#indrajit garai

Plot:

Jeremy has a heart condition that keeps him out of school and allowed to roam around Ile Saint-Louis and the heart of Paris. Accompanied by his faithful German shepherd, Leon, Jeremy and Leon look for a way to save Jeremy’s mother from the police. See, Jeremy and his mother could not afford a house on Ile Saint-Louis, and only lived there because Jeremy’s grandparents left his mother their house. So when the inheritance taxes began to want their claim of Mom’s inheritance, those were prices they could not afford. Avoiding the bailiff who has come to repossess their furniture, Jeremy knows he needs to make money fast. Known for his art, Jeremy teams up with his friend Paolo to sell some of Jeremy's work to tourists. Doing his daily exploring, Jeremy stumbles upon a great treasure that, if done correctly, could save his mother from jail time, and provide Leon the life he deserves. Yet, not everyone is looking out for Jeremy, especially his own body. As Jeremy's heart struggles to keep up with Jeremy’s and Leon’s adventures, his mother pushes for surgery, with the hopes of making Jeremy’s life normal again, one that it has not been for a long time. 

Thoughts: 

Indrajit Garai writes this innocent eye narrative of a little boy named Jeremy, his dog Leon, and the adventures they have in downtown Paris. Where many books have Paris as the setting, none tells it like Garai who un-romanticizes the city, showing the true life of what it means to live here, especially for those who cannot afford it. This book has a central plotline of inheritance tax, taxes you pay on something you inherit, which causes problems for Jeremy’s mother, who cannot afford to pay these taxes on the house she was given. With Jeremy's dad dying in military service, we see a single mom trying to provide for her medically ill son. Garai should have written her to be a supermom, strong and independent; yet the mother Garai writes about seems to be weak, passive, and truly does need her son’s help to pay for things. Jeremy as a character was a strong, independent child, which is how he and Leon ended up in a lot of situations, not many young boys do. You can see his loyalty to those he calls close to him, like his worry over Paolo, and his protectiveness over his mother and their neighbor whom Jeremy calls a pervert. With a strong friendship towards his dog, Jeremy and Leon’s relationship was the star of the show. Unfortunately, where the characters rock, the plot was slow, as Garai took their time with Jeremy and his other adventures, making the entire book seem like a stroll. It was just a hard plot to care about, as the looming threat of Jeremy’s mother going to jail was never a real threat, of mom spending a night in jail or a midnight escape, it was a hard reason to keep moving on with the story. The side plots were also either non-existent or more boring than the main plot, making the story difficult to finish. With a horrible ending, Garai pulls the heartstrings for no reason, making you madder than sad with the way they end things. This is a solid okay novel, not one to remember, but a cute one to read if you are in for the hardships of this economy, and what it is doing to people in Paris.

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