Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

7 reviews

wylda_bee's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

throwback682's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Somewhat of a love it or hate it type book. I wish I could rate it on how much I enjoyed it (3.0) vs. how much I think many others might enjoy it (4.25). I saw five star reviews written in excited all caps, and a one star that said they wish they could fight the book next to a Burger King dumpster LOL. 

As others said, I think it kind of dragged on. Some of the twists were predictable - but I find it hard to believe the reviews where people said they predicted ALL of them. The ending did really shock me. Part of me wishes I’d read Cliff’s Notes of the first half of the book and listened to the second half. 

For a long time I thought perhaps the family secrets had something to do with

Nazis. Because of Nick’s comment in the Cave about the Gestapo, the mysterious origins of Sophie and the concierge. etc.

I’m not sure if that was intentional or just me?

The audiobook narration seems to be where I differ from most reviewers. I found this book corny at times, and the acting was EXTRA corny. I rolled my eyes at Sophie’s going on and on about how thin and put together she is, but listening to Mimi speak was 10x worse. I don’t see why one actor can’t do all the characters: in fact, the actors DO play multiple characters. When Nick speaks in Jess’s chapters, Jess’s actor voices his quotes, not his actor. That could’ve been done through the whole thing. It just felt really cheesy in an already kind of cheesy book. [I had the same problem with the audiobook for the Hunting Party.]

The audiobook recording includes a podcast interview of the author at the end, and honestly, hearing some analysis of the book improved my opinion of it somewhat. I don’t think there are any spoilers in it? So I might recommend folks listen to that before they listen to the book itself perhaps? 

NOTHING in this book was the bisexual representation we wanted.

Three members of the same family fucking or trying to fuck the same guy was… Yeah, corny, like I said. And then Nick, who’s already fooled around with Ben, also almost sleeps with Ben’s sister? But oops he’s actually completely gay and it’s only because she reminds him of her brother. Eye roll. And yes I knew way before the “reveal” that Mimi’s roommate was f**king Antoine’s wife. Nice try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Abortion

archiebb's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed reading this, it made me realize i want to get more into mystery type books because I enjoy these so much. Good plot twists. Fantastic narration cast. 
Major critique is

white woman savior material regarding the sex workers as the big reveal

Also I think some of this dragged on and I can imagine parts being removed and it still being interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicide

Minor: Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

tomasalbanez's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Definitely the darkest and most complex book by Lucy Foley that I've read! And that's saying something. I love the plot twists in this story and found myself once again with a board filled with the characters, clues, suspects and guesses I had while trying to unveil the web they have spined. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Deportation

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Medical content, Abortion, and Pregnancy

thefaultismine's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Biphobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

odrib's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, and Trafficking

Minor: Eating disorder, Infertility, Terminal illness, Vomit, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism