Tariq revels in his queerness, style and religion, and he inhabits the spotlight with a confidence that sometimes borders on cockiness. Paris may crumble under the pressure of appearing on “Bake Expectations,” but he also finds a real romantic connection with a man who’s delightfully different from himself.
But many people who have experienced this type of mental health challenge, as well as some who haven’t, will find his story deeply relatable. This may make some readers uncomfortable, as peeking inside Paris’ thoughts can be pretty harrowing. Hall portrays Paris’ omnipresent anxiety disorder and how it affects his relationships with intensity and an impressive attention to cognitive and emotional detail. The reality of what Paris is going through-the result of nature (brain chemistry) complicated by nurture (or lack thereof, i.e., years of parental abandonment)-is too messy and complex.
Though some good does come of the experience, it turns out you can’t shock the mental illness out of someone. Paris’ roommate, Morag, ropes him into joining the show, hoping that becoming a contestant would break Paris out of an unhealthy pattern of isolation and doubt. (If you’re thinking “The Great British Baking Show,” you’re on the right track.) Paris and Tariq meet as competitors on “Bake Expectations,” a famous television cooking competition show. The titular character, a baker with devastating anxiety and self-doubt in spite of his beauty, talent and privilege, falls for Tariq Hassan, a charismatic young Muslim with ambition and confidence to spare. The second Winner Bakes All romance after 2021’s Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, Paris is a bittersweet play on the opposites-attract trope. His ambitious new novel, Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble, demonstrates the magnitude of his talents. The prodigiously gifted Alexis Hall spins pathos, sex and humor into frothy yet sensitive paeans to love.
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