In the spring of 2016 in Paris after the Bataclan terrorist attacks of winter, Taci, of Ethiopian descent, and Eliana Kiều, of Vietnamese-French heritage, both university students and forming what they believe is a secure relationship, meet David Wilson, a young American expat architect.

What begins as their exceptional afternoon together develops into a romance between Taci and David when Elaina becomes involved with one of her professors. The burden of a recent tragedy that David is attempting to dispel through the distractions of Paris is partially suppressed, for a time, by his infatuation with Taci, until the dynamic between these three young and vulnerable people recoils with unexpected power, as springtime becomes summer.

David Wilson is a young architect from Chicago, somewhat at loose ends in Paris. He’s on an extended sabbatical, partly mourning the loss of his wife. But he also has a friend with benefits in his upstairs neighbor, Laura Abrams. Laura is from the West Midlands and manages a Parisian shop for friends who live in the U.K. She and David enjoy each other’s company, but it’s just sex, no involvement. At least that’s the plan cul as the French call it.

Then David meets two young college students: Taci Aaron, a French citizen of Ethiopian ancestry and Elaina Kiều, also French but of Vietnamese heritage. The two women are close friends, and David invites them to accompany him to a special exhibit at the Luxembourg Museum. This casual outing soon leads to something more—much more. When Elaina moves in with one of her professors, David and Taci find themselves spending a lot of time together. This development doesn’t exactly sit well with Laura, who seems to feel a bit of jealousy, even though her arrangement with David isn’t supposed to be exclusive.

Will David and Taci be able to keep their relationship casual or are they edging into a romance? That’s a question the two of them must sort out as the story progresses.

The Way Things Happen has characters that are well-developed and lifelike. While the descriptions of Paris were a bit lost on me (I’ve never been there), they were intriguing enough to inspire me to want to visit. Yet the story meanders without a well-defined sense of plot. That may mimic real life—most people don’t live lives of action and adventure—but it makes the book a bit dull. At the end of the day, there just doesn’t seem to be much point to a lot of what goes on.

Another problem I had is that David has a knack for ending up in bed with the main female characters. I found this a bit unsettling because he isn’t sensitive to the effect this might have on the women. Not that they’re unwilling but, as in the case of Laura, things might not always be as casual as he assumes.

I felt most of the dialog was too stiff and formal, and the stilted conversations make reading difficult at times. This might be. in part at least, an attempt to show native French-speakers communicating in English. Yet David, the Yank from Chicago, frequently uses the same awkward speech. Less formal language in the dialog would have made reading much more enjoyable.

As you may suspect by now, The Way Things Happen was not my cup of tea. That said, readers with different tastes and experiences are likely to enjoy it more than I did. Despite some reservations, I’m glad I read it. That is my acid test for whether to recommend a book.

John Cravens’ short fiction has appeared in Soundings Review (Whidbey Island, Washington), Subtle Fiction (Auckland, New Zealand), The Waterhouse Review (Sterling, Scotland), and The Bicycle Review (Oakland, California), among other publications. Seventeen of his stories are available as e-books on Amazon and in the e-book and paperback collection The Quality of Promises, available on Amazon.

His novel, A Solo Passage, a story that takes place in Hawaii during the war in Vietnam, is also available as an e-book and paperback on Amazon. John Cravens is an architect (emeritus) who has had design responsibilities for national and international projects. He graduated from The University of Oklahoma and lives in Tulsa with his wife.