A review by paperbirds
A Nice Cup of Tea by Celia Imrie
2.0
Picked this up in a bookshop because I love Celia Imrie and wasn't aware she'd written any books!
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this very much.
There were some amusing moments and I was occasionally endeared to the characters, but overall I found the writing, pacing and plotting very clunky. There is not much atmosphere or narrative voice to speak of, and it feels as though things just keep happening rather than being part of one cohesive story.
The two focal characters, Theresa and Sally, are essentially the same person but with different backstories and with different things happening to them throughout the story. What I mean by this is, there is nothing to distinguish them apart from their circumstances - after finishing the book I don't feel like I know anything about them beyond the fact that they were present. All of the other characters are frequently unpleasant and not in a way that contributes to the plot; just unpleasant.
There's also quite a lot of serious, potentially traumatic stuff happening in it that just isn't given the emotional weight that would make it seem realistic. This allows the book to maintain a light-hearted tone, but at the cost of feeling ingenuine and apathetic toward the subject matter and the characters experiencing it.
I really wanted to like this book because the premise sounded fun and rompy, but there's just so much missing! I'll have to rewatch Dinnerladies again to soothe myself.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this very much.
There were some amusing moments and I was occasionally endeared to the characters, but overall I found the writing, pacing and plotting very clunky. There is not much atmosphere or narrative voice to speak of, and it feels as though things just keep happening rather than being part of one cohesive story.
The two focal characters, Theresa and Sally, are essentially the same person but with different backstories and with different things happening to them throughout the story. What I mean by this is, there is nothing to distinguish them apart from their circumstances - after finishing the book I don't feel like I know anything about them beyond the fact that they were present. All of the other characters are frequently unpleasant and not in a way that contributes to the plot; just unpleasant.
There's also quite a lot of serious, potentially traumatic stuff happening in it that just isn't given the emotional weight that would make it seem realistic. This allows the book to maintain a light-hearted tone, but at the cost of feeling ingenuine and apathetic toward the subject matter and the characters experiencing it.
I really wanted to like this book because the premise sounded fun and rompy, but there's just so much missing! I'll have to rewatch Dinnerladies again to soothe myself.