Friday, June 4, 2010

Woman in the Fifth - Megan's Complaints :)

Overall, I have to give a thumbs down on this one. Although I admit to feeling some suspense and I enjoyed the descriptions of Paris and the differences between neighborhoods.

But everything was just a little too. Do you know what I mean?

The nasty desk clerk. That man went beyond nasty to the point where I couldn’t believe what was coming out of his mouth. I mean, really.

Omar. A dirty thug for a neighbor is certainly a possibility. Does he have to be a dirty thug who, aside from his regular dirty thug bad habits, uses the “minimum amount of toilet paper?” Come on.

The secret of the warehouse. They can’t just be dealing drugs down there. Or porn. Oh, no, of course not. They’re doing both those things plus making snuff films!

The Terrible Tragedy. Not only did he sleep with a student and lose his job. He slept with a student who killed herself AND his wife was sleeping with the Dean at the same time!

Now, maybe everything had to be awful to the nth degree before “our hero” was in the correct state of mind for Margit to appear. That was certainly implied. Her story was horrific to the nth degree, that’s for sure. What do you think?

I will say I wasn’t as disappointed as Beth about the supernatural aspect. Maybe it’s all that fantasy I still like to read. But even there the author goes overboard eventually. I can get behind a spectre that assists her chosen swain by planting evidence or causing accidents. But then all of a sudden she’s manipulating the Dean’s computer and waking the daughter up from a “non-responsive” coma?

And at the end, what? He gets a nice apartment and a nice job teaching Film Studies and he gets laid every three days.

Meh.

4 comments:

  1. meh, indeed. I was disappointed because the writer can write so well that he doesn't need the supernatural crutch. But, except for Phillip Pullman's wonderful His Dark Materials books

    http://www.philip-pullman.com/

    I don't really like the fantasy aspect. No vampires for me, certainly.

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  2. I thought one of you was going to post about the next book???

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  3. Too full of herself-- comparing herself to a "soggy kitten" and all that. meh.

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  4. my comment was re: Lunch in Paris.

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