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The only thing that threw me was that I thought we were jumping into a flashback and I was not expecting the majority of the book to take place in the past. Kate’s other brother, Ray, marries Liz and tries to start a new life away from the pull of the family home. The story is narrated entirely by Ted who was the host of the dinner party along with his partner Juliette. However, the ending feels very abrupt and though you sense things look better there’s some lack of resolution. This was supposed to be a 'who dunnit' situation but 1) I gathered who it was about 15% through the book and 2) you didn't have much of a selection because most of them were either injured or, for the few really unlucky ones, ended up dead.
The Dinner Party by Richard Jay Parker | Goodreads The Dinner Party by Richard Jay Parker | Goodreads
The pacing starts out a bit slow as Sylvia prepares every last detail of the Golds' annual Passover Seder; I was afraid this was going to be another My Dinner with Andre.Sylvia and Alan Gold were having a Seder gathering for Passover at their house in Greenwich, Connecticut. There's a beard on one, a Mallen streak on another, a childless couple amongst those with various enumerations of progeny, one who gets combative after a few drinks. Ted rang Juliette, still nothing so he rang the babysitter asking if she heard from Juliette but no she’s heard nothing, and Juliette finally answers, she acted like she was at home but ted knew she wasn’t, so he gets up and leaves the station. The siblings lost their father and sister Elaine within a very short period of time, and their mother has been so wrapped up in herself, her grief, and her criticism of her children to see how the rest of the family has been affected.
The Dinner Party” by Mona Gardner - Plainview “The Dinner Party” by Mona Gardner - Plainview
I can't honestly say that I liked Juliette or any of the other friends for various reasons and I wasn't very impressed with DI Renton either. To say I saw so much of my own family and my best friends' families and our upbringing is a huge understatement! This is an ambitious story about family and how background, a particular past (a complex, probably frustrated mother, a large family, being a twin, death, character, etc) makes one who she is (she is the protagonist, Kate, just 30 something, living in contemporary Dublin, and cooking a special dinner for her siblings as the novel opens).If you appreciate contemporary fiction about food and family, faith and traditions, I HIGHLY recommend this one. In any case, I found her character shift to be interesting and a bit surprising, based on what she was like when she and Alan first met.
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