Paris 75016: Hell's Diary (French Millennium Library) [Paperback]

Lolita Pille (Author)

Book Description

Series: French Millennium Library | Publication Date: May 2004

Money, sex, drugs and love: there is just too much of the first three and little of the last in this spellbinding novel about privileged young adult Parisians. Hell is a lucid, supremely intelligent woman – almost twenty – with enough sense to be disdainful of the moneyed and loveless world she grew up in, but not enough luck to escape it.

And then she meets the man of her life, a cynic who, like Hell, enjoys baiting the superficial fools that populate their social scene. Thereby hangs a love story that suddenly twists like the sides of a Rubik’s Cube and rockets into uncharted emotional territory, leaving you humbled, crushed, and longing for more.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Teenager Pille (who grew up in Paris' wealthy sixteenth arrondissement, referenced in the title) chronicles the lives of trust-fund kids who go clubbing all night, sleep all day, and wake up in time to do it all over again. Hell (nee Ella) narrates this bleak little tale, which begins with her declaration "I'm a bitch" and continues with her exploits snorting endless lines of cocaine. Hell gets a reprieve when she falls in love with the mysterious Andrea, with whom she spends a blissful six months--until it ends for reasons hard to fathom. There's a lot of blather about how meaningless life is and how all these kids want is true connection and love from their parents, and on and on. The novel was well received in France and may create something of a stir here, too, based on shock value alone. Pille is not without talent as a writer, but she never convincingly answers the question that hovers over her precocious debut: Why should we care about the suffering of such insufferable people? Beth Leistensnider
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...a soaring, modern talent that spills all the beans her generation would never share with Mom and Dad." -- Le Figaro, Paris, November 2002

"A beautiful and desperate novel." -- Cosmopolitan(Paris), Nov 2002

"A remarkable new voice." -- Le Monde(Paris), Nov 2002

...depth of thought that turns her ... story into something powerful and lasting... an unexpected parachute during a free fall. -- Ventura County Reporter, July 2004

...novels you might want to read ... at least one (Paris 75016) you or an ex probably wrote. -- Dallas Observer, July 15, 2004

...the moral complexity of the author's shock-jock style makes it fresh. The "downward spiral" trope is rarely this engaging. -- Ann Sterzinger , Chicago Reader, June 4, 2004

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Studio 9/The French Millennium Library (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552072037
• ISBN-13: 978-1552072035
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars inconsequential, November 12, 2005

By 

S. Vorstoffel (Leiden, Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paris 75016: Hell's Diary (French Millennium Library) (Paperback)

This book didn't manage to make me feel anything. I simply couldn't get myself to sympathise with the heroine. Sure, she is just a kid, lost in life, looking for honest human relationships and struggeling with the superficiality and indifference of the world around her, but at the same time a lot of her misery seems rather self-inflicted. Even if this might make me sound ultra-conservative, it's not like she lacks the means to make other choices and no circumstances force her to spend her life between clubs, drugs and designer clothes.

As for the shock value (a cynical teenager taking drugs, drinking and having random sex with everybody in sight) it is all a little too constructed to be truely shocking and there are other books about similar issues (American Psycho) that do a much better job in getting to you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing novel that everybody must read.., December 19, 2007

By 

Nino Kometiani (Tbilisi, Georgia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paris 75016: Hell's Diary (French Millennium Library) (Paperback)

I have just purchased the book but I have seen the movie "Hell" based on this novel of Lolita Pille. Trust me, the story of Hell will shock you and will definitely encourage you to look at many things in life from different angle. If you're not sure about the book, watch the movie first and I bet next thing you will do will be buying this book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, December 24, 2005

By 

Hope "Hope" (NB Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paris 75016: Hell's Diary (French Millennium Library) (Paperback)

Though many people say they could not get into the character of Hell and all her escapades, I found her facinating. When she eventually goes straight it was almost a let down from her former self and I found myself wanting her to be the old Hell. She is a spoiled rich bitch but she tells you that from the beginning.