I was not blown away by this book, but it had many interesting passages. I had no idea what to expect when I started. I'll try and summarise here. 
I don't feel like the Goodreads blurb is an accurate introduction to this book. The dinner party is only a small part of the plot. We are then taken through flashbacks to Katie's childhood in the 1990s in rural Ireland (although it felt like a much older setting), and to be honest, that section almost made me give up on the book. It was slow and not much was happening. One plot point which could have built suspense was actually revealed very early on - a missed opportunity to keep us readers on our toes...🤔
But I'm glad I carried on, as the second half of the book is better. Katie goes to university and has to deal with past traumas and deal with issues which I knew very little about. We also see her as an adult working in an office and there is some character development.
The main reasons why this was "only" a ⭐⭐⭐💫 read for me were:
- As mentioned above, the book's chronology felt off. Some events which happened early on would have been better kept for the end of the book or at least the last third.
- Some of the side characters were one-dimensional, especially the male ones. I would have liked to know more about Katie's brothers and love interest. Perhaps several narrators would have done the trick?
- The ending was not satisfying for me. I wanted to know more.

Overall, an interesting read, but I would not buy it for friends/family as there were some very slow passages and quite intense ones too which some people might find overwhelming. I think the title, cover and blurb do not accurately represent what the book is about. It is not a thriller!

It is worth mentioning that it is Sarah Gilmartin's first novel. I liked her writing style, so I will be keeping an eye out for what she writes next.

This book will not be published until September, so I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Pushkin Press & NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

DNF’d at 50%

I tried to push through this but the pacing of the story made it feel unbearably long. The titular dinner party is over within the first ‘chapter’ and what follows is just an endless stream of people doing things. I couldn’t extract the purpose of the story and whilst the characters had potential I never found it came to anything.

In places, this book interested me, especially in the earliest setting when the twins were young but I found the plot difficult to follow and very heavy without any of the intrigue I was hoping for. Whilst the writing in places was very good and early on the plot was very promising I feel this got lost and dragged out as the book progressed. By half way through I felt as though I was dragging myself through and couldn’t face having to read the same amount again.

This unusual novels starts with a death in the highly dysfunctional family Gleeson family and then goes on to explore how individual family members cope with the tragedy. A lot of the novel centres on Kate, who struggles with an eating disorder and who is forced to re-live the premature death of her sister every year as the family gathers for a dinner party in her honour. We follow Kate’s journey from the 1990s to the present day. It is not really a thriller, more of a ‘slow burn’ family drama with psychological depth. Once I got used to the very long chapters, I thought this novel was well-written and I would recommend it. I would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for the free ARC provided in exchange for this review.

Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin.

This debut novel by Irish author, Sarah Gilmartin, opens with a family dinner party to mark the anniversary of protagonist Kate’s, twin sister, Elaine, who died 17 years ago.. We meet Kate and her two brothers, one of their wives and learn about their mother, who is not in attendance. The meticulously planned evening unravels and we see that the threat of Kate herself unravelling, is strong.

The opening chapters are slow. Very slow. From the title and book description, I thought the dinner party would be the main setting of the book and I think I expected to read an entirely different type of book.

However , this book is very much worth sticking with after the laborious beginning. Set in Dublin and the family farmhouse in rural Carlow, in both the early 90’s and present day, it’s an excellent study of dysfunctional family and how they deal with grief, trauma and their position within this fractured family.

It’s beautifully plotted , we learn of deaths first without hearing how the characters have died but every question or musing is addressed as the story unfolds. There are further parts that are slower paced but I was fully absorbed by that point and enjoyed the pace and mood.

The characters are crafted so realistically, particularly the narcissistic matriarch. We see their faults, they aren’t always likeable but I cared about them and what happened them. Similar to how some people might feel about members of their own family.

I really enjoyed Gilmartin’s writing. A slow start, a melancholic middle and a beautifully tied up conclusion.

⚠️ Content warning for eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the debut novel by Irish author Sarah Gilmartin who might be familiar to you from her excellent and considered book reviews in the Irish Times Magazine on Saturdays. I would describe it as slow-burn literary fiction with a family drama at its core.

The story centres on Kate, a woman in her 30s from a farming family in Carlow (rural Ireland) but living in Dublin. Kate is dealing with deep-seated trauma in her life. Her twin sister Elaine died as a teenager and the book opens on Halloween night 17 years later when Kate is hosting a family dinner party in remembrance of Elaine.

I was glad I read this one as a buddy read as I might otherwise have abandoned the book after the first 50 or so pages. I could not connect with the characters at all at the outset. While the premise was great, I found the dialogue a little clunky and the characters inscrutable.

Throughout the book, the writing flowed really well in the third person. When the narrative switched to a scene containing a lot of dialogue, I found myself tuning out a bit.

Nonetheless I persevered and I was glad I did. The book improved substantially for me as it went on, with the story told mostly in flashbacks to the past. Kate’s mother was a fascinating character and the scenes in which she played a role left the greatest impression. Her tempestuous and erratic personality and her casual cruelty were so vividly and realistically depicted.

There are some complex issues faced head-on in the book, among them, an eating disorder, body dysmorphia, PTSD, bereavement, dysfunctional relationships and fraught family relationships. I thought all were portrayed sensitively and emotionally and I think this book will resonate with a lot of people affected by these issues.

It was definitely a worthwhile read. Uneven, but overall interesting and impactful. I really wanted the best for Kate which is always a sign that despite getting off to an inauspicious start, I connected with the book and the characters in the end. 3/5⭐️

*This novel will be published in September 2021. Many thanks to @netgalley and the publisher @pushkinpress for an advance digital copy of the book. As always, this is an honest review.*

#DinnerPartyATragedy #DinnerParty #SarahGilmartin #littlecassreads #debutnovels #irishauthors #netgalley #pushkinpress

Dinner Party: A Tragedy tells the story of a dysfunctional family who commemorate the death of one of them at Halloween every year. The death is revealed at the very beginning and the novel explores the family dynamics before and after the event and the impact of the tragedy on the narrator in particular.

I am afraid to say that I was not able to finish Dinner Party. Some of the writing was very good and scenes from the narrator's early life on the farm were compelling and relatable. The problem was that the writing was not consistently strong enough nor the characters sufficiently psychologically deep to sustain it as a literary novel nor as a character study. Neither was the plot dramatic or twisty enough (as billed) to make it sufficiently a thriller or a page turner.

Thank you very much to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review

A totally compelling read about fraught family relationships, sisterhood, loss, grief and everything in between. This is set in Ireland and takes place between the early 90’s and the present day. The novel follows the character of Katie as she navigates growing up in a tenuous, unpredictable and often hostile home environment. I loved the retrospective narrative and how it jumped between the present day and Katie recounting her childhood. I loved the time period this novel and the nostalgic references which drew me into the world of these characters. I loved the tension which was interwoven through even the happiest of moments in this novel.

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 is holding a dinner party for her brothers and partners on Halloween 2018. It is the anniversary of a family bereavement, and Kate is struggling. Their mother is not invited, and it does soon become clear why this is. Told over several time periods in Ireland, this is Kate’s story, her family’s story and the story of what it is to be part of a troubled family. An intense and thought-provoking read.

It's such a shame as when I read the description of this book I thought this was really up my street, but sadly, I struggled!

I did enjoy the exploration of family trauma and how the events within your childhood can shape who you are as an adult without one realising it. However, it was slow, it felt very slow with the reveals and the novel lacked pace which then meant I couldn't get gripped to the narrative.

I really enjoyed the first chapter, the dinner party, so when that ended I was surprised as I thought the whole premise behind the book was going to be about the 'dinner party'! Perhaps if their were triggers during the conversation at the dinner, that's where Kate could have explored the memories of living at home; whereas the way the story has been laid out is very long.

I thought Gilmartin's knowledge of anorexia and the way in which Kate experienced it was spot on; very raw, honest and real. Unfortunately, I wasn't invested in the story or the characters too much (perhaps because I didn't feel that I 'liked' any of them) which may be linked to how the overall book is quite slow and lacked pace. I also think that the first chapter started on such a high, there's a stark contrast from then on...

Would recommend if you like reading about family dynamics and slow burners!

Thank you so much Pushkin Press and NetGalley for this ARC as always!

A good mystery but I don’t think the story was full. It gets you thinking and engages with you emotional! Give it a try.

A real life family sibling rivalry, bloody good row! Irish style too!
A great debut read, the author shows strength of ability to build characters and make them ‘alive’ a real skill.
Tension builds when secrecy begins to blow wide open like a boil about to be lanced .

Although the book read really well starting a little slowly ,it felt like it finished abruptly ,Bravo to Ms Gilmartin I look forward to more of her work and some hardass Irish characters breaking free and showing their true colours.
What more is this family hiding?
I see a winding series of tunnels of secrets cover ups and fights.

Family drama exploring themes of grief, mental health, anorexia and the strengths / challenges of familial bonds in the face of adversity. More enjoyable than that sounds, despite a set of pretty unlikeable characters - there is a real sense of a family on the edge of a breakdown, characterised by the central character’s struggles.
I’m not entirely sure if I’d want to spend more time with this family mind...

Firstly - TW - Anorexia, and I really think that needs to be made crystal clear on the cover (because it's not mentioned in the blurb on the request page here).

This is set between the 1990s and the present day, in Dublin & Carlow. Kate Gleeson is our main character, she has lost her twin sister Elaine. Every year on the Anniversary of Elaine's death, Kate and her brothers (and sometimes their narcissistic, overbearing, sniping mother) get together for dinner. Sometimes these dinners are peaceful, but more often than not, they're a catalyst for someone to get hurt. This year, Kate is the one hurt when she realises at the dinner that her eating disorder is getting worse again.

We go back and forth to Kate & Elaine's childhood, to see how the behaviour of their mother affected them in later life and how Elaine's death affected Kate. These chapters are set in the late 1990s but felt so much earlier for me. 1999 in the book, especially, felt more like the early 1990s or even late 1980s. The mother was omnipresent - you could feel here there even when she wasn't. While I can appreciate the skill it takes to write someone like that, she really did remind me a lot of one of my own family members and it was hard to read for that reason. Her remarks were so cutting and I know how people can carry words like that with them for decades - I really felt for Kate. I thought the brothers were really great characters too, very likeable and I appreciated how they looked out for their sister.

The book felt short to me - I would have loved a bit more. This was so much more different than I expected and I'm glad I read it.

I enjoyed this book and the story was well written. I did feel it dragged in parts, but overall it keeps you interested and wanting to read more.

Unfortunately had to DNF this book!

Nothing to do with the writing/story - it was just a little slow for me so I found myself getting into a bit of a reading slump!

If you’re into this kind of book, I’d still definitely recommend giving it a go as the writing was beautiful.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this book. Gilmartin is a great writer and this is a good read. I found it tough to read at times especially as it dealt with the topic of Kates anorexia. A good read overall and a book that will stay with you long after you read it.

My first book on NetGalley and what a corker. This is the type of family saga I like to read about. The book is about the Gleeson family who live in Ireland. Every year on the anniversary of the death of their sister/daughter they gather for a dinner party. The book is set across different times and different locations but always told from the view of one person, the twin sister of the girl who died.

I started reading this two nights ago and I couldn’t put it down. The chapters are large, I believe there are only five in total but it is such a gripping book. All the characters are well rounded and I feel the focus on one is done very well, the author doesn’t cram a lot of unnecessary detail in.

Would definitely recommend this if you like noir books about dysfunctional families.

4/5

The Dinner Party of the title happens right at the start of the book, and introduces the family of characters, and what a dysfunctional family it is! Full of complex characters, not all of them likeable, but each with their own story of death, grieving, complex personality, addiction and illness to tell. The writing is a little slow paced, but gives the reader a chance to delve deep into the personalities and settings of the book, and seems to be following in a recent tradition of slightly long winded Irish writing. This is not always to the book’s detriment, but does mean it lacks momentum at times. The most obnoxious character is the nightmare mother of the family who, no matter what anyone else is going through, always manages to turn it onto her own suffering, and controls the family with a constant fear of violent temper tantrums. As a dissection of complex family issues, the book does its job well.

I got what this book was trying to do – the ideas of generational trauma, grief rippling through life, repressing issuse. But oddly it didn't manage to land with me. I think much of it was down to the pacing. This is a quiet book and it spends a lot of time in single scenes. I appreciate the willingness to show a life through a small number of snapshots but I was always urging it to press forward.

I also struggled to latch on to any of the characters, even Katie. It's not even that they're particularly unlikeable, there's just this general sense of misery and complaint without any real depth behind it. It did a good job of showing the events that happened to these people and the trauma it created but it all stayed at a fairly superficial level. For a story about trauma and grief, I wish it had spent more time really digging into that in a more meaningful way. A lot of it felt observed rather than coming from within this family.

What I did like was the real Irishness to it. You read it and you know these families, those ways of speaking to one another, and the sense of keeping it all together. It's a familiar story with a cast of characters that will strike a chord with most Irish people.

For some people, this book with be their perfect fit and they'll find it a satifying look at family dynamics. Certainly a look at the reviews will tell you that and I wouldn't turn people off giving it a go at all, It's wasn't my fit but I totally see what the author was going for with it.

Thanks so much to Pushkin Press for the ARC.