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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
The Path To Heaven by Emily Minjun Chung follows Lucas Moreau, a Parisian driver who chooses to remain near the grave of his wife, Manon, seven years after her death. As his health quietly declines, Lucas continues working, transporting visitors from around the world through the city and beyond. Each assignment places him in sustained conversations with people from all over the world, with differing points of view on just about everything. A sampling includes a Russian veteran, an environmental advocate, and a Japanese scholar. Through these, Lucas measures his lifelong faith and the promise he made to Manon. When circumstances take a turn, and his daughter Georgia intervenes, Lucas’s private search begins to reach beyond Paris and into a wider public sphere.
The Path To Heaven by Emily Minjun Chung has the benefit of one of the best settings on the planet, contemporary Paris, and she breathes life into it through cemeteries, winter streets, and the quiet intervals of a working day. Lucas Moreau is an interesting character who is really just a vessel for the conversations through the rotating stream of passengers that turn up with massive ranges in their cultures and belief systems. The point of view is third-person, giving readers a comfortable fly-on-the-wall vantage point. What I liked most about the formatting is its episodic design. Sometimes the pacing can be a little slow, but it still firmly supports the character-driven arc. Chung’s prose is simple and straightforward, favoring substance over style, and, overall, I found the book thoughtful and beautifully composed. Recommended.
