You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
hmm. this book was alright. it’s a take on a morality play and some of the characters embodied the seven deadly sins. it was a fun game to figure out who embodied what and the character analysis was probably the thing i most enjoyed about this book. i think it could have been SO much shorter though. in my opinion it just dragged. and the big collapse of the cliff at that end is on the last page so there is absolutely no coverage of the event. i think margaret kennedy was really intelligent and that is conveyed in the way the characters are written and the allusion is slowly revealed. however, this book was just so boring to me that i didn’t love it. honestly, my favorite thing about this book is that i got it in a local bookstore in my fav place chicago
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
McNally advertises itself as a publisher of hidden gems, and The Feast is exactly that. It's a delightful albeit weighty upstairs-downstairs tragicomedy the doubles as a murder mystery. But a murder mystery of the #whodied variety rather than the #whodunnit variety. The Feast is set at a seaside hotel in Cornwall, England in the summer of 1947. Just as the aftereffects of WWII hang over the inhabitants of the hotel, a large cliff with worrisome cracks hangs over the hotel itself. We learn from a conversation between priests at the novel's outset that the cliff has crumbled, killing some but not all of the inhabitants. The novel then backs up a week and day-by-day chronicles the lives and uncovers the mysterious (sometimes sordid) pasts of each of the hotel's twenty-three inhabitants. The framing is that seven of these inhabitants are prone to each of the seven deadly sins (covetousness, envy, pride, lust, gluttony, sloth, greed) and it's these inhabitants who will likely be crushed by the crumbling cliff. It's up to the reader to figure out which inhabitant corresponds to which deadly sin and will therefore likely perish. Using this framing, Margaret Kennedy shines at creating realistic, flawed, but extremely sympathetic characters. I was worried that twenty three characters would be far too many to follow but with Margaret's deft hand that was not the case. She delicately and humorously portrays strained family relationships, childlike wonder and competition, and characters with nefariously selfish intentions. It's ultimately this balance that allows some characters to escape certain doom, as the children of the hotel put together a King Lear-inspired Feast away from the hotel at the time the cliff crumbles. (*Side note: it kind of feels like Station Eleven heavily borrowed from The Feast and is perhaps less original than it gets credit for*). Which characters are saved from doom ultimately comes down to which characters will lay down their selfish interests and adult pride to join the kids at this rambunctious feast. And this is also a fitting metaphor for how the country will 'recover from' the effects of WWII. Politics and current events permeate the background of the novel, but never threaten to overtake the plot. Instead, the novel gently challenges readers of the time as to which values England should prioritize and cherish in emerging from WWII. And the citizens that lead this recovery will be deeply flawed themselves, carrying heavy secrets and unmentionable deeds conducted in the name of war. Ultimately, I feel like The Feast was a perfect novel for its time that remains highly readable today
dark
funny
reflective
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Exactly what I wanted when I thought of reading a “summery mystery” book (it’s so much more than this though). Glad I stumbled onto this one. What a clever idea and setting for a story!
I liked the writing style, understood the themes the author tried to convey but I have to deduct points for the fact that it was difficult for me to get into the story during the first half of the book
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What begins as a witty seaside comedy soon reveals itself as a dark parable. Kennedy casts her doomed guests as embodiments of the seven deadly sins, so that the cliff collapse reads less like accident than judgment. The contrast between sparkling dialogue and the novel’s grim moral core is striking. Lighthearted on the surface, The Feast ultimately lingers as a meditation on human folly, blindness, and fate.
adventurous
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes