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Liberating Paris
Woodrow McIlmore is leading the perfect life in Paris, Arkansas: married to his high school sweetheart, he has two wonderful children and a warm circle of family and friends. When Wood's daughter announces that she wants to marry a college classmate, Wood is stunned. But that's just the tip of the iceberg -- her intended is the son of the woman who left Wood twenty years earlier, the free-spirited Duff. And so begins a tumultuous year in Paris, as Duff returns and familiar sparks fly with her old flame. Their rekindled passion affects not only Wood and Duff but also their good friends, as they must now all decide what in their lives is worth keeping and what needs to be thrown away.
341 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
81 people are currently reading
481 people want to read
About the author
Linda Bloodworth Thomason
2books7followersLinda Bloodworth Thomason is the writer and creator of Designing Women and Evening Shade, two of CBS television's most successful comedy series.
She created and served as executive producer, along with her husband, director Harry Thomason, on three other series, Hearts Afire, Women of the House and Emeril.
A native of Poplar Bluff, Mo., Bloodworth Thomason graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri and moved to Los Angeles to work for The Wall Street Journal in advertising. She later worked for the legal newspaper The Los Angeles Daily Journal as a reporter covering the L.A. Superior Court. She then turned to teaching, serving two years as an instructor of English literature at Jordan High School in Watts, Calif., before embarking on her career as a freelance writer. Her early credits include being the first woman writer on MASH, for which she was nominated for an Emmy, as well as episodes for One Day at a Time and Rhoda.
Bloodworth Thomason is the first American writer in television history to write 35 consecutive episodes of a series.
Married in 1983, she and Harry Thomason formed Mozark Production, a name derived from the combination of Missouri and Arkansas, their home states.
She has received numerous Emmy and Writers Guild nominations, including several for the Designing Women episode, "Killing All the Right People," which was written for and dedicated to her mother, who died of transfused AIDS. Her shows have also received a number of civic and cultural awards, such as the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award for Sexual Responsibility in the Media from the Center for Population Options; the Humanitarian Award from Funders Concerned About AIDS; the first Eleanor Roosevelt Freedom of Speech Award from Americans for Democratic Action; the Trend Setter Award from the National Health Council in honor of her dedication to women's health issues; and the National Silver Satellite Award for outstanding achievement in the field of broadcast communications from American Women in Radio and Television..
In July 1992, Thomason produced The Man From Hope, the acclaimed documentary that introduced Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in New York. She also directed and produced President Clinton's farewell film for the 2000 Democratic National Convention titled Legacy.
Current projects (as of 11-07-06) include filming a pilot for a new HBO sitcom 12 Miles of Bad Road, directing a major motion picture inspired by her best-selling novel Liberating Paris and producing Designing Women for Broadway. She has also directed a feature film, which she wrote, based on the award-winning documentary Southern Comfort about the lives of five transgendered people.
She created and served as executive producer, along with her husband, director Harry Thomason, on three other series, Hearts Afire, Women of the House and Emeril.
A native of Poplar Bluff, Mo., Bloodworth Thomason graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri and moved to Los Angeles to work for The Wall Street Journal in advertising. She later worked for the legal newspaper The Los Angeles Daily Journal as a reporter covering the L.A. Superior Court. She then turned to teaching, serving two years as an instructor of English literature at Jordan High School in Watts, Calif., before embarking on her career as a freelance writer. Her early credits include being the first woman writer on MASH, for which she was nominated for an Emmy, as well as episodes for One Day at a Time and Rhoda.
Bloodworth Thomason is the first American writer in television history to write 35 consecutive episodes of a series.
Married in 1983, she and Harry Thomason formed Mozark Production, a name derived from the combination of Missouri and Arkansas, their home states.
She has received numerous Emmy and Writers Guild nominations, including several for the Designing Women episode, "Killing All the Right People," which was written for and dedicated to her mother, who died of transfused AIDS. Her shows have also received a number of civic and cultural awards, such as the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award for Sexual Responsibility in the Media from the Center for Population Options; the Humanitarian Award from Funders Concerned About AIDS; the first Eleanor Roosevelt Freedom of Speech Award from Americans for Democratic Action; the Trend Setter Award from the National Health Council in honor of her dedication to women's health issues; and the National Silver Satellite Award for outstanding achievement in the field of broadcast communications from American Women in Radio and Television..
In July 1992, Thomason produced The Man From Hope, the acclaimed documentary that introduced Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in New York. She also directed and produced President Clinton's farewell film for the 2000 Democratic National Convention titled Legacy.
Current projects (as of 11-07-06) include filming a pilot for a new HBO sitcom 12 Miles of Bad Road, directing a major motion picture inspired by her best-selling novel Liberating Paris and producing Designing Women for Broadway. She has also directed a feature film, which she wrote, based on the award-winning documentary Southern Comfort about the lives of five transgendered people.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
January 23, 2010
The character development in this book was spectacular. I loved the way the author allowed to read to change his/her mind during the reading about characters as she slowly unraveled who each person was. Sort of makes you want to move to a small town just so you can have a community like the one described in the book.
August 15, 2021
This was wordy and silly and sad and funny, but not funny enough to overcome the sad and the silly.
Lots of character, too many, but our main storyteller is a pathetic ass, and no amount of silly, sad and funny can make up for his abominable treatment of his wife, not her willingness to forgive him so quickly. In his good natured way his cheating seemed too cruel. And her confrontation with the OW, was ridiculous, because ultimately, even with their backstory, her anger should have been directed at him—instead, he got quiet dignity. Though the quiet dignity actually works to create a much deeper guilt on his part. Too little too late.
Lots of character, too many, but our main storyteller is a pathetic ass, and no amount of silly, sad and funny can make up for his abominable treatment of his wife, not her willingness to forgive him so quickly. In his good natured way his cheating seemed too cruel. And her confrontation with the OW, was ridiculous, because ultimately, even with their backstory, her anger should have been directed at him—instead, he got quiet dignity. Though the quiet dignity actually works to create a much deeper guilt on his part. Too little too late.
October 21, 2008
I liked this book when it began, but I think it would have benefited from a good, strong editor. The story meandered, had too many incidental characters, and suffered from an author who apparently couldn't decide who gets the "guy" in the end. It was so obvious, near the end, when she'd made her decision -- a shallow woman who's concerned only about what things look like suddenly becomes an angel, who gets the guy. I had a hard time feeling satisfied with this ending, when is suddenly turned into a character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and her nemesis turns out to be a poor, sweet, suffering victim who deserves happy-ever-after. Give me a break.
I liked the small town details. I really wanted to like this book. But in the end I skimmed the last few chapters, just to get it over with.
I liked the small town details. I really wanted to like this book. But in the end I skimmed the last few chapters, just to get it over with.
May 23, 2020
Just awful. Waste of time.
August 13, 2021
5 Stars.
Wow. This was a great novel. I admit there were so many characters that I did skim some but nothing major to diminish my reading pleasure. I highly recommend.
Wow. This was a great novel. I admit there were so many characters that I did skim some but nothing major to diminish my reading pleasure. I highly recommend.
September 4, 2014
This is a good book and well written. It contains a unique combination of humor, pathos, wisdom, folly and symbolism. The writing is filled with little gems worthy of being quoted (see examples at the end of this review). However as with most novels, some improper activity is required to create a crisis that needs to be overcome. The improper activity I'm referring to in this case is numerous and varied, but most significantly includes marital infidelity (which I don't approve of). But readers of this book who persevere through to the end are rewarded with a surprise, but happy, ending.
But to be fair, I need to warn social conservatives that the ending is probably not to your liking. This book does a reasonably good job at capturing the spirit of a typical small American town. However, most small towns have not been liberated in the manner described by this book.
With reference to the book's title; We're talking Paris, Arkansas, not the other Paris. And the word, "liberating," is not referring to World War II. I was surprised to learn that the author didn't use a fictitious name for the town's name. There actually is a Paris, Arkansas, population 3,700. I wonder what people who live in Paris, Arkansas think of this book. The downtown business district of the Paris described in this book contains mostly boarded up store fronts because all commerce has moved to the edge of town where the big box "Fed-Mart" (think Wal-Mart) store is located. I wonder how that compares to the actual conditions in the real Paris, Arkansas. The author is a native of Poplar Bluff, Missouri and a graduate of MU. Which makes me wonder, why did she pick on Paris, Arkansas? As far as I know this is the only novel that Linda Bloodworth Thomason has written. She is obviously a good writer, and has written numerous screen plays for television. I hope she decides to write more books.
The following are some quotations from the book:
This is the reflection on the life of an old man who is about to die:
Beach Reads
Paris, Arkansas, is a small town, but Thomason makes it grand with a memorable cast of townspeople dealing with some sticky situations. Thomason created the hit television show Designing Women, whose wisecracking Southern smarties have a lot in common with her Parisians. “Poignant, welcoming and warmly funny, this is an irresistible page-turner,� raves Publishers Weekly.
LIBERATING PARIS, by Linda Bloodworth Thomason (Harper Paperbacks, 2005)
But to be fair, I need to warn social conservatives that the ending is probably not to your liking. This book does a reasonably good job at capturing the spirit of a typical small American town. However, most small towns have not been liberated in the manner described by this book.
With reference to the book's title; We're talking Paris, Arkansas, not the other Paris. And the word, "liberating," is not referring to World War II. I was surprised to learn that the author didn't use a fictitious name for the town's name. There actually is a Paris, Arkansas, population 3,700. I wonder what people who live in Paris, Arkansas think of this book. The downtown business district of the Paris described in this book contains mostly boarded up store fronts because all commerce has moved to the edge of town where the big box "Fed-Mart" (think Wal-Mart) store is located. I wonder how that compares to the actual conditions in the real Paris, Arkansas. The author is a native of Poplar Bluff, Missouri and a graduate of MU. Which makes me wonder, why did she pick on Paris, Arkansas? As far as I know this is the only novel that Linda Bloodworth Thomason has written. She is obviously a good writer, and has written numerous screen plays for television. I hope she decides to write more books.
The following are some quotations from the book:
This is the reflection on the life of an old man who is about to die:
"The boy and his horse had once set out for the sun and quickly learned what others had tried to put into words---that becoming is probably better than being, that there is only one thing in between and that is the ride. The ride is everything---not the arrival at some distant or imagined spot of light from which you would probably just see another spot of light and then another until you didn't know where you were or maybe you would even fall from the sky like Icarus for flying too near the sun or end up floating facedown in your swimming pool like Gatsby, who had worshipped too closely to the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. No, there was no question about it: Forget about the light, Just keep you head down and stay on the ride."These are the complaints of an older woman about the new big-box super store located at the edge of town:
"This is everything we don't wish our little town to be---ugly, impersonal, and, frankly, based on the Communist assumption that larger and undistinguished is better. I personally do not care to join the hoards of slack-jawed strangers overflowing their rubber thongs while steering pushcarts filled with T-shirts, plastic junk, and babies who sneeze Popsicle juice on you."These are the musings of a traditionally built woman wishing the world would appreciate her body type more:
"What Mavis wanted to see waddling down the catwalk was a huge, happy, honking three-hundred-pound "you can kiss my fat ass" kind of gal, with celluite forearms and hamhock thighs draped in some fabulous designer togs."The following is advice offered by a Holocaust survivor to a newly widowed woman who is suffering from depression:
"Keep moving. Have a goal, One day you will arrive at a place that is better than the place where you were, even if it is only in your head."Here is a description of the puzzlement of the inhabitants of the old folks home regarding the strange new ways of the outside world:
"They felt they didn't understand the world anymore or anything in it. This strange new place where rules took precedence over common sense and committees were formed to deduce things that children would know. Where people told all their secrets on national talk shows and appeared on the covers of magazines, not for their strengths, but their weaknesses. Where even criminals had no honor now, but killed people just for the fun of it and destroyed things simply because they were there. These old people were glad to be going deaf so they couldn't hear the songs that no one could hum. They were happy not to have cars, because there was no one left to put the gas in. And they seldom made phone calls anymore, because what they mostly got were recordings."The following short review is from the 2007 PageADay Book Lover's Calendar:
Beach Reads
Paris, Arkansas, is a small town, but Thomason makes it grand with a memorable cast of townspeople dealing with some sticky situations. Thomason created the hit television show Designing Women, whose wisecracking Southern smarties have a lot in common with her Parisians. “Poignant, welcoming and warmly funny, this is an irresistible page-turner,� raves Publishers Weekly.
LIBERATING PARIS, by Linda Bloodworth Thomason (Harper Paperbacks, 2005)
March 30, 2021
3.5 Stars
This was a good read about a small town and its inhabitants dealing with the decline of their town due to big box stores taking over the small main street shops, relationships between classmates, hoodlums, and racism.
This was a good read about a small town and its inhabitants dealing with the decline of their town due to big box stores taking over the small main street shops, relationships between classmates, hoodlums, and racism.
June 2, 2011
I really enjoyed this one alot. This is the second novel I've read by a television writer this year, but I have a much higher opinion of this one than the other. LBT does as good job of creating real characters in a quirky Southern town. I could have done without any of the sex scenes. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a prude, but they didn't seem necessary and almost forced. That said, I enjoyed how honestly this book portrayed some rather madcap (yes, I said madcap) characters.
July 17, 2015
I am head over heels in love with the characters in this book. If you haven't read it, treat yourself.
September 24, 2024
I wish Wood would have had to govel at least a little! He needed to suffer a bit before Milan took him back, in my opinion. He treated her just way too badly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2019
Just the kind of quirky novel you would expect from the creator of Designing Women and Evening Shade. With characters whose names are Jeter, Wood, Milan, Mavis, and Mary Paige, the novel winds through the declining town of Paris, Arkansas. The author crafts the story with interesting details about these folks in “flyover� country and makes them into flesh and blood. The town is dying, the people are aging and the relationship between two young college students who improbably fall in love enlivens Paris. Elizabeth’s mother and Luke’s father had, themselves, had an affair in college and when they are reconnected through their children, their rekindled romance threatens both families and has repercussions throughout the town. Life, Death, Birth, Renewal, the author covers all of it with humor and solid Southern charm.
May 12, 2017
I liked this book in the beginning, but I echo the sentiment expressed by other reviewers that the story got lost in the middle somewhere, and by the time of the wedding I was completely disinterested. (Plus, I was disgusted by the author’s choice of how to resolve the main story line.)
I think it was trying to be too many things to too many people, fit in too many subplots, be too cutesy and outrageous, beat the reader over the head with how liberal some citizens of small town Arkansas can be. My husband asked me if he wanted to read it, and I described it as “Duane’s Depressed� by Larry McMurtry shoved into “Steel Magnolias�. (He passed. It’s in the Goodwill donation box.)
I think it was trying to be too many things to too many people, fit in too many subplots, be too cutesy and outrageous, beat the reader over the head with how liberal some citizens of small town Arkansas can be. My husband asked me if he wanted to read it, and I described it as “Duane’s Depressed� by Larry McMurtry shoved into “Steel Magnolias�. (He passed. It’s in the Goodwill donation box.)
May 27, 2021
I’m firmly on the fence about this book. I admit I had hoped because of the author that I would get something along the line of Designing Women in a book. It was not. The book was heavy on tedious details with numerous characters to start and was about one third done before the storyline ramped up. Then we had to launch into numerous moral dilemmas, too many for one story. I was pleasantly surprised at the ending especially after we got dragged down so many rabbit holes before getting to the end. I can’t say I’m happy I read it. I believe my time could have been better spent but I’m not a quitter. On to the next book!
November 15, 2018
I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this book, I mean, Linda Bloodworth Thomason, COMEON! I didn't. I didn't believe the characters. Not like "I don't believe in the tooth fairy", I didn't believe the characters would do the things they did, based on the information we were given about them. Linda, I am sorry, I love your other work, but I thought this was a hot mess.
May 29, 2021
Some of the characters are a little too self-righteous, but the story was entertaining...up until the very end when everything went off the rails and it no longer seemed believable. Its like the author got lazy and didn't know how to wrap up the plot lines OR was desperate for an overly happy ending.
June 8, 2022
Actually I really enjoyed this book, despite giving it onl three stars. I found it just a bit over the top, being an introvert raised as a repressed Brit! 😎
It has some of everything a well written soap opera should have, but rises above that most of the time 😁
And it is well enough written and describes a good enough world that you almost wish real life was more like that....
It has some of everything a well written soap opera should have, but rises above that most of the time 😁
And it is well enough written and describes a good enough world that you almost wish real life was more like that....
May 1, 2019
I stopped in the middle of this one; something I hate to do. I realize (part of ) the point was to bust stereotypes and show that not all folks in small southern towns are the same, but this one missed the mark and the chip on its shoulder was too big. I couldn't see it through.
February 8, 2020
I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Brundige never ceased to crack me up. Bloodworth did some lovely things with Milan’s character, tweaking stereotypes in unexpected ways. Plot? A little thin at times. Highly recommended even so.
February 18, 2022
This is a gem! Linda Bloodworth Thomason is a consummate storyteller and this book is as rich in detail and depth as all the episodes of TV she crafted 30 years ago. It's a pleasant, well-paced read that offers up riveting moments of humanity.
May 27, 2022
This was a good book, and I should give it four stars, but there were so many characters I couldn't keep track of lots of them. Honestly, by the big finale I was completely confused. This should really have been two books, at least.
July 2, 2022
Spoiler Alert
The death in the book beyond broke my heart. I could not stop sobbing. It was beautifully written. The book reads like the voice of designing women. I am not a fan of books with adultery so overall not the book for me. Overall, the story really has stuck with me
The death in the book beyond broke my heart. I could not stop sobbing. It was beautifully written. The book reads like the voice of designing women. I am not a fan of books with adultery so overall not the book for me. Overall, the story really has stuck with me
September 20, 2022
I like this book� well developed characters as the story of high school friends, now 40 years old, is told.
There are many underlying social issues: interracial marriage, homosexuality, pregnancy through IVF, women can’t be a minister and the Fed-mart Superstore.
There are many underlying social issues: interracial marriage, homosexuality, pregnancy through IVF, women can’t be a minister and the Fed-mart Superstore.
May 29, 2017
OK... easy to read but too much like Peyton Place... too many flawed characters.
May 30, 2018
This book would make a terrible Lifetime movie.
August 9, 2018
2.5 stars
August 20, 2018
What fun!
August 31, 2018
I bought this book thinking it was about WWII Paris, France. Instead it was about a small southern town Paris Arkansas. It was a n absolutely delightful read...kind of like a southern, BIG CHILL.
March 19, 2019
I thought it was about Paris, France, instead it was about Paris, Arkansas, but it didn't disappoint. An excellent read, with full bodied characters, and family dynamics and dynasties.
October 4, 2019
A great Adventure into human dignity
The author captures the English language in charming, humorous and hopeful stories. A small town is freed from pride and prejudice.
The author captures the English language in charming, humorous and hopeful stories. A small town is freed from pride and prejudice.
September 23, 2020
Very funny with some sadness thrown in.
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