The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley | The Sykes & Savidge Book Club | May 2020

[@chockycake1]

Really enjoyed the Hunting Party, but there was a moment when Ian and his drugs were discovered and it felt a bit like a scooby doo plot! Looking forward to the next book, and reading some more Lucy Foley. Great review guys.

[@sandihudson7814]

This was such a treat to watch you and Melanie! One of my favorite books of all time is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, in spite of the main character Ignatius Reilly being completely unlikable. Everything about him is the epitome of what we don't want to be ourselves....slovenly, rude, unkind, loud, selfish, lazy, entitled, etc etc. But then, I think that's rather the whole point of the book.

[@grahamsillarsreadsbooks7422]

Great video. Enjoyed it soooo much. As for the giveaway!... 😍 Most of Dame Agatha’s books have atrocious characters but you can’t help loving them because they came from an absolute genius of a mind like Agatha Christie’s. Also... The Hunting Party was brilliant! That too... Brimful of disgustingly unlikable characters! Can’t wait to start Graceland. Thank you both for a great 20 odd minutes. 😍

[@joannawaton2689]

I read The Hunting Party on a holiday in Shropshire last Easter...in a little cottage, down a tiny little lane, a 20minute drive from the main road! My location definitely added to the tension when reading!

[@sueh3426]

Definitely enjoyed The Hunting Party and will be reading the next offering from Lucy Foley. Happy book tube birthday 🥳🥳🥰

[@juliewoan298]

Loved this book club...great discussion and great banter! Thanks guys

[@TheEstame]

I love unlikeable characters - all the goodies like like Crime and Punishment, Lolita, Revolutionary Road, American Psycho and new ones like My Year Of Rest and Relaxation (and anything else by OM) and the People of the Trees by Hanya Yanagahara to name a couple x Really enjoyed The Hunting Party, one of the best whodunnits I’ve read in ages. Will be joining in with Gracelands too 🙂

[@barbaradegarcia6310]

What a relief that you found these characters so unlikeable. I was worried it was me! I loved you chat about the book and am going to get Graceland and read for next month. Happy podcast birthday SImon.

[@helenhickey3479]

I wanted to know more about Heather, I liked her character

[@christineschmor7369]

I hated the characters in Donna Tartt's The Secret History, but could not put the book down. So many characters in Evie Wyld's The Bass Rock are loathsome, but the Rev Jon Brown creeped me out.Loved the book chat!

[@lyndataylor4327]

Chris Tie with you on the Rev Jon Brown...he was skin crawling icky!!😳

[@tomreadsthings7145]

Loved this! So lovely to see you both chatting and laughing 😆

[@novellenovels]

I loved the hunting party and couldn’t predict the killer till right at the end.. Omg I loved Doug and heather soooo much.

[@RallyReviews]

I had been curious about the "hunting party" til I read "The guest list" and I was told it was better than the hunting party and now I am not sure I want to go back and read it. However I did not know there was a show of this book. Where can americans watch that tv show?Now I have to find that show to watch if i can. I will for sure whatch it! I loved hearing your thoughts on this one for sure.

[@RallyReviews]

lol just realized the show you are talking about is normal people not the hunting party. lol. I should have read closer.

[@Sarah-jz6cl]

I listened to The Hunting Party on audio, with a different voice for each narrator, and loved it. Hearing the different voices read the different perspectives added to the suspense of the book. As for unlikeable characters, I hated both main characters in Gone Girl by the end. Both garnered some sympathies at first (a little) but by the end I thought they deserved each other.

[@kimkantor8782]

I already purchased The Guest List but just wanted to comment that this was such a fun read and looking forward to Graceland! Thanks, you two. 👏🏼💕

[@KDbooks]

Unlikable characters that I love... I would have to say Humbert Humbert takes the entire cake surely!

[@lauramurphy8989]

For books with unlikeable characters, I really enjoyed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six - I think Taylor Jenkins Read writes really great characters who aren't perfect! I also hated conversations with friends because of the unlikeable characters - really intrigued as to what you think if you do read it!

[@ExLibris-Alys]

I haven’t read Normal People but I have watched the tv adaptation. I went into it not knowing anything about it, and all the “will they, won’t they” weaving in and out of each other’s lives purely because they won’t communicate peed me off tbh. By episode 8 I really didn’t care whether they ended up together or not, and although I did watch to the end I didn’t care about many of the characters because most of them I found to be largely unlikeable. Having watched it I have no desire to read it at all. Love you two together btw 😊💛

[@lyndataylor4327]

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh is a favourite unlikeable & at times gross & offensive character! Moshfegh is always good for a dark & unsettling read🖤📚 Thanks for the book club chat🙏🏻, enjoyed as always, looking forward to Graceland🤓

[@Diglette90]

An unlikeable main character that I loved to read about is Dorian from The Picture of Dorian Grey. I read it quite a while ago, so I'm not sure what I'd think now. I just started getting back into reading after finding BookTube and learning about online book clubs and readathons. I'd love to get a copy of The Guest List as another BookTuber I follow is reading it for a book club in June.

[@rickmills2323]

Great review of The Hunting Party, thank you and great giveaway. A great book with an unlikeable character is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Suskind, Patrick

[@mpsensha]

Yes! Graceland! I hope this gets translated soon, it would be perfect for my mother's birthday. Cannot wait to hear what you think about it. 😁

[@ellenquinton1832]

Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice 😂 thanks!

[@cynthiamurphy2610]

Comment for fellow Americans: Consider making your "Graceland" arrangements sooner rather than later, as this one might be harder to track down. For me it's not an option to order it through my local bookstore or library, and the Amazon stock is running low. If there is a digital version available stateside, I did not find it. Book Depository can take a while (weeks sometimes), so time is of the essence! If anyone is in the Anchorage/MatSu Valley area, I can pass on my copy in a friendly/safe social distancing manner (once I finish). I'm not trying to be alarmist, just attempting to prevent the sadness of not being able to get the book in time.

[@lemonmiranda4233]

I'm currently reading A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne which is full of horrible characters. It's so funny and incredibly dark. Really like it so far!

[@janelouise5003]

Really enjoyed The Hunting Party - I love a murder mystery and thought it was really well-plotted. Looking forward to Graceland! I think my favourite unlikable character is Emma Woodhouse - I love that book, despite always spending the first half wanting to throttle her!

[@jodiefoster5026]

My favourite book (also has unlikeable characters) is Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

[@caityroleston8543]

This was such an enjoyable discussion to watch! For books with unlikeable characters, I really enjoyed "You" by Caroline Kepnes. It was very uncomfortable to find yourself rooting for someone so despicable. In THP, I found the perspectives of the multiple POVs distracting & confusing. I may be remembering wrong but I think Doug is third person and the others are first which was a bit odd. But like Simon mentioned, some of the POVs were written with rhetorical devices aimed to convince you of their innocence or sincerity (like they're being interviewed/speaking as a witness) which didn't really make sense as they weren't actually used in this way. It also automatically limited the pool of victims and suspects for me which again made the first person confusing as the victim obviously couldn't be making statements!! Loved the wintry setting though, even though I was reading during the heat wave!

[@amandanicholls2796]

Two unlikeable character reads for me were Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and Under the skin by Michel Faber. Graceland looks an amazing read and yet only one review on audible......might need to change that!!

[@SM26206]

Great review, enjoying listening to The Hunting Party. Maurice Swift in A Ladder To The Sky by John Boyne is an unlikable character and narrator.

[@jeanettes714]

Unlikeable characters... The entire cast in The Dinner by Herman Koch.

[@hlmorfei]

Happy KZbin Birthday! I had to take notes while I was watching so I remembered to say everything I want to say in one comment. Heh. Re: Normal People. My husband and I watched it and loved it, but I kept saying, “I feel a little too old to be watching naked teenagers having sex. Makes me feel a bit dirty.” Hahahaha! Re: The Hunting Party...I also love to hate people and nasty characters are not a deal-breaker for me. I *do* figure things out quickly, though, so I knew early on that Emma was the stalker. It was the way she had to almost *be* Miranda and how much she emulated her that made me realize she was the stalker. I didn’t necessarily think she was the killer, though. The stalker bit was the creepiest part for me. I didn’t feel much tension around the murder, though, because I honestly didn’t care that one of them was dead, and it didn’t surprise me that one of them was the killer. Hahahaha! As far as the setting, the weather made me tense as hell. I haaaaaate winter and cold and snow. When there’s a lot of snow on the ground, I feel a bit claustrophobic, so that was the thing that made me the most tense. I also loved the idea of falling into old roles when you’re around old friends, because I think the author got that exactly right. That *does* happen. And it’s not always a good thing.

[@amysedai]

Unlikable characters abound in The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, which I thought was absolutely wondeful.

[@katrinaandallthebooks7993]

Haha my husband watched 2 episodes of Normal People and declared it soft porn and wouldn’t watch anymore. I quite like to hate a character/s in books, I think the character I hated the most recently was the husband from Scotland in The Mercies, I wanted someone to push him off that cliff along with his little crew.

[@Claire-er1jq]

I would like the chance to win please! I found the characters in Normal People unlikable really. Loving the book club :)

[@emmarobertson9575]

I would love the chance to win please I really didnt like any characters in normal people however, I think it was the internal monologue I truly struggled with xx role on Graceland xx

[@colazi]

Obvious but unputdownable. The Secret History by Donna Tart.

[@mradcaqbdb]

I just couldn’t get past the thing about not revealing the victim until near the very end. This is definitely a minority opinion. I stopped reading at halfway and then started flipping through to find where the victim was revealed. I found I couldn’t care about a victim that isn’t even named. 🤷‍♀️

[@kellyann4879]

I'm only 15% through so far and i only dislike Miranda and Julian so far.

[@dinkylovesbooks]

Yes, they're the most unlikeable of the lot.