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Dinner Party: A Tragedy
To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, Kate meticulously plans a dinner party - from the fancy table setting to the perfect baked alaska waiting in the freezer. But by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests are gone, and Kate is spinning out of control.
Set between from the 1990s and the present day, from Carlow to Dublin, the family farmhouse to Trinity College, Dinner Party is a beautifully observed, dark and twisty novel that thrillingly unravels into family secrets and tragedy.
Haunting and unforgettable, it explores how the past informs the present, the inevitability of childhood damage resurfacing in later life - and yet how, despite everything, we can't help returning home.
Set between from the 1990s and the present day, from Carlow to Dublin, the family farmhouse to Trinity College, Dinner Party is a beautifully observed, dark and twisty novel that thrillingly unravels into family secrets and tragedy.
Haunting and unforgettable, it explores how the past informs the present, the inevitability of childhood damage resurfacing in later life - and yet how, despite everything, we can't help returning home.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published September 16, 2021
About the author
Sarah Gilmartin
3 books38 followersSARAH GILMARTIN is a critic who reviews fiction for the Irish Times. She is co-editor of the anthology Stinging Fly Stories and has an MFA from University College Dublin. She won Best Playwright at the inaugural Short+Sweet Dublin festival. Her short stories have been published in The Dublin Review, New Irish Writing and shortlisted for the RTÉ Francis MacManus Short Story Award. Her story ‘The Wife’ won the 2020 Máirtín Crawford Award at Belfast Book Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews
March 25, 2021
It’s Halloween 2018 and Kate Gleeson has a dinner party planned for her family to mark the anniversary of the loss of her twin sister Elaine. Her brothers Peter and Ray attend but not their mother. At the end of the night Kate has unraveled and not for the first time. The story is told in several timelines from 1999 at the family farm in Carlow, in 2006 when Kate attends Trinity, Dublin and in 2018 and 19.
This is a hard book to review as in places it’s riveting and in others rather slow. It’s a character driven novel with some really good descriptive imagery to demonstrate the character’s feelings and the atmosphere in the Gleeson household can be incendiary. Kate is the central character and she has so many demons, she’s extremely sensitive, struggling for years with eating disorders. The loss of Elaine weighs heavy on her, she’s hollowed out and can’t find her way through. Her relationship with food is handled sensitively and carefully by the author and your heart aches for Kate. The most vivid character portrayal is mother Bernadette who is very difficult to say the least, she can be vivaciously vile and Kate often bears that brunt. She’s the Queen at the centre of the family hive and expects them all to do her bidding. Kate’s brothers are lovely, they are kind and understanding. It all comes to a head in 2019 at the farmhouse Halloween dinner and it seems like after all this time the ‘boil is lanced’. The grudges, resentment and their mammy’s verbal cruelties reach a crescendo but there seems to be hope on the horizon and survival especially for Kate. However, the ending feels very abrupt and though you sense things look better there’s some lack of resolution.
Overall, despite the pacing issues it’s an intriguing book and I’m glad I read it.
With thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the arc in return for an honest review.
This is a hard book to review as in places it’s riveting and in others rather slow. It’s a character driven novel with some really good descriptive imagery to demonstrate the character’s feelings and the atmosphere in the Gleeson household can be incendiary. Kate is the central character and she has so many demons, she’s extremely sensitive, struggling for years with eating disorders. The loss of Elaine weighs heavy on her, she’s hollowed out and can’t find her way through. Her relationship with food is handled sensitively and carefully by the author and your heart aches for Kate. The most vivid character portrayal is mother Bernadette who is very difficult to say the least, she can be vivaciously vile and Kate often bears that brunt. She’s the Queen at the centre of the family hive and expects them all to do her bidding. Kate’s brothers are lovely, they are kind and understanding. It all comes to a head in 2019 at the farmhouse Halloween dinner and it seems like after all this time the ‘boil is lanced’. The grudges, resentment and their mammy’s verbal cruelties reach a crescendo but there seems to be hope on the horizon and survival especially for Kate. However, the ending feels very abrupt and though you sense things look better there’s some lack of resolution.
Overall, despite the pacing issues it’s an intriguing book and I’m glad I read it.
With thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the arc in return for an honest review.
March 23, 2023
EXCERPT: She burst into tears again. It was the loneliest she had felt in a very long time. Four and a half years of trying to pretend she was okay. She squeezed her eyes shut as the memories unloaded. The white oak coffin, how her mother had screamed the house down when it arrived with the wrong type of handles. The busyness of Cranavon, so much busier than her father's funeral, as if there was a rule: the younger the person, the bigger the crowd. Everyone had kept saying that Elaine looked exactly like herself, which wasn't true at all. There was so little of her sister in the waxy face and pale lips, in the slightness of her shape, the way her body seemed to be eaten up by the folds of white satin. There was no trace of Elaine's vivacity. If anything, Kate saw herself in the coffin. And she was not the only one to notice this. One night, not long after the funeral, Kate had woken up to find her mother in Elaine's bed. Barely a metre away, her eyes boring into Kate, pinning her to the mattress. Because it was her fault she was alive. Her mother had never said it, or maybe she had said it once in a fit and then taken it back, but either way, she was right. The wrong twin had died.
ABOUT 'DINNER PARTY: A TRAGEDY': Kate has taught herself to be careful, to be meticulous.
To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, she plans a dinner party – from the fancy table settings to the perfect Baked Alaska waiting in the freezer. Yet by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests have fled, and Kate is spinning out of control.
But all we have is ourselves, her father once said, all we have is family.
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.
Bernadette needs to be the centre of attention; she needs to be not merely the best at everything whether it be scone baking or championing her daughter's horse-riding career, but to be KNOWN to be the best. She cannot stand to lose at anything, not an argument nor a tennis match. She can be cruel and vindictive, and often is. Challenge her at your peril.
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.
But it is when Kate leaves home for university that the real trouble begins. Instead of the freedom she expected to feel, life becomes even more complicated.
Set between the 1990s and the present day, the entire book is narrated from Kate's point of view. The writing is dark, yet witty, as Kate's life unravels and family secrets are revealed.
I both enjoyed and was unsettled by this read. Bernadette and my mother had a great deal in common.
⭐⭐⭐.5
#Dinner Party #NetGalley
I: #SarahGilmartin @pushkin_press
T: @sarahgbooks @PushkinPress
#contemporaryfiction #family drama # irishfiction #mentalhealth #sliceoflife
THE AUTHOR: After completing a BA in English and German, she completed a master’s in journalism, “mainly because I loved writing and thought this would be a way to continue”.
She got her start working for a public affairs magazine, followed by a business and finance magazine. She travelled quite a bit in her 20s, and even did a stint in the bank – “probably the most secure job I ever had, like, a grown-up job”.
But even job security couldn’t shake the bug out of her system. She needed to go back to her “first degree and first love”, fiction.
In 2011, she left the bank and began writing a novel. She spent three years writing, but ultimately, the book didn’t get picked up by publishers.
“That was tough. It felt, at the time, you know, what am I doing? Maybe I need to go back to the bank or give up on this.”
She turned her focus to arts journalism. She had been publishing reviews here and there, so she built on this.
“But then every so often I’d have an idea for a story and I’d start tipping away,” she says. Gilmartin then applied to do an MFA at UCD. “I decided kind of in a rush I was going to do it. And from that point on, things have taken off a little bit. I’ve had some luck with stories, and I grew one particular story into this novel.”
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Pushkin Press via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Dinner Party: A Tragedy for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own personal opinions.
ABOUT 'DINNER PARTY: A TRAGEDY': Kate has taught herself to be careful, to be meticulous.
To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, she plans a dinner party – from the fancy table settings to the perfect Baked Alaska waiting in the freezer. Yet by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests have fled, and Kate is spinning out of control.
But all we have is ourselves, her father once said, all we have is family.
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.
Bernadette needs to be the centre of attention; she needs to be not merely the best at everything whether it be scone baking or championing her daughter's horse-riding career, but to be KNOWN to be the best. She cannot stand to lose at anything, not an argument nor a tennis match. She can be cruel and vindictive, and often is. Challenge her at your peril.
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.
But it is when Kate leaves home for university that the real trouble begins. Instead of the freedom she expected to feel, life becomes even more complicated.
Set between the 1990s and the present day, the entire book is narrated from Kate's point of view. The writing is dark, yet witty, as Kate's life unravels and family secrets are revealed.
I both enjoyed and was unsettled by this read. Bernadette and my mother had a great deal in common.
⭐⭐⭐.5
#Dinner Party #NetGalley
I: #SarahGilmartin @pushkin_press
T: @sarahgbooks @PushkinPress
#contemporaryfiction #family drama # irishfiction #mentalhealth #sliceoflife
THE AUTHOR: After completing a BA in English and German, she completed a master’s in journalism, “mainly because I loved writing and thought this would be a way to continue”.
She got her start working for a public affairs magazine, followed by a business and finance magazine. She travelled quite a bit in her 20s, and even did a stint in the bank – “probably the most secure job I ever had, like, a grown-up job”.
But even job security couldn’t shake the bug out of her system. She needed to go back to her “first degree and first love”, fiction.
In 2011, she left the bank and began writing a novel. She spent three years writing, but ultimately, the book didn’t get picked up by publishers.
“That was tough. It felt, at the time, you know, what am I doing? Maybe I need to go back to the bank or give up on this.”
She turned her focus to arts journalism. She had been publishing reviews here and there, so she built on this.
“But then every so often I’d have an idea for a story and I’d start tipping away,” she says. Gilmartin then applied to do an MFA at UCD. “I decided kind of in a rush I was going to do it. And from that point on, things have taken off a little bit. I’ve had some luck with stories, and I grew one particular story into this novel.”
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Pushkin Press via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Dinner Party: A Tragedy for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own personal opinions.
July 16, 2021
I'm afraid I found this dreary and too much of a struggle to finish. The narrative voice lacks character, the whole dysfunctional family thing is such a well-established trope that it needs something to make it feel fresh or different and this one didn't manage that. This may work better for fans of family sagas than fans of litfic - just not for me.
November 7, 2021
Family get-togethers are inherently dramatic as they are often accompanied by so much expectation, pent-up emotions and long-held grievances. They often start out with the best intentions but can spiral out of control into feuds. There's an intense familiarity yet often family members can feel like strangers to each other. This is something Sarah Gilmartin understands well as her debut novel begins and ends with a dinner to mark the anniversary of a death in the family. In between these dinners we learn about the history of the Gleesons, a contemporary Irish family of farmers with two sons and twin daughters. The story focuses on daughter Kate as she struggles to reconcile with family tragedies, emotionally connect with the family members who remain and progress forward in her own life. It's an engaging story with many moments of high tension and heartache because it's clear that these people care deeply about each other but also drive each other crazy.
Read my full review of Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin on LonesomeReader
Read my full review of Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin on LonesomeReader
November 28, 2021
Unfortunately this wasn't for me.
A bit of a "non-novel", nothing really "happens" if you know what I mean.
The story didn’t resonate with me at all. It lacks... something
A bit of a "non-novel", nothing really "happens" if you know what I mean.
The story didn’t resonate with me at all. It lacks... something
January 24, 2023
Every year, on Halloween, Kate Gleeson, and her family, get together for the anniversary of the death of her twin sister, Elaine. This novel follows them through various events in their family life; from past to present and weaving the complicated strands of family relationships. Kate’s beloved father is a farmer, her brother, Peter, set to follow him and run the farm. Kate’s other brother, Ray, marries Liz and tries to start a new life away from the pull of the family home.
Mostly, this pull revolves around the dominating presence of their mother. For the Gleeson’s are a family ruled by their mother’s moods and tempers, her never-ending desire for sympathy and attention, her rages, and criticisms. As the novel gives glimpses of the family relationships, we see how Kate begins to self-destruct and the author cleverly touches on comments and remarks which bring about a difficult relationship for Kate with, not only her mother, but food.
I thought this was a remarkable novel and I loved every word. Sarah Gilmartin captured the difficulties, but also the importance, of family. Her dialogue was excellent, her creation of Bernadette Gleeson suddenly shocking, then utterly poignant. I think this will, undoubtedly, be one of my favourite reads of the year. I received a copy of the book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
Mostly, this pull revolves around the dominating presence of their mother. For the Gleeson’s are a family ruled by their mother’s moods and tempers, her never-ending desire for sympathy and attention, her rages, and criticisms. As the novel gives glimpses of the family relationships, we see how Kate begins to self-destruct and the author cleverly touches on comments and remarks which bring about a difficult relationship for Kate with, not only her mother, but food.
I thought this was a remarkable novel and I loved every word. Sarah Gilmartin captured the difficulties, but also the importance, of family. Her dialogue was excellent, her creation of Bernadette Gleeson suddenly shocking, then utterly poignant. I think this will, undoubtedly, be one of my favourite reads of the year. I received a copy of the book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
January 29, 2023
Have you ever had a little ‘pluck’ in a piece of clothing and pulled it? Yeah, bet you wished you’d left it alone, right?! Over dinner at the farmhouse one Hallowe’en, the ‘pluck’ gets pulled on the fibres of this Irish family and it slowly unravels.
Family dinners in our home are more than just the food. True, it’s always anticipated and always enjoyed. But it’s also about the conversations around the table. It’s about supporting each other as a family as we all get to understand each other better. It’s no different for the Gleeson family.
Meals are a big part of this family’s life. In each of the six sections in the book, Gilmartin features food and readers become aware of the different relationships each has with food. For some, it brings them together and for others, it’s a source of repulsion. The ‘splitting’ had more meaning for me when I saw it echoing throughout the book. Clever.
You would think that a party would suggest a celebration, but this family gets together every year on the anniversary of a death in the family. It’s an emotionally filled meal and the setting is ripe for discord. Gilmartin writes to explore what happens when the guests leave, and the festivities are over….and it’s no cause for a celebration. The Gleeson family is coming apart at the seams. What’s uncovered after the dinner party are the dishes of denial, trauma, family disagreements, mental health issues, eating disorders, and loss.
This book is about family and the role it plays in supporting each member. Most Irish families are centered around the matriarch and Gilmartin uses this to her advantage. Bernadette Gleeson is a force to be reckoned with and her ‘charm’ sets off different reactions within the family….all which reach an explosive point after dinner one Hallowe’en evening.
This is an extremely well-written character-driven novel that deals with big issues in a dysfunctional family, but it’s presented with such authenticity and leaves readers with a glimmer of hope. I just wanted to give Kate a big hug, twirl her around and point her in the right direction.
The cover is excellent and best understood after finishing the book.
I was gifted this copy by Pushkin Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
Family dinners in our home are more than just the food. True, it’s always anticipated and always enjoyed. But it’s also about the conversations around the table. It’s about supporting each other as a family as we all get to understand each other better. It’s no different for the Gleeson family.
Meals are a big part of this family’s life. In each of the six sections in the book, Gilmartin features food and readers become aware of the different relationships each has with food. For some, it brings them together and for others, it’s a source of repulsion. The ‘splitting’ had more meaning for me when I saw it echoing throughout the book. Clever.
You would think that a party would suggest a celebration, but this family gets together every year on the anniversary of a death in the family. It’s an emotionally filled meal and the setting is ripe for discord. Gilmartin writes to explore what happens when the guests leave, and the festivities are over….and it’s no cause for a celebration. The Gleeson family is coming apart at the seams. What’s uncovered after the dinner party are the dishes of denial, trauma, family disagreements, mental health issues, eating disorders, and loss.
This book is about family and the role it plays in supporting each member. Most Irish families are centered around the matriarch and Gilmartin uses this to her advantage. Bernadette Gleeson is a force to be reckoned with and her ‘charm’ sets off different reactions within the family….all which reach an explosive point after dinner one Hallowe’en evening.
This is an extremely well-written character-driven novel that deals with big issues in a dysfunctional family, but it’s presented with such authenticity and leaves readers with a glimmer of hope. I just wanted to give Kate a big hug, twirl her around and point her in the right direction.
The cover is excellent and best understood after finishing the book.
I was gifted this copy by Pushkin Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
September 15, 2021
Who was she at all? Just a random woman in her thirties whose fine little life was falling apart. Impossible to isolate the problem. The break-up, which was connected to the apartment, which was connected to her job and her friends and her family, which was connected to the past, to her father, to Elaine, to the shared womb, to the mother they’d been cut out of thirty-six weeks later, to her scarred stomach that had never recovered. And who was so connected to where, all the messy ‘W’s, really, and the worst one of all: why. Why were any of them here? She was not suicidal—just a healthy appreciation of death. She’d known it from such a young age that it was impossible not to consider it, frequently, deeply. And maybe that was connected to the way she lived now, but on the other hand, she had a talent for hunger
2021 has been a year to remember for Pushkin Press: two books – very deservedly in my views - on the International Booker Prize shortlist – one of them “At Night All Blood is Black” the winner, and the same two books (the other being “When We Cease to Understand the World”) both appearing on Barack Obama’s recent 11-strong Summer 2021 reading list.
This, their latest English-language novel is by Sarah Gilmartin – her debut novel, although she is an award winning playwright and short story writer. She is however known to me, and I am sure many readers of literary fiction, for her excellent reviews in the Irish Times (reviews this year for example include Little Scratch, Open Water, Luster, Acts of Desperation, His Only Wife and A Lonely Man (her specialty I think, appropriately enough, being debut novels).
This novel is very much one of a nuclear Irish family dealing – dealing with the traumas that have occurred to them, the interactions between them both past and present, how childhood issues and words spoken play out for many years - the nuclear family term being I think particularly appropriate here in a book which explores both familial attraction and tension.
The book opens with the titular Dinner Party being held by Kate Gleeson in Dublin at Halloween 2018 – in what we immediately find out is the sixteenth anniversary of the death of her fraternal twin sister Elaine. Instead of the normal memorial style family gathering Kate has decided to cook for a small group – her oldest brother Peter (who has inherited the running of the family farm) and other brother Ray (now married – his wife also joins the party). Already we sense some of the shared histories (and resulting understandings and tensions) between the family members – and between all of them and their widowed Mother. We also sense that Kate has a difficult relationship with food.
As an aside the Party I think has a couple of false notes - a Baked Alaska incident which is perhaps a little too resonant with the Bake-Off #Bingate, and some funny Brownies
Subsequent sections range across time:
Back to the family farm in Carlow 1999 as we see the six minutes in age between Kate and Elaine turn into what seems like a widening chasm – partly at their mother’s encouragement for them to have different hobbies/interests (Elaine equestrianism) and partly due to Elaine hitting maturity much quicker. We also get a glimpse of the developing characters of Peter (both dutiful in helping run the farm but also looking for an escape to America), Ray (increasingly independent), of their solid but undemonstrative wedded-to-the-land Father and their Mother (who at least to me seems to be a manic depressive although that term is never used)
To Kate at University in Dublin in 2006 – where we see her eating disorders come to an early head: this section also includes some further retrospective on the events of October 2002
To Dublin in 2018 just before the Dinner Party and the dissolution of a relationship Kate is having with a married man (which is still haunting her at the Dinner Party) as well as section session immediately after the Party
And a culminating family gathering one year later (Halloween 2019) with the three surviving siblings and their mother which results in many (literally) home truths being told.
Overall I found this an involving novel – perhaps slightly less literary than I had expected, but a brave exploration of eating disorders and grief and a fascinating and realistic portrayal of family dynamics (the blurb from Anne Enright seems appropriate here as there are thematic similarities in their work).
And they were jumbling, the images, the faces: Peter standing tall with his news of the future, and Ray pulling his chair closer, and then their mother, her mother, the metallic sheen of her eyes and the clawed hands of all that worry and hurt. Kate could see herself too, could see the four of them now sat around the table, existing in the same space together. Surviving. Really, she thought, they were all strange, troubled individuals but beside each other, they were very clearly a family. You could not call it anything else. It was all they had, and it might be enough.
My thanks to Pushkin Press for an ARC via NetGalley
Shelved as 'dnf'
February 17, 2021Thank you Netgalley for this e-ARC.
I don't know what to say. This book was unable to hold my interest from page 1 to page 60. So I decided to DNF it. It is not my cup of tea and pace was so slow.
I don't know what to say. This book was unable to hold my interest from page 1 to page 60. So I decided to DNF it. It is not my cup of tea and pace was so slow.
February 6, 2022
This is a competent enough but somewhat lacklustre debut about the impact of the tragic death of one twin on the less shiny sister left behind. It's also a study of a controlling and volatile mother's destructive hold on her children, The book was solid enough to complete, but I think it could have been pared down a good bit. There are lots of extraneous details and excess dialogue that I felt added little to the book. An okay read, nothing more.
September 1, 2021
First a word on the phenomenon of the Netgalley reviewer and e-ARCs (Advanced Review Copies). Far too many negative reviews here (with their dreaded ‘DBF’s) are of the lazy and misleading: “I’m giving this spaghetti bolognaise one star because I only really like Indian food” variety. If you don’t like Italian food, don’t rate pasta dishes! It’s unfair, and distorting. The first job of the critic or reviewer must be to rate what’s in front of them on its own terms, not in terms of what they’d prefer it to be. Criticising ‘Dinner Party’ for a lack of dark twists or big reveals is misguided because one imagines Sarah Gilmartin was never setting out to write a dark, twisty novel…
Ok. Rant over!
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!
A number of the Netgalley reviewers lament the early reveals of family secrets, and/or criticise the slow pace. Taken on its own terms, the evolving dynamic of the six Gleesons – older son Peter, caught between a desire to emigrate and responsibilities toward the family farm, the more feckless brother Ray, the twin girls themselves, the quiet father and depressive-aggressive mother – is beautifully rendered in a number of tableaux – a Christmas game of charades, a disastrous gymkhana – any of which might have made for a satisfying long short story such as Alice Munroe might have written. I will say that, outside of the immediate family circle, characters tend toward caricature – Liz, Miranda, Mrs Stevens, Anthony, Liam. The Gleesons themselves are so well caught, though, that as a family portrait, it’s a very memorable debut indeed.
Incidentally, I was delighted to receive an ARC myself from Pushkin Press.
Ok. Rant over!
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!
A number of the Netgalley reviewers lament the early reveals of family secrets, and/or criticise the slow pace. Taken on its own terms, the evolving dynamic of the six Gleesons – older son Peter, caught between a desire to emigrate and responsibilities toward the family farm, the more feckless brother Ray, the twin girls themselves, the quiet father and depressive-aggressive mother – is beautifully rendered in a number of tableaux – a Christmas game of charades, a disastrous gymkhana – any of which might have made for a satisfying long short story such as Alice Munroe might have written. I will say that, outside of the immediate family circle, characters tend toward caricature – Liz, Miranda, Mrs Stevens, Anthony, Liam. The Gleesons themselves are so well caught, though, that as a family portrait, it’s a very memorable debut indeed.
Incidentally, I was delighted to receive an ARC myself from Pushkin Press.
April 27, 2021
TW: Eating disorder - discussion of anorexia, bulimia and eating patterns
Kate Gleeson was a twin, and on Halloween 2018 she hosts a dinner party for her siblings to mark the anniversary of twin sister Elaine's death. The dinner party is an intriguing look at the way the death has affected her and her siblings. By the end of the evening, the dessert is in the bin, the guests have left and Kate is no longer herself and is experiencing turmoil. We later go on to explore Kate's demons and particularly look at the character of Bernadette and her mothering techniques including verbal cruelties, which often Kate faced the brunt of.
The timeline flits between the dinner, to other timelines from when Elaine was still alive, and Kate's time at Trinity. There are no real chapters as such which can make this feel long-winded and difficult to digest in places, and whilst it is mostly a character-driven story I found the characters quite difficult to warm to or empathise with. Ultimately it's a story looking at family trauma, but it's really quite heavy-hitting and melancholic and the descriptions of an eating disorder were triggering and I wish there were trigger warnings available before reading it, as I came across these themes quite abruptly. I pushed through reading it as I hate to DNF one but it's really quite distressing and Kate's battle with anorexia and mentions of her disordered eating are graphic.
*Thanks to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the review copy
Kate Gleeson was a twin, and on Halloween 2018 she hosts a dinner party for her siblings to mark the anniversary of twin sister Elaine's death. The dinner party is an intriguing look at the way the death has affected her and her siblings. By the end of the evening, the dessert is in the bin, the guests have left and Kate is no longer herself and is experiencing turmoil. We later go on to explore Kate's demons and particularly look at the character of Bernadette and her mothering techniques including verbal cruelties, which often Kate faced the brunt of.
The timeline flits between the dinner, to other timelines from when Elaine was still alive, and Kate's time at Trinity. There are no real chapters as such which can make this feel long-winded and difficult to digest in places, and whilst it is mostly a character-driven story I found the characters quite difficult to warm to or empathise with. Ultimately it's a story looking at family trauma, but it's really quite heavy-hitting and melancholic and the descriptions of an eating disorder were triggering and I wish there were trigger warnings available before reading it, as I came across these themes quite abruptly. I pushed through reading it as I hate to DNF one but it's really quite distressing and Kate's battle with anorexia and mentions of her disordered eating are graphic.
*Thanks to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the review copy
March 7, 2023
A brutally confronting, melancholic tale of the ordeals of a muddled, dysfunctional Irish family headed by a dominating, intimidating, matriarch. The story revolves around Kate and how she battles with her personal demons following the death of her twin sister. It’s a sadly too-true-to-life narrative of the ordeals and coping mechanisms of family members torn apart by anguish and loss and the hand they’ve been dealt. Yet despite the oppressive tone of despondence, hope springs eternal.
An excellent debut by Gilmartin.
My thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
An excellent debut by Gilmartin.
My thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 24, 2023
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.
The book moves back and forth between several timelines; from Kate’s childhood in Carlow in 1999 to finally finishing in 2019, where a lifetime of family events, resentments and tragedies have simmered, risen and ultimately exploded over the decades.
Well, this book wasn’t what I was expecting at all. It’s definitely not a light hearted read - there are moments of sheer bleakness and utter despair. But it is so, so beautifully written and articulate that it is a joy to read, even the tragic parts. The prose is exquisite; every sentence has meaning and is contemplative, profound and absorbing. My heart broke many times for these characters; all royally f***ed up in so many different ways, all doing their best but never quite succeeding. I particularly loved the childhood years. Such an evocative and vivid picture of a noisy, busy family with their mother at the helm. It made me think of my own childhood and now, my own family and what this home of mine will be like in a few decades time. It really is such a thought provoking and contemplative book.
I loved it from start to finish. An astonishingly brilliant literary debut which I couldn’t put down and couldn’t stop thinking about.
Thank you Pushkin Press for my ARC. All views my own.
The book moves back and forth between several timelines; from Kate’s childhood in Carlow in 1999 to finally finishing in 2019, where a lifetime of family events, resentments and tragedies have simmered, risen and ultimately exploded over the decades.
Well, this book wasn’t what I was expecting at all. It’s definitely not a light hearted read - there are moments of sheer bleakness and utter despair. But it is so, so beautifully written and articulate that it is a joy to read, even the tragic parts. The prose is exquisite; every sentence has meaning and is contemplative, profound and absorbing. My heart broke many times for these characters; all royally f***ed up in so many different ways, all doing their best but never quite succeeding. I particularly loved the childhood years. Such an evocative and vivid picture of a noisy, busy family with their mother at the helm. It made me think of my own childhood and now, my own family and what this home of mine will be like in a few decades time. It really is such a thought provoking and contemplative book.
I loved it from start to finish. An astonishingly brilliant literary debut which I couldn’t put down and couldn’t stop thinking about.
Thank you Pushkin Press for my ARC. All views my own.
December 23, 2021
I wanted to love this book and as I pushed through the slow and uninteresting plot I’d hoped for a sudden brilliance of twists a d reveals. Sadly that didn’t happen.
Whilst some characters are certainly dysfunctional I found any depth to them wasn’t there. The characters had potential to be quite substantial. Some dark elements in family dynamics but no real thrills or shock moments. They could have easily been included.
Some things revealed early in the book I thought were a poor call. Without spoiling anything, a specific major event would have been fantastic as a plot reveal. Too much exposed far too early.
The pace was so slow I almost gave up at 30% in then various moments after. Even at the dinner party that is the first 10% or so of the book nothing really thrilling or exciting happens. It could of kicked off with a bang in my opinion.
I see other reviews are mixed, some have loved it but also a lot of mid-range 3 stars and even 2 and 1 star reviews. A lot won’t finish this one. In comparison to so many books I’ve read this year already this was a huge disappointment.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy. All opinions are my own and totally unbiased.
Whilst some characters are certainly dysfunctional I found any depth to them wasn’t there. The characters had potential to be quite substantial. Some dark elements in family dynamics but no real thrills or shock moments. They could have easily been included.
Some things revealed early in the book I thought were a poor call. Without spoiling anything, a specific major event would have been fantastic as a plot reveal. Too much exposed far too early.
The pace was so slow I almost gave up at 30% in then various moments after. Even at the dinner party that is the first 10% or so of the book nothing really thrilling or exciting happens. It could of kicked off with a bang in my opinion.
I see other reviews are mixed, some have loved it but also a lot of mid-range 3 stars and even 2 and 1 star reviews. A lot won’t finish this one. In comparison to so many books I’ve read this year already this was a huge disappointment.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy. All opinions are my own and totally unbiased.
October 6, 2021
✨𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏.✨
The book was a little slow to start for me but I soon got into it, I really felt for Kate through this book, I can’t imagine what a loss losing a twin would be, especially while she battles an eating disorder and poor family relationships. I couldn’t help but feel for Kate while reading the book, especially when we delved into her relationship with her mum, or lack there of. It’s easy to see that Kate and her mum struggled to get along after the death of her twin, and it was heartbreaking for me to imagine at one point that her mum may have preferred it if Kate had been the twin to die.
The book was a little slow to start for me but I soon got into it, I really felt for Kate through this book, I can’t imagine what a loss losing a twin would be, especially while she battles an eating disorder and poor family relationships. I couldn’t help but feel for Kate while reading the book, especially when we delved into her relationship with her mum, or lack there of. It’s easy to see that Kate and her mum struggled to get along after the death of her twin, and it was heartbreaking for me to imagine at one point that her mum may have preferred it if Kate had been the twin to die.
March 8, 2023
It’s Halloween evening, 2018, and Kate Gleeson is hosting a small family dinner party in honor of her twin sister’s death on this day sixteen years ago. 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. Yes, she gave her children the best of everything and advocated for them, but Kate still has lingering memories of having to sleep in the cold, dark shed, possibly with rats and spiders, and physical abuse at the hands of her mother. Her siblings suffered the same treatment when their mother went into one of her frequent, rage-filled “tempers.” Kate has been working incredibly hard to serve the perfect dinner to her two brothers and sister-in-law to observe the anniversary of Elaine’s death, an annual tradition. Old family tensions and talk of their mother who did not come to the party cause tensions to surface, and Kate starts to spiral. By the end of the evening, with a single peak broken, Kate destroys and tosses her Baked Alaska, unserved, into the trash. Her guests are quick to leave as Kate unravels from the built up tensions with her siblings and the pressure she put on herself to achieve absolute perfection for the evening.
This was a difficult book to read, despite attempts at humor sprinkled throughout the book. The tone underlying everything that took place was quite morose and centered around death. In addition, there should be a trigger warning included, as Kate has an eating disorder, and starves herself, constantly counting and keeping track of the number of bites she has taken. The sibling tension is normal, given the fact that one of them has died. But their love for each other is also palpable. As her twin, Kate feels the most bereft having lost her “other half” in Elaine. The secret plans they made for their future, the inside jokes, and the way they could look at each other and speak without words bound them together more than any of their many differences could separate them. I wanted to like this story so much more than I did. It was a bit challenging for me to try to understand some of the Irish wording, but not impossible. This book alternated between past and present, eventually explaining the reasons why both Francis, their father, and Elaine passed away. The book hints at their mother Bernadette’s difficult childhood, and the ups and downs of Francis’s and Bernadette’s marriage. I really wanted to love this book, but I found it very painful to read, especially because I lost a sibling and know how soul crushing it can be, and because it evoked some other complicated memories as well.
I’d like to thank Edelweiss, Sarah Gilmartin, and Pushkin Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
This was a difficult book to read, despite attempts at humor sprinkled throughout the book. The tone underlying everything that took place was quite morose and centered around death. In addition, there should be a trigger warning included, as Kate has an eating disorder, and starves herself, constantly counting and keeping track of the number of bites she has taken. The sibling tension is normal, given the fact that one of them has died. But their love for each other is also palpable. As her twin, Kate feels the most bereft having lost her “other half” in Elaine. The secret plans they made for their future, the inside jokes, and the way they could look at each other and speak without words bound them together more than any of their many differences could separate them. I wanted to like this story so much more than I did. It was a bit challenging for me to try to understand some of the Irish wording, but not impossible. This book alternated between past and present, eventually explaining the reasons why both Francis, their father, and Elaine passed away. The book hints at their mother Bernadette’s difficult childhood, and the ups and downs of Francis’s and Bernadette’s marriage. I really wanted to love this book, but I found it very painful to read, especially because I lost a sibling and know how soul crushing it can be, and because it evoked some other complicated memories as well.
I’d like to thank Edelweiss, Sarah Gilmartin, and Pushkin Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
February 14, 2023
I received a free copy of, Dinner Party, by Sarah Gilmartin, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Kate wants to throw a dinner party, to mark the anniversary of her twins death. I really did not have empathy for Kate, she made it to difficult, but a well written book.
February 8, 2021
This novel is exceptional.
The main character, Kate, meets with her two brothers (and occasionally her mother) every year on Halloween to mourn the death of her twin sister, Elaine.
We start the novel at one such dinner party, where Kate, unwell but persevering under the razor-like pressure to make everything right, cooks for her two brothers and one of their partners, with their mother, thankfully, not there.
It then snakes into a heartfelt family tale- all of the things that are said and are not said over years and how they build into something much more terrifying, as Kate, her brothers and their mother all navigate the swampy mess of being in a family.
Kate's struggles with anorexia are then revealed, adding extra context to the tightly wound perfectionism of the opening scene. These are dealt with sensitively and in depth. Not easy reading at times, but masterfully handled.
The family must come to terms with not only their own demons, but those of their family members, as they try to fill the chasm left by two deaths.
The language of this novel is incredibly precise- at times, the words and phrases feel so suffocating that you crave escape, at times they are loose and flowing and open, but the language is always sublime. It has been a long time since I last read a novel where almost every page had a turn of phrase that I wanted to note down and squirrel away for another time, but this novel had me stopping and slowing down to savour every morsel.
Sarah Gilmartin's ability to find images that are both accurate and imaginative, both gentle and deeply physical, is just breathtaking.
These are even better in context, but lines like these completely floored me: "she felt the evening sliding inside her" and "Loss had split Kate open. It had halved her and then halved her again."
The language of this story is so rich and spare at the same time, and it is deeply visceral without ever having to be vulgar. I do not know how she did it, but I am in awe.
Although I don't like comparing authors too much, I think it is fitting that Anne Enright provided the review on the front page of this book, because there is something about the sheer power and force of voice in this novel that reminds me a lot of Enright.
I requested this novel from Net Galley on a bit of a whim, and came away stunned by its beauty.
--
I received an advance copy of this novel from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
The main character, Kate, meets with her two brothers (and occasionally her mother) every year on Halloween to mourn the death of her twin sister, Elaine.
We start the novel at one such dinner party, where Kate, unwell but persevering under the razor-like pressure to make everything right, cooks for her two brothers and one of their partners, with their mother, thankfully, not there.
It then snakes into a heartfelt family tale- all of the things that are said and are not said over years and how they build into something much more terrifying, as Kate, her brothers and their mother all navigate the swampy mess of being in a family.
Kate's struggles with anorexia are then revealed, adding extra context to the tightly wound perfectionism of the opening scene. These are dealt with sensitively and in depth. Not easy reading at times, but masterfully handled.
The family must come to terms with not only their own demons, but those of their family members, as they try to fill the chasm left by two deaths.
The language of this novel is incredibly precise- at times, the words and phrases feel so suffocating that you crave escape, at times they are loose and flowing and open, but the language is always sublime. It has been a long time since I last read a novel where almost every page had a turn of phrase that I wanted to note down and squirrel away for another time, but this novel had me stopping and slowing down to savour every morsel.
Sarah Gilmartin's ability to find images that are both accurate and imaginative, both gentle and deeply physical, is just breathtaking.
These are even better in context, but lines like these completely floored me: "she felt the evening sliding inside her" and "Loss had split Kate open. It had halved her and then halved her again."
The language of this story is so rich and spare at the same time, and it is deeply visceral without ever having to be vulgar. I do not know how she did it, but I am in awe.
Although I don't like comparing authors too much, I think it is fitting that Anne Enright provided the review on the front page of this book, because there is something about the sheer power and force of voice in this novel that reminds me a lot of Enright.
I requested this novel from Net Galley on a bit of a whim, and came away stunned by its beauty.
--
I received an advance copy of this novel from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
March 1, 2023
I started reading this yesterday just to see what it was like but before I knew it I was nearly half way through, something about the writing and the various characters ( probably the mental health issues presented) resonated with me. The dinner party of the title is how the book opens. It’s at Kate’s flat and her two brothers and sister-in-law are the guests. The reason for the dinner is it’s the anniversary of her twin sisters death. The book jumps back in time to their childhoods in 2009. Elaine, Kate’s twin is almost an opposite personality, rebellious and vibrant. Their mother, well she’s demanding and moody at the very least. There are a couple of other time jumps at significant moments in the family’s history. I found it a compelling, character driven book although the pacing is a bit uneven.
Want to read
January 21, 2023a tragedy? hmmm. . .this one sounds intesting!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
April 1, 2023
Life affirming.
April 5, 2023
This book was a mess. The writing was sloppy and the story was not flowing. I also believed that the story was about a dinner party, but it just started with the disastruous dinner party with very rude guests and it got on my nerves the way they were treating the host, and the host seemed to keep apologizing for being the way she was. I had to DNF it. Sorry.
January 30, 2023
This book is beautiful in its sorrow and heartbreak as we feel for a dysfunctional family that has everyone's best interests at heart...but often don't recognize how to show or deal with genuine emotion! Kate and Elaine are twins and as close as sisters can be until tragedy strikes. We see them through time, from the 1990's to the present as they cope with siblings, death, jealousy, and their mother with her idiosyncrasies but devout love for her family and its hardships. I laughed, I cried, I kept hoping time would heal them. But we've all known sorrow, and love, and secrets we must hide. I can't wait to read more of Gilmartin in the future!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
July 17, 2023
*NOTE: Since I posted this review, Steerforth Press / Hanover Publisher Services reached out to me and we're trying to determine if this is a problem with NetGalley's ARC or a problem with my ereader. We've determined that it's a problem on NetGalley's end. Now I'm worried about other ARCs which may not have been complete. While Steerforth Press / Hanover Publisher Services kindly offered me a watermarked PDF to read, neither of my ereaders nicely display PDF files (the font is waaay too small and formatting doesn't fix it). I appreciate the gestsure though.
I'm still planning to read this book, as it has been on my radar for months! I have it on hold at the library now :)
UPDATED REVIEW here.
DNF'd less than 10% in.
I'm so disappointed. There's so much missing text in this arc that I'm completely lost. I'm DNF'ing this because trying to decode text like, "true oil" (truffle oil?), "dierent" (different?), and "hur" (hurt? But "hurt" makes no sense in the context of the sentence), is too time-consuming and frustrating. I can't waste time trying to guess what this story is about. I'll borrow this book from the library.
Please note that I know ARCs aren't error-free, having "o" (to? on? off? or?) heavily salted and peppered throughout the text indicates to me that this ARC wasn't ready for beta reading. I'm not sure what the requirements are for ARCs to be released into the big, bad world, but I would hope that missing text isn't the norm because experiences like this for readers, could backfire. These are surface errors that even a word processor could have quickly and easily detected--and fixed.
*NOTE: Since I posted this review, Steerforth Press / Hanover Publisher Services reached out to me and we're trying to determine if this is a problem with NetGalley's ARC or a problem with my ereader. We've determined that it's a problem on NetGalley's end. Now I'm worried about other ARCs which may not have been complete. While Steerforth Press / Hanover Publisher Services kindly offered me a watermarked PDF to read, neither of my ereaders nicely display PDF files (the font is waaay too small and formatting doesn't fix it). I appreciate the gestsure though.
I'm still planning to read this book, as it has been on my radar for months! I have it on hold at the library now :)
I'm still planning to read this book, as it has been on my radar for months! I have it on hold at the library now :)
UPDATED REVIEW here.
DNF'd less than 10% in.
I'm so disappointed. There's so much missing text in this arc that I'm completely lost. I'm DNF'ing this because trying to decode text like, "true oil" (truffle oil?), "dierent" (different?), and "hur" (hurt? But "hurt" makes no sense in the context of the sentence), is too time-consuming and frustrating. I can't waste time trying to guess what this story is about. I'll borrow this book from the library.
Please note that I know ARCs aren't error-free, having "o" (to? on? off? or?) heavily salted and peppered throughout the text indicates to me that this ARC wasn't ready for beta reading. I'm not sure what the requirements are for ARCs to be released into the big, bad world, but I would hope that missing text isn't the norm because experiences like this for readers, could backfire. These are surface errors that even a word processor could have quickly and easily detected--and fixed.
*NOTE: Since I posted this review, Steerforth Press / Hanover Publisher Services reached out to me and we're trying to determine if this is a problem with NetGalley's ARC or a problem with my ereader. We've determined that it's a problem on NetGalley's end. Now I'm worried about other ARCs which may not have been complete. While Steerforth Press / Hanover Publisher Services kindly offered me a watermarked PDF to read, neither of my ereaders nicely display PDF files (the font is waaay too small and formatting doesn't fix it). I appreciate the gestsure though.
I'm still planning to read this book, as it has been on my radar for months! I have it on hold at the library now :)
April 19, 2021
Dinner Party: A Tragedy is one of the best books I have read this year. 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).
The story is well told, moving backwards and forwards in such a seamless yet unexpected manner that facts (and ideas!!) are discovered in a rather thrilling manner. Descriptions of place and people are just and revealing (eg an outing for afternoon tea with their aunt to which the twins are taken by their mother will show how Kate's mother operates in an excruciatingly funny vignette; or the ordeal of a liaison through a session at the beauty parlour...) Events are presented in a matter-of-fact style that create suspense in such a way that even as you know they will be relevant you don't see them coming: they surprised me and, again, that unexpectedness added to the development of characters and the depth of the story.
The title operates in the best possible way, telling yet sufficiently neutral yet it also made me read the novel as a classical tragedy... which it also undermined cleverly, I thought. And also like in Greek tragedies, whilst Kate is the protagonist, she is not the only one with a story (her story is one of dependency, identity, insecurity, anorexia...) For me, another strength of the book is how each of its characters could have had their own distinct novel, with the same backbone story. I recommend Dinner Party without hesitation. It is entertaining, intelligent, and thought provoking.
I received an advance copy of this novel from Pushkin books via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
The story is well told, moving backwards and forwards in such a seamless yet unexpected manner that facts (and ideas!!) are discovered in a rather thrilling manner. Descriptions of place and people are just and revealing (eg an outing for afternoon tea with their aunt to which the twins are taken by their mother will show how Kate's mother operates in an excruciatingly funny vignette; or the ordeal of a liaison through a session at the beauty parlour...) Events are presented in a matter-of-fact style that create suspense in such a way that even as you know they will be relevant you don't see them coming: they surprised me and, again, that unexpectedness added to the development of characters and the depth of the story.
The title operates in the best possible way, telling yet sufficiently neutral yet it also made me read the novel as a classical tragedy... which it also undermined cleverly, I thought. And also like in Greek tragedies, whilst Kate is the protagonist, she is not the only one with a story (her story is one of dependency, identity, insecurity, anorexia...) For me, another strength of the book is how each of its characters could have had their own distinct novel, with the same backbone story. I recommend Dinner Party without hesitation. It is entertaining, intelligent, and thought provoking.
I received an advance copy of this novel from Pushkin books via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
February 18, 2023
Dinner Party is a story of family, death, grief, addiction, mental health, and so much more. The main character's twin sister died tragically when they were teens and the book begins 16 years later at a dinner party in observance of that anniversary. At the core (or, I should say, as the bookends) is one dinner party in particular that is seemingly innocuous in events, but that really eats away at the main character, Kate's, subconscious. I love how the structure of this book seems to be built around how one bad night can make sure hyper-aware of all the things you've ever done wrong in your life.
(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.)
There's a moment in the first section, Kate & her siblings have been talking ill of their mother and Kate "reminded herself that her mother was down in Carlow, bothering no one." I can't think of a better way to put into words the guilt that comes with talking about someone behind their back. But as the story unfolds, we learn that their mother was emotionally (and many times physically) abusive. And this thought from Kate holds even more weight, just one of many times the siblings share in this belief that their mom can't help it, she doesn't mean to be the way she is.
Throughout the book, we readers get to see many of the interactions with the mother. And they are such frustrating moments when you have someone who is doing terrible, unforgivable things, but they are convinced that they are in the wrong. There's no reasoning, there's no compromise, there are just words that spin and spin and spin until she runs out of steam and changes the subject. And every one of these scenes is just so well-written.
And this is not just a story about these siblings and their mother; this is a story about family. And in all of these scenes, there are a least 3 other things happening at the same time, a wonderful chaos that signifies a well-written, realistic story.
Another concept that I think is so well done in this book is seeing through Kate's eyes what it's like to see her twin become a completely different person from her. Long before Elaine's death, Kate was struggling with her twin identity; they looked identical, but they had different hobbies, different interests, and different ways of dealing with their mother.
Sarah Gilmartin's Dinner Party is being released in March in the U.S. (and has already been released in Ireland). I read an advanced copy through #netgalley -- It was my first NetGalley read and I am so glad to have started on such a great note!
(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.)
There's a moment in the first section, Kate & her siblings have been talking ill of their mother and Kate "reminded herself that her mother was down in Carlow, bothering no one." I can't think of a better way to put into words the guilt that comes with talking about someone behind their back. But as the story unfolds, we learn that their mother was emotionally (and many times physically) abusive. And this thought from Kate holds even more weight, just one of many times the siblings share in this belief that their mom can't help it, she doesn't mean to be the way she is.
Throughout the book, we readers get to see many of the interactions with the mother. And they are such frustrating moments when you have someone who is doing terrible, unforgivable things, but they are convinced that they are in the wrong. There's no reasoning, there's no compromise, there are just words that spin and spin and spin until she runs out of steam and changes the subject. And every one of these scenes is just so well-written.
And this is not just a story about these siblings and their mother; this is a story about family. And in all of these scenes, there are a least 3 other things happening at the same time, a wonderful chaos that signifies a well-written, realistic story.
Another concept that I think is so well done in this book is seeing through Kate's eyes what it's like to see her twin become a completely different person from her. Long before Elaine's death, Kate was struggling with her twin identity; they looked identical, but they had different hobbies, different interests, and different ways of dealing with their mother.
Sarah Gilmartin's Dinner Party is being released in March in the U.S. (and has already been released in Ireland). I read an advanced copy through #netgalley -- It was my first NetGalley read and I am so glad to have started on such a great note!
February 7, 2023
Dinner Party tells the story of Kate Gleeson and her family. We meet them at their annual dinner party where they celebrate the life of Elaine, Kate's twin who died in her teens. The dinner party was hosted by Kate, who, we learn, is struggling with an eating disorder, alcoholism, and a seemingly-meaningless life. Her brothers are concerned.
Then the story takes us back to a time when the Gleesons were an intact yet dysfunctional family. Mother Bernadette is a very troubled woman who terrorizes her children and pitches fights with her husband, a farmer who doesn't seem able to stand up to his wife and hides in his work on the farm.
Then we watch them lose their father and Kate's twin sister. All four have to get on with their lives.
After the death of her twin sister, Kate comes unraveled. We follow her to Trinity College and an unfulfilling job in Dublin.
The narrative goes back and forth between Kate's life in Dublin in 2018-19, her earlier life on the farm, and her college years. I found this going back and forth a bit confusing at times. The subtle and slow narrative style makes it difficult to figure out what's going on at times. It seems like Gilmartin is inviting the reader to feel the confusion, anguish, and pain of grief, whether it be in a dysfunctional family, alcoholism, an eating disorder, or a seemingly-meaningless life.
The story ends on a more positive note, after one more disastrous dinner party where all five members of the Gleeson family quarrel, speak up for themselves, and appear to be making some progress.
The book is well-written and deals with important issues that plague many families. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy slower reads that deal with the nature of families and the issues that plague us in life.
Thank you to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Then the story takes us back to a time when the Gleesons were an intact yet dysfunctional family. Mother Bernadette is a very troubled woman who terrorizes her children and pitches fights with her husband, a farmer who doesn't seem able to stand up to his wife and hides in his work on the farm.
Then we watch them lose their father and Kate's twin sister. All four have to get on with their lives.
After the death of her twin sister, Kate comes unraveled. We follow her to Trinity College and an unfulfilling job in Dublin.
The narrative goes back and forth between Kate's life in Dublin in 2018-19, her earlier life on the farm, and her college years. I found this going back and forth a bit confusing at times. The subtle and slow narrative style makes it difficult to figure out what's going on at times. It seems like Gilmartin is inviting the reader to feel the confusion, anguish, and pain of grief, whether it be in a dysfunctional family, alcoholism, an eating disorder, or a seemingly-meaningless life.
The story ends on a more positive note, after one more disastrous dinner party where all five members of the Gleeson family quarrel, speak up for themselves, and appear to be making some progress.
The book is well-written and deals with important issues that plague many families. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy slower reads that deal with the nature of families and the issues that plague us in life.
Thank you to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
October 11, 2021
"But there were secrets in the centre of secrets that were still trying to come out."
I started this book expecting a thriller and instead found myself reading an Irish family saga that follows a dysfunctional family from the nineties to the present day. It started strong, opening with protagonist Kate welcoming her family over for dinner to mark the sixteenth anniversary of the death of her twin sister, Elaine. I loved their banter and the vivid descriptions that made me feel as if I could even smell the food cooking. The story then jumps back to August 1999 as we follow Kate and her family through pivotal moments that shape their lives.
The inner demons and struggles of each of the Gleeson family are addressed in this exploration of fractured family relationships, and the effects of trauma and loss. It is written with both sensitivity and compassion, though it feels a little slow at times. The matriarch of the family, Bernadette, is an overbearing, volatile woman whose behaviour clearly traumatises her children and looms large over every aspect of their lives, even when physically absent. There were many times I wanted to slap her for things she said or did and I was willing them to stand up to her. Elaine also casts a shadow over every page, but in a very different way. She is either the vivacious, outgoing twin who Kate adores, or makes the atmosphere feel heavy with the loss of her; a spark of light that was extinguished far too soon.
If you like family drama and literary fiction, then you will enjoy this intriguing debut.
I started this book expecting a thriller and instead found myself reading an Irish family saga that follows a dysfunctional family from the nineties to the present day. It started strong, opening with protagonist Kate welcoming her family over for dinner to mark the sixteenth anniversary of the death of her twin sister, Elaine. I loved their banter and the vivid descriptions that made me feel as if I could even smell the food cooking. The story then jumps back to August 1999 as we follow Kate and her family through pivotal moments that shape their lives.
The inner demons and struggles of each of the Gleeson family are addressed in this exploration of fractured family relationships, and the effects of trauma and loss. It is written with both sensitivity and compassion, though it feels a little slow at times. The matriarch of the family, Bernadette, is an overbearing, volatile woman whose behaviour clearly traumatises her children and looms large over every aspect of their lives, even when physically absent. There were many times I wanted to slap her for things she said or did and I was willing them to stand up to her. Elaine also casts a shadow over every page, but in a very different way. She is either the vivacious, outgoing twin who Kate adores, or makes the atmosphere feel heavy with the loss of her; a spark of light that was extinguished far too soon.
If you like family drama and literary fiction, then you will enjoy this intriguing debut.
January 30, 2023
This book is beautiful in its sorrow and heartbreak as we feel for a dysfunctional family that has everyone's best interests at heart...but often don't recognize how to show or deal with genuine emotion! Kate and Elaine are twins and as close as sisters can be until tragedy strikes. We see them through time, from the 1990's to the present as they cope with siblings, death, jealousy, and their mother with her idiosyncrasies but devout love for her family and its hardships. I laughed, I cried, I kept hoping time would heal them. But we've all known sorrow, and love, and secrets we must hide. I can't wait to read more of Gilmartin in the future!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
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