Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

6 reviews

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

Minor: Pedophilia, Suicide, Abortion, and Domestic abuse

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Abortion, Child abuse, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

thebookwasbetter_22's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, and Death

Minor: Addiction and Abortion

uranaishi's review

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

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

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

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.75

(adjusted from 3.25 to 2.75)
disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes really is the main character, no i will not elaborate
Ben must be a Greek god or something because why

does every character want to fuck him

.  this man is constantly described as unbelievably charming, emphasis on the "unbelievably"—where was the "show, don't tell"? if he was that brainwashingly charismatic, shouldn't i as a reader also fall for his charm? but he was just like, there, which at least makes me admire Jess for going to all this trouble just for him.
speaking of Jess, sometimes she was irritating too when she's supposed to be our protagonist—like when she walks into a riot because "it sounded like a street party 😊" and just stands there as people run away from the approaching tear gas. come on now.
it's prob because i'm queer & we gotta look out for each other & i crave positive representation, but i wish

Nick

was a better person and had a better ending.
characters aside, the plot had some unexpected twists and was generally interesting, but i was mostly unimpressed. it had such a promising, atmospheric concept: murder in Paris, ooh la la, and all the apartment tenants are suspects; i think i heard it described as a locked room mystery, though i may be confusing it with another book. and then it just, wasn't and my hopes were let down.
cover design review: ★★★★☆. i like the background image, the symmetry, the colors for the most part (i think the background could be less green and more blue), and all the text, but other than that it's kind of bland. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Classism, Cursing, Homophobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Physical abuse

Minor: Self harm, Vomit, Gore, Abortion, Confinement, and Infertility

writtenbydnicole's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, Infidelity, Child death, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Trafficking, and Bullying

Moderate: Medical trauma, Sexual content, Torture, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide and Abortion