This book was simply gorgeous. If you are looking for a workout for your laughing muscles, then this is a must read!

Dinner Party by Tracy Bloom | Goodreads Dinner Party by Tracy Bloom | Goodreads

This story revolves around 3 couples who take turns in hosting a monthly dinner party. Beth, Sarah and Marie have been friends forever, but now they are grownup with busy lives. A cozy, comfortable gathering of happy couples - Until one night, a last-minute guest arrives with floods of tears in their eyes, leading to a dinner party no one will ever forget! I like the fact that the three couples are so very different and their lifestyles span a range of circumstances. The tying thread of the friendship of the women is their school days and it is apparent that it is Beth who has ensured the three women stay in touch. There is a camaraderie and rivalry displayed between the three of them which I think is often there in long-term friendships. upon making the long-avoided decision to work with a planner, they experiencethe positive upward momentum of having a life-centered financial plan.MY THOUGHTS: There is plenty of dark humour in Dinner Party to offset the tragedies, the sadness. This is a messy family, one that revolves around the matriarch, Bernadette, and her erratic behaviour. Kate, even though the older twin by some six minutes, is used to coming off second best when compared to her fraternal twin, Elaine. Elaine is somehow more vivacious, more beautiful, and gets away with a lot more with her mother than Kate. Elaine understands how to both play her mother's game, and play her mother. Kate feels like a paler copy of her sister, a shadow, the negative of the photo. This feeling only intensifies after Elaine's death.

The Dinner Party by Richard Jay Parker | Goodreads The Dinner Party by Richard Jay Parker | Goodreads

I found every single character to be delightful in his or her own quirky way–even Sylvia. I laughed out loud so many times I lost count. The ending is delish–pure chocolate babka to those faux latkes presented in Seder #1. I did think the format of the chapters was enjoyable with one of the characters point of view alternating chapters. I also enjoyed the journalist asking questions and someone answering at the end of the chapter that might make the reader want to push on to find out what lies in store for this group next. I have to say, I absolutely LOVED Chris! The second he turned up wanting dips, my heart was stolen. If the biggest problem he has in life is whether there will be dips at a dinner party, then I am in. He was just sweet and a lot of the time naive, but he completely stole my heart and I loved him for it. Whenever he was about, he made me laugh so much! He just wanted to be a lad, with mushy peas and dips! I like Duncan too, well felt more sorry for him really and Tony, well he wasn't always the nicest of blokes, a bit pompous. There are secrets and lies aplenty ... add suicides, possible homicides, drugs, alcohol and well hidden pasts that are slowly being revealed, and the suspense is palpable. I found the first half riveting, but them it kind of fizzled toward the end. The story was all wrapped up, but some of it didn't rise to the level of tension I had expected.As Richard Jay Parker he has written the thriller STOP ME and as Richard Parker - SCARE ME, STALK ME, FOLLOW YOU, HIDE AND SEEK, KEEP HER SAFE, NEVER SAY GOODBYE and THE SONGBIRD GIRLS. A complete misfit of friends but it worked for the story, and you know as well it happens every day. There is always one person who goes as it's obligatory, not because they like any of the other people, and it's always because it's the women who are friends. Beth, Sarah and Marie have been friends since school. Now, once a month, they and their husbands, that truly don't have anything in common except their wives being friends, meet at one of their places for a dinner party, that usually run without mishaps and in a nice atmosphere. However, this time, when it's Beth and Chris's turn, he forgets to tell his wife that he has invited his new friend Simon. Simon and his wife have just split up and he's been since heartbroken. To be honest, nobody is too happy with the new addition but when he arrives, the three female friends find themselves drawn to him, which doesn't go unnoticed by their husbands. As the time goes on and the dinner parties as well, Simon becomes more part of their lives, however his presence also causes chaos and misunderstandings that eventually lead to a very dramatic finale. This absorbing thriller really races along as the stakes continue to grow, while none of the couples really stood out for me - it was interesting to see how the game soon escalated. Silvia’s youngest daughter has recently begun dating and Silvia is beside herself with joy. The invite to the new boyfriend is customary but when she finds out his parents will also attend she knows that the first impression is the best one. Her life becomes consumed in making the party one that will be the stuff of legends. Yet she has other concerns. What does she do with the inappropriate boyfriend of her other daughter Sarah, as well as his Italian mother? Despite all her hard work, the food the wine, the linen and the potential drama, she understands that holidays are really about family.

The Dinner Party by Brenda Janowitz | Goodreads The Dinner Party by Brenda Janowitz | Goodreads

I really didn’t like the characters and I found it hard to tell them apart. There are 4 couples, including our narrator and his wife, and I keep forgetting who was married to who and what made them different from the other couples. I understand that the author wanted to throw the readers off by who the killer was by adding more characters, but for me it didn’t work. They just blended together. This book is written in this lovely, light Tracy Bloom's writing style that I so much adore. She also for sure can create a bunch of regular, relatable characters with real problems and get them into some complicated and often hilarious situations. There is also so much depth to this story, as it touches upon love, betrayal, friendship and second chances. It makes me really sad that the book didn't work for me as much as I was sure it's going to, but Tracy Bloom stays at the very top of my auto - buy authors, I will read whatever she writes.Another thing that bothered me a lot was how each of the characters treated each other. There was little to no compassion, no actual friendship, no reason why they’ve been doing their dinner parties for so long since none of them enjoyed it at all (except of Chris of course. He can never NOT enjoy food). And the way they took control of other people’s life, destroyed other’s marriages and said incredibly mean things about them – it was baffling. Are all adults this way? I don’t aspire to grow up anymore.

Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin | Goodreads Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin | Goodreads

So what is ‘Dinner Party’? First and foremost, it’s a close exploration of the dynamics of family, written in a series of non-chronological set-pieces spread over several decades. The initial set-up, revealed during the eponymous dinner party, might recall Marina Carr’s ‘Portia Coughlan’ – a surviving twin in a dysfunctional midlands family is haunted on every anniversary of the death of her teenage sibling. But there the comparison ends. Gilmartin’s prose is far more in the tradition of Anne Enright, particularly in its tight focus on the problematic mother-daughter relationship. It’s an exploration, written in close-third, of (among other things) survivor guilt – Kate, the quieter, less-favoured twin has outlived her more feisty, extrovert sister, Elaine. In later years, this guilt manifests itself in anorexia and other confidence- and body-issues. There’s an excruciating scene of depilation enough to put the stoutest heart off lasering! This is Tracy Bloom at her best - funny, real people, fabulous situations and a hook that kept me intrigued until the end.Halloween 2018, Dublin. Kate Gleeson has carefully crafted the perfect dinner party for her brothers, everything planned with precision so she continue with the facade that everything is fine . But by the end of the night her nerves are close to shattering and her life is rapidly unravelling. I had a soft spot for Beth whose indignation at life and herself was very funny but also very touching Beth, too, I liked her but she was way too harsh on herself, but then aren't most of us? Marie, god she riled me and Sarah, I would have loved to have been there for her.