Thendral's Take: April 2022
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
My Thoughts
I'm so, so disappointed to say, this one completely missed the mark. I REALLY liked The Hunting Party and The Gust List was quite nice too but The Paris Apartment was such a letdown. It was completely formulaic, and almost nothing happened in the book? I finished it thinking "That's it?" There were some twists in there that made me sit up and go "Wait, WHAT??" But they weren't enough to outweigh the boredom I felt reading this book. I started speed reading at some point because I just wanted the mystery to wrap up. The opening was right creepy but right after a major reveal, the book somehow lost its spark. And everything starts to feel drawn out for nought. I think it didn't help that I wasn't invested in any of the characters. Lucy Foley's books usually feature unlikeable characters but even then, the pace and plot development are riveting and keep you hooked, wanting to know which of these a**holes is behind all this. But in The Paris Apartment, with almost no plot and barely enough suspense, the unlikeability of the characters really stood out. I feel like if you've never read a Lucy Foley book before and went into this, it might be surprising. But coming into this after her two previous books (especially how refreshing The Hunting Party was in the murder/ mystery genre), I felt this was quite basic and repetitive.
Overall
Overall, I'm just disappointed by how meh this book was. I really expected more and was really, really looking forward to this for my 2022 reads. But while it was enough to spend my Sunday, it was not good enough to go "You guys!!! Let me tell you about this book I read!!
Wahala by Nikki May
Overall
I'm fairly undecided about this book. For one, I despised some of the characters - they were just horrible, horrible people. Now, sometimes, you want to see what happens to these unlikeable people. And sometimes, they just put you off the book altogether. In this case, it was the latter. There was plenty of miscommunication between the group, and the friends felt like clique-y high schoolers after a while. Suspense was lacking so once it becomes obvious what the problem is going to be (which it exceedingly is, it's easy to figure things out very quickly), it tends to feel like you're reading a high school drama. Most characters felt like they need a solid hour of therapy rather than complex characters whose point of view you can understand. The blurb and the actual story feel like two completely different vibes and that was the biggest disappointment for me. Yet, I found myself sticking with it until the end so I suppose that must mean something?
My Thoughts
Yes, it's clearly inspired by The Office with the concept of workplace drama but the premise was still surprisingly fresh which made for an interesting watch. And while it was clever and offered quite a bit of laughs, I wouldn't classify it as a pure comedy, it definitely has some drama elements to it as well and a whole lot of heart. Just a warning, don't watch it while you're eating, it might not be comfortable - a couple of jokes in there weren't my cup of tea. But on the whole, I think you should absolutely check this show and if you do start it, stick with it and watch it till the very end. Because when it ended I was all, "Come ON you can't leave me hanging NOW!" and desperately wished a season 2 was here already. And isn't that the hallmark of a good show? My only point of contention is Catherine Tate did like 5 roles and that's 3 too many. I mean, it was incredible to see how talented she is and some of the characters REALLY stood out. But because those 5 roles do tend to overlap, the edits can be a bit odd to make up for one or two Catherine Tate characters not being in the scene.
Overall
Listen, it's not THE best show I've seen, it's definitely got its flaws but I would absolutely watch a second season which I'm REALLY hoping Netflix would install. I just don't understand the criticism, were they all paid off by someone who hates Catherine Tate or something? I mean I've seen shows that were far worse receive far less criticism.
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