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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed the side characters, and I loved the food-nerd digressions. But spending time with Paul and in Paul's head grew increasingly unpleasant. This would be a 4 or 5 star book without Paul, and quite frankly he's not necessary.
He's terrible to Chloe, completely ungrateful and extremely suspicious of her for no good reason other than she chooses not to present her entire life to him so he can decide if it's up to snuff or not. The book description is misleading because it seems to think that Paul's insights into people (HA!) are what turn things around. Sure, Paul is judgey and thinks many things about the various characters, but pretty much all the changes and help to those characters come from the other characters, mostly Chloe and the twins. Paul didn't even figure out anything about Claude or Hugo until Chloe essentially forced him to get his head out of the sand and the stick out of his ass and make him actually help out.
I'm also mad about how he treated Gloria. His thoughts all implied that she was some terrible burden that he was so noble to take on, but instead he was a passive-aggressive twat about it and wouldn't talk to her about anything important and then would blame her when it went wrong. If he'd actually talked to her about the cats, or been honest about the book or basically anything, they might have had a chance at a real relationship. It seems like Gloria was giving it her all to make it work out, and he was just there because he didn't' have anything better to do.
I appreciate that the author does try to make it clear that homophobia, sexism, and racism are unacceptable and yet the main character is "desperate to correct Chloe's impression that he might be gay" and several side characters make not-great generalizations about the Romany, "women's limitations", and Audette's way of life that are not corrected or called out as wrong.
Also very cringey that somehow Paul had to fend off the amorous attentions of at least two women. He didn't seem like that much of a catch. All the characters in the book deserved better. I would have loved to have a book about how sweet dumb Claude slowly realizes that his glamourous American girlfriend is secretly a spy, and how she helps Hugo in his cooking dreams by smuggling in prized ingredients. And on the side solving "little problems" like Bleu. I'd totally read more of that! But alas, the series is called "a Paul Stuart novel" so I can only assume that he'll be back in the next book and no thank you to that.)
I'm also mad about how he treated Gloria. His thoughts all implied that she was some terrible burden that he was so noble to take on, but instead he was a passive-aggressive twat about it and wouldn't talk to her about anything important and then would blame her when it went wrong. If he'd actually talked to her about the cats, or been honest about the book or basically anything, they might have had a chance at a real relationship. It seems like Gloria was giving it her all to make it work out, and he was just there because he didn't' have anything better to do.
I appreciate that the author does try to make it clear that homophobia, sexism, and racism are unacceptable and yet the main character is "desperate to correct Chloe's impression that he might be gay" and several side characters make not-great generalizations about the Romany, "women's limitations", and Audette's way of life that are not corrected or called out as wrong.
Also very cringey that somehow Paul had to fend off the amorous attentions of at least two women. He didn't seem like that much of a catch. All the characters in the book deserved better. I would have loved to have a book about how sweet dumb Claude slowly realizes that his glamourous American girlfriend is secretly a spy, and how she helps Hugo in his cooking dreams by smuggling in prized ingredients. And on the side solving "little problems" like Bleu. I'd totally read more of that! But alas, the series is called "a Paul Stuart novel" so I can only assume that he'll be back in the next book and no thank you to that.)
A lighthearted, enjoyable read. Gentle sense of humour throughout. I loved the descriptions of the French village and the various quirky characters that live therein. I hope there will be another book to follow in this series.
lighthearted
medium-paced
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
Wanted something easy and inoffensive to read for the weekend and this fit the bill. Everything gets wrapped up a little too neatly, but as with most McCall Smith you get some interesting characters that are easy to spend time with.
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-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
lighthearted
medium-paced