This novel was excellent, controlled, immersive, and far sharper than the premise first suggests. The Talk of the Party takes the familiar setup of a lavish family celebration and uses it to expose how carefully curated success can rot from the inside.

Bukola Obanile’s 60th birthday party is meant to confirm everything her family represents in Lagos society: wealth, status, unity, and most importantly, moral authority. The scale of the event is staggering, but through flashbacks set many years earlier, we learn that many secrets simmer just below the surface. As the party approaches, each of her four children is quietly unraveling. These tensions surface gradually, through choices and consequences rather than melodrama,

What Agbaje does especially well is maintain tension without rushing, keeping all the stories in the air and focused. Bukola’s presence looms even when she is not on the page, and the family’s devotion to perfection begins to read less as pride than as entrapment. The closer the party draws, the more evident it becomes that image is not simply something this family projects but something they must constantly protect.

The Lagos setting is integral to the novel, and the sweltering heat and pressure of performing in elite society drive the plot. The novel is attentive to class, visibility, and the social consequences of failure in a world where image Agbaje is attentive to class, visibility, and the communal nature of scandal in elite spaces, where failure does not remain private, and reputation is both currency and weapon. Social consequences ripple outward, and the novel captures how quickly judgment circulates once the façade begins to crack.

This is a sharp, unsettling novel that understands how power hides behind celebration and how families built on performance rarely collapse all at once. Instead, they fracture slowly, under the weight of truths that can no longer be contained.

#TheTalkOfTheParty #FolusoAgbaje #OneMoreChapter #HarperCollinsUK

Summary: I loved The Talk of the Party!
It took me a few minutes to get to grips with all of the characters but readers are aided by the character list included in the opening pages. The novel opens at Bukola Obanile’s 60th birthday party, and then returns to the preceding days with each of the primary characters providing a viewpoint on the upcoming events and each member struggles under the weight of social and family expectations.
I enjoyed the social commentary and the sharp observations along with the complex family relationships that I'm sure many families can relate to and the city of Lagos also plays a character in its own right - simultaneously beautiful and complex.

Firstly the book starts with all the characters and their relation to one another and a glossary of Nigerian Pidgin English. This is so helpful when reading the book. I hope more writers follow this example!
I don’t think I have ever read a novel with this many narrators. Which makes it hard to be very distinct and different in tone. While nearly every character is interesting, the book could have done with less POVs.
The book had a good pace and interesting twists and look into the lives of the wealthy in Lagos.
I enjoyed reading it and going along for the ride. I think it would make an excellent limited series for tv.

The book is really not like “Big Little Lies” or “the White Lotus. It’s different and in ways better. But I think it’s not helpful to compare this original work to those works.

First. this book is better than Big Little Lies and White Lotus in my humble opinion. The story centers around the 60th birthday party being thrown for Bukola Obanile's 60th birthday in Lagos, Nigeria. Her family is one of the wealthiest, most popular, most social families in the city.

But with that status comes inevitable responsibilities. Expectations. Reputations to be upheld no matter what the cost. Each family member is going through major issues in order to continue to l8ve a life that they think will live up to the standard their mother, and thus "society " will approve of and envy. A lot of work/tears/angst/?????

The eloquent author, Foluso Agbaje has beautifully described each character in a way that we see their beauty, but also their fear: of failure, of public judgement and perception, of social narratives that define success.

This book's genre is social thriller reflective (?). But an excellent read. And I think this lesson is one that definitely spans cultures.

I especially loved the beginning where the author included a dictionary of Nigerian Pidgen English and also a reference of how the characters were related to each other.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a fabulous read of an ARC for an objective review. To be published 5/26.

A TBR for sure!

Sandy 📖