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A review by jillblumenthal
Dinner Party by Brenda Janowitz
4.0
The voice of this book pulled me in immediately, and I liked how the author structured the book around a Passover seder and Rosh Hashanah holiday. The story focuses on three dysfunctional families, whose members are all dealing with the weight of expectations (for themselves and/0r each other) with varying degrees of success.
Although unlike Becca, I can sit still, I loved this passage because it captures the mindset that I often get into:
"Becca was good at everything. Except sitting still. She was always doing, thinking, accomplishing. She didn't know how to do it any other way....Didn't everyone feel this way? There were endless amounts of things to do: applications to complete, closets to be organized, opportunities to seek out. How could she spend a Saturday afternoon just sitting around when there were so many things on her to-do list? Complete schoolwork, go to internship, apply for residency, hold teaching assistant office hours, read the newspaper, read medical journals, read a book, go to the supermarket, go to the dry cleaners, go to the drugstore, send out birthday cards, buy presents, buy presents, buy presents, put photographs into albums, call mother, call father, call sister, call brother, go to the doctor, go to the dentist, go to the ob-gyn, attend cooking class with the girls, attend movie nights with the friends, go shopping with the mother, get yearly shots, get haircut. Repeat." (p. 26-27)
Although unlike Becca, I can sit still, I loved this passage because it captures the mindset that I often get into:
"Becca was good at everything. Except sitting still. She was always doing, thinking, accomplishing. She didn't know how to do it any other way....Didn't everyone feel this way? There were endless amounts of things to do: applications to complete, closets to be organized, opportunities to seek out. How could she spend a Saturday afternoon just sitting around when there were so many things on her to-do list? Complete schoolwork, go to internship, apply for residency, hold teaching assistant office hours, read the newspaper, read medical journals, read a book, go to the supermarket, go to the dry cleaners, go to the drugstore, send out birthday cards, buy presents, buy presents, buy presents, put photographs into albums, call mother, call father, call sister, call brother, go to the doctor, go to the dentist, go to the ob-gyn, attend cooking class with the girls, attend movie nights with the friends, go shopping with the mother, get yearly shots, get haircut. Repeat." (p. 26-27)