Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this in advance of publication.
Dinner Party focuses on food and the role it plays in our lives, binding us to others and being part of celebrations as well as something that can be used to cause pain. Our main character is a young woman who it becomes clear has an eating disorder and who is struggling to cope with the death of her twin. Kate is a difficult character to engage with. There’s a veneer of hardness to her, and it always feels rather as if she’s keeping others at a distance in order to manage her emotions. We learn little about her and I’m sure this is deliberate, but it meant I found my attention wandering rather.
The story was written in a way that I could recognise as having quality, but – honestly – my overwhelming feeling as I read was of anticipation, waiting for something to happen to suggests purpose to the events described. Nothing did.
As the focus shifts in time and we see fragments of Kate’s interactions over time it always felt as if something was being held back. While her brothers were sympathetically portrayed they were weak in the face of their manipulative mother. This was not a family that I warmed to and it was frustrating that so much of my attention during reading was trying to establish what, if anything, might happen.
I’ve been lucky enough to be included in the blog tour for this, so I won’t post my review until the day of my scheduled involvement.