Review of How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas

Hello Readers,

Books find you in funny ways. I requested this book knowing absolutely nothing about it other then what the back cover said. The cover absolutely intrigued me and I wanted to know more. Camille Bordas has written several other books all written in French. How to Behave in a Crowd is a story about a very intellectual family of six children, a very present mother, and a disconnected father who is simply called “The Father” by all of his children and his wife. Isidore Mazel is eleven years old and is the youngest of the six children. He is definitely not like his siblings who have all skipped grades, began writing PHD defenses at young ages, and are all basically brilliant. Izzy is a perfectly normal eleven year old but he is intuitive and notices things around him that his siblings would never take note of. A tragedy strikes the Mazel family and Isidore is faced with dealing with his emotions and he watches his family also deal with grief in very different ways. 

Izzy is a thinker. He thinks about every one of his family members, friends, and neighbors. He likes to observe what others are doing and try to figure out why. He does not have people in his life that he would call friends, but after a tragic event people enter into his life that help him see things differently and experience life. This book is about every day moments in a large family. But every day moments in a family that is brilliant and the boy who is brilliant in a different way and how he observes those moments.

On the whole I enjoyed this book that felt like a behind the scenes look into the thoughts of an eleven year old boy living in an a very intellectual family. But this family was very eccentric and Izzy went on a few adventures that made me very nervous. Anne Bogel from the blog The Modern Mrs Darcy wrote a blog post quite awhile ago where she talks about what she calls “The eight line edit.” Meaning there is a short section in the book that wasn’t needed but is definitely there. It can be either an uncountable description or scene. This book definitely had a few sections that I thought deserved the eight line edit, specifically page 134-137. I started reading and felt uncomfortable with that section so I skipped right over it and moved along in the book. It does get addressed a few more times but not in as much detail. 

Overall Rating - 3/5 Stars

Thank you to Blogging for Books for supplying me with an a review copy of How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas. I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas

Hardcover: 336 pages

Released: August 15, 2017

Publisher: Tim Duggan Books 

ISBN-10: 0451497546

Happy Reading,

Rachael