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A review by annika_de
The Party by Elizabeth Day
5.0
There are so many ways this book could have gone wrong, and instead, it went stunningly right. We’re talking impeccable pacing and characters with real depth. The book starts off with the main character and narrator, Martin, in a police station, being questioned about an unspecified crime that occurred his friend Ben’s birthday party the night before. Martin and Ben have been friends most of their lives, but it's implied they are no longer on good terms. The reader is left to discover how their friendship began, what allowed it to endure, and why it began to fracture.
The book alternates between the interrogation and flashbacks to critical points in Martin’s life and his friendship with Ben. Books with this format often irritate me because many authors pay more attention to creating an interestingly constructed book than to delivering information to the reader. That was not the case with this book; each flashback is another puzzle piece towards understanding who these people are. I craved more information not because I wanted to solve the “mystery” but because I was dying to learn more about the characters. (Incidentally, there isn’t some mind-blowing twist at the end. In fact, I think the beauty of the book is that by the conclusion, the reader understands the characters so well that everything makes perfect sense.) One of my favorite things was the author’s inclusion of excerpts from Martin’s wife’s journal. Martin, in addition to being an unreliable narrator, is an unusual person, so it’s fun to contrast how he views himself with how he is viewed by the person closest to him.
Beyond the compelling plot, the writing is irresistibly sharp. There are so many simple, piercingly accurate comments on wealth, privilege, and the masks that people wear. A couple that I loved:
“As a teenager, he had been touchingly sincere. These days, he saw sincerity as a valuable asset and it wasn’t quite the same thing.”
“That’s the problem with charm. It means you get away with stuff. It means you never have to develop a real character because no one remembers to look for one.”
Martin is a fascinating narrator. In some ways, he is impossible to sympathize with, but there are other moments when he is entirely relatable. His voice reminded me a bit of Humbert Humbert from Lolita, another character who is difficult to like but made easy to understand by a skilled author.
I really couldn’t have enjoyed this book more – I once missed my stop on the metro because I didn’t want to put it down. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.
The book alternates between the interrogation and flashbacks to critical points in Martin’s life and his friendship with Ben. Books with this format often irritate me because many authors pay more attention to creating an interestingly constructed book than to delivering information to the reader. That was not the case with this book; each flashback is another puzzle piece towards understanding who these people are. I craved more information not because I wanted to solve the “mystery” but because I was dying to learn more about the characters. (Incidentally, there isn’t some mind-blowing twist at the end. In fact, I think the beauty of the book is that by the conclusion, the reader understands the characters so well that everything makes perfect sense.) One of my favorite things was the author’s inclusion of excerpts from Martin’s wife’s journal. Martin, in addition to being an unreliable narrator, is an unusual person, so it’s fun to contrast how he views himself with how he is viewed by the person closest to him.
Beyond the compelling plot, the writing is irresistibly sharp. There are so many simple, piercingly accurate comments on wealth, privilege, and the masks that people wear. A couple that I loved:
“As a teenager, he had been touchingly sincere. These days, he saw sincerity as a valuable asset and it wasn’t quite the same thing.”
“That’s the problem with charm. It means you get away with stuff. It means you never have to develop a real character because no one remembers to look for one.”
Martin is a fascinating narrator. In some ways, he is impossible to sympathize with, but there are other moments when he is entirely relatable. His voice reminded me a bit of Humbert Humbert from Lolita, another character who is difficult to like but made easy to understand by a skilled author.
I really couldn’t have enjoyed this book more – I once missed my stop on the metro because I didn’t want to put it down. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.