Customer Reviews

Rooftop Soliloquy

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A modern-day Casanova, with a half- crazy mind and elegant clothing, tramps around Paris from adventure to adventure in this latest (and perhaps greatest) book by American expatriate author Roman Payne. While this Don Juan gallops around Paris like Don Quixote galloped around Spain, his numerous `Dulcineas' are the luxurious ladies he finds in Parisian society parties, or the university girls he finds along the river Seine, or up near the Sorbonne; whereas Quixote fought windmills, Payne's hero battles the artistic oeuvre he is working to create.

The narrator (most frequently named `Aleksandre') of this highly-entertaining, innocently erotic, and lyrically beautiful book, is a composer of operas who isn't sure if he should lock himself in one of the many apartments he keeps in Paris to compose night and day; or if he should go out and "seize the day!" by enjoying the thrills offered to one in the French capital--not least important among them: copious amounts of French wine, and lavish French beauties.

Payne's experience as a novelist shows through in this, his fourth novel, as he masterfully weaves two other narratives into the first, to create a rich and thought-provoking story. If not for this, the novel might have been no more than a light adventure tale; but Payne tops off the narrator's corporeal quest with a murder mystery (with scenes worthy of Dostoevsky in a setting Payne calls `The Bone Shop') and a love story (vaguely reminiscent of "Lolita" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream"). References within the book travel from Ancient Greece to tropical islands--yet the book is first-and-foremost a `story of Paris.' Like Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer," Lord Byron's story of Don Juan, Ovid's "Metamorphoses," and a Paris Travel guide all poured into one great 21st century read. Payne has created a new Parisian mythology.

The 1st-person "Soliloquy" method of narration allows Payne a sort of freedom to communicate with unprecedented ease with reader. One imagines him perched like a bird on a rooftop, fluttering to a new district with each chapter.

Rooftop's are fabulous (often frightening) locations: here, one can see out over the city, meet a lover in private; contemplate life, or contemplate a self-propelled leap into the abyss of the unknown. On a rooftop, one is a `spectator'--watching the comings and goings of the multitudes bustling in the streets below. One is also `not a spectator,' but the `center of the universe'--like a god, or a child atop an anthill. Such is the perspective that is offered to the reader of this book. Its pages allow a certain airy freedom that is fun, exciting, and refreshing to those who are used to reading books with sad subjects or negative themes. "Rooftop Soliloquy" is a pleasure to read. One begins the book feeling curious, and one finishes it feeling happy.

Sublime, in every sense. Payne weaves the stories in his book intricately and beautifully. He possesses what is seldom seen nowadays, the flavor of the old masters of literature.
It took me just over a day to read the entire book and I couldn't bring myself to put it down, thoroughly enjoying every page, every adventure, and every setting. If you are searching for a modern classic, this is it.

I was attracted first to this book because I am parisian and it tales about my city. I read it in english original version and as I am french the english was a little beat hard to read ( I have not yet finished, because I read a little slow). I love the characters and I like too the Paris described because it shows the real Paris I know. Reading this book it's evident that the novelist has lived a long time in the French capital. When I read aloud the sentences are very musical. I recomand this book to anyone who wants to know Paris from the viewpoint of a real Parisian.

Roman Payne's Rooftop Soliliquy is a novel that presents an experience of a city and a moment in a life through short vignettes evocative of a man's life in Paris. The language is very visual, with talks of "the broad moon that hung like a pendant on a string" and images of reckless driving through winding Paris streets. The book follows the seemingly aimless wanderings of an artist, a rake who pursues life experiences in order to put them down on memory and on paper for the rest of us to read as a type of heroic quest for beauty. Sometimes egotistically lewd and sometimes endearing, this book will be enjoyed by anyone who likes a cosmopolitan male-centric adventure.

You are going to love this book if you adore the use of words. The way Roman Payne writes is gorgeous and so vivid. If you are looking for intricate plot and over the top adventure this is not for you. But if language and writing is your aim i think you will love this book.His descriptive words makes you see the world he is talking about " The sun hissed with foul breath when,in Beaubourg,I arrived.Beaubourg: that spoiled quarter--singular waste land..." This book makes you see the world through different eyes. His writing is different from almost any book i have read in recent years written by current authors. This book is like something that has been recovered from the an older world,when there was still beauty in the simple things.

"Rooftop Soliloquy" is a simple book. Simple is neither bad nor good: its just simply simple. There is no adventurous plot really; it is more subtle, slow, and filled with the main character seducing girls. Its a good book to read if you love to day dream. There are no underlying meanings really. This book is mindless entertainment which isnt bad, its just not a productive book. I still read the whole thing and when I day dream I often think of being this mysterious and secretive character. This book gives the reader simple enjoyment.

I had to purposely pace myself with this novel because it was going much too quickly and I wanted to savor it! Each page offered some new jewel of insight, something new to think about. The language is beautiful. The narrator is funny and likable (he did remind me of Don Quixote a little). The setting is... well... `Paris!', with all the beauty, charm, and mystique that goes along with it. And the ending is a great surprise! Overall, I have to recommend `Rooftop Soliloquy.' This is a deliciously fun novel, and it's a book that I look forward to "re-reading" very soon !!