Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

37 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.25

...Yet another thriller that I did not enjoy.  It was filled with characters that had one main facet which was being awful.  Would not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

emo_erudite's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was pretty crazy and suspenseful throughout, up to the end. 

Jess goes to see her brother in Paris, but when she gets there, he’s nowhere to be found. Starting off, I know something isn’t right about this. Throughout the story we are given clues to what may have happened to Ben and who might be responsible through different character POVs, all of whom are living in this complex. One by one, their flaws and motives begin to surface as Jess is poking around and asking questions about Ben. But it turns out that none of them can be trusted. 

I probably blew through this one way too quick, but it was really good. I love a good thriller/mystery, and this one ticked all of my boxes. The plot wasn’t obvious even though there were clues- I wasn’t sure who was responsible for Ben’s disappearance up until the end. The illicit activities of some of the characters weren’t a surprise because that is a plot device in so many books now. The human trafficking is unfortunately common in all countries in modern times, but how it links back some of the women in the book was unexpected. Foley did a great job of bringing everything full circle and wrapping it up for us with a neat little bow at the end. 

Question- Am I the only one thinking that Ben was dead the whole time? I swore at the end they were going to find a dead body up in that attic! I did not expect him to be alive!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape and Stalking

kiwichill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Many twists and turns which kept me in suspense.  The audiobook is narrated by different people for each character which enhances the experience 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, and Classism

jordansmoot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual violence

lukewhenderson's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

If you had just pitched me on the premise of this book, I would have expected an exciting, suspenseful read, but this was anything but. The reader is given every secret through the characters inner monologue and Jess, the main character, discovers little for herself or for the reader. It felt like my hand was being held the whole time. 

This book also really wants to be gothic but doesn’t do enough, in my opinion, to make the setting a character like great gothic stories do. The apartment and location could have been switched easily without it affecting the story, so it didn’t feel vital enough. 

Overall, it was a kind of boring book with good ideas, that if written differently could have been satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicide

bessadams's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual content, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Deportation

Minor: Suicide

chaos_and_chapters's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

davinmotion's review

dark mysterious sad 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

This is my first book by the author. After reading through other reviews and taking the opinion of a friend, I’m surprised I enjoyed this book. I think the “dark” of the house is what intrigued me so much. I enjoy that it all comes together and I’ll admit that I didn’t guess the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

james1star's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was rather moyen (French for average… blame Google translate if it’s wrong) in all honesty. It started out great with our ‘main’ character Jess hastily arriving in Paris to live with her step brother Ben for some time but when she gets there he’s seeming disappeared and there’s some concerning clues in his apartment that make her question what’s going on. After sleeping if off she consults the other occupants in the building but no one really wants to help… and can she trust them? … and a mystery ensues. Most of the chapters are from Jess’s POV but we also get ones from Ben, Nick, Mimi, Sophie, and the Concierge who all live in the complex in the current timeframe with flashback moments to the near and more distant past. 

I’d say this book is very well written, it has suspense and a good story arc that builds up to the main twist with others along the way. From the start, I was really intrigued and on the whole it’s an easy, engaging read but it fell flat as the book developed. I liked the high angst and drama with the ‘what’s next?!’ cliff hangers at the end of the short chapters but then it gets rather meh. I think once or twice to build up this tension but then the situation not being as bad as we thought is okay but when it occurs multiple times the reader somewhat loses trust in the storytelling and, for me, become rather uninterested in following on - it’s a little like the ‘boy who cried wolf’ scenario where you don’t really care what’s going to happen as the book moves on because you can already tell it won’t be that bad afterwards. It’s billed as a mystery and yes I would still classify it as such but Jess isn’t really the best (or good in fact) at sleuthing out the clues as to what has happened to Ben. Instead she stumbles across things and continually makes herself known, I guess the reader has to piece things together more so which I get (and liked) but Jess didn’t really fulfil her purpose. 

She’s also again rather meh. I liked her back story and her drive at times but on the whole she was quite irritating. The same goes for the rest of the characters where I did feel for some of them at times but there’s always this barrier up between them and the reader I feel. All are relatively unlikeable and unrealistic portrayals too. I think Ben was my favourite but more the best of a bad-mediocre bunch. A certain character’s sexuality being a plot twist-like part was a bit ‘eye roll’y to be honest, I liked the inclusion of a queer character but to make it a ‘what?!’ moment felt a little crass. At the end things are explained but I still felt like a few loose ends were left and I’m very 50:50 on if it liked it or not, I think some characters got off a bit too easily. 

Overall, I would still recommend this book but it’s moyen, it’s average and I was rather let down. I would be interested in reading more by Lucy Foley as it’s still well written just fell flat so maybe others can deliver where this got lost in transition. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment