry Freund has written a short book that reminds readers of how important their lives have been. Malakh
rests on many important events in their lives, but each soul is reminded that their whole life is important, not just a
single moment. The author tells the story in Caldman’s first person narrative, so the reader has a window in the
thoughts of a man who has suddenly died. Caldman has to release his life and the things important to him and
examine that same life for his final judgment. He himself had a fondness for women, any woman during his life, so his
thoughts often revolve back to his own guilt.
If readers have problems with the lives of the different characters, it will be difficult to get really involved in this novel.
The writing has an edge to it but it doesn’t get very strong. “I Never Saw Paris” does have a way of reminding the
reader of what is truly important in life.
with three other people when a car jumps the curb and kills the four on the sidewalk and the driver of the car. Soon
all five of the people killed in the car accident are facing the angel Malakh, whose job is to prepare the five people for
the upcoming judgment. Each of the people have to review their lives with each other and decide how they will face
the upcoming judgment. This is who “I Never Saw Paris” begins and quickly draws readers into the story.
Each of the characters has their own different story to tell. The car driver is a Hungarian Jew who survived
Auschwitz. A fashionable middle aged woman is a personal shopper for the rich of New York City. A young man left
Ohio when he was out of high school and moved to New York where he was able to make a fortune. An older black
woman is an evangelical Christian who has spent her entire life doing domestic work. Irving Caldman himself is a 64
year old Jewish man who married his boss’s daughter and since then has done very well for himself.
Anyone who wants to read this book needs to know that they should not try to read “I Never Saw Paris” from any sort
of theological viewpoint. It is a fiction story with an open view of the afterlife in Jewish and Christian terms. Author
Harry Freund’s writing has a bit of a biting edge to it. Malakh explains to each of the new arrivals that they are all
average people, they are not overly good but they also aren’t extremely bad by any means. They have all done
some bad things as well as good things in their lives. Which of the events from their lives will be more important, the
good or the bad? How will these five strangers bond in this most intimate of circumstances?
Author Harry Freund has written a short book that reminds readers of how important their lives have been. Malakh
rests on many important events in their lives, but each soul is reminded that their whole life is important, not just a
single moment. The author tells the story in Caldman’s first person narrative, so the reader has a window in the
thoughts of a man who has suddenly died. Caldman has to release his life and the things important to him and
examine that same life for his final judgment. He himself had a fondness for women, any woman during his life, so his
thoughts often revolve back to his own guilt.
If readers have problems with the lives of the different characters, it will be difficult to get really involved in this novel.
The writing has an edge to it but it doesn’t get very strong. “I Never Saw Paris” does have a way of reminding the
reader of what is truly important in life.
