The Party

Product Information

I know ‘many’ friends who - like me - from start to finish - will be completely mesmerized by the plot, crafting, characters, gut wrenching non-politically correct details- the suspense - the police interrogation- and the “WHAT HAPPENED?” Starred Review. Day's latest is a dark, haunting, and elegantly crafted tale of obsession, desperation, devastation, and rebirth." - Kirkus I just got one of my dream guests, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and she was incredible. Still on my list are Marcus Rashford, Dr Dre, Michael Jordan or either of the Obamas.

That’s not to say forward planning is pointless, but unless you can actively contribute something practical towards your future growth right now, there’s no point worrying about the things you can’t yet control.” The Fitzmaurice family is painted like many well-worn old money types, giving them an air of power and entitlement that appears unshakeable. Upon my first reflections, I thought the author may have gone a little overboard with her depictions of grand wealth, depending too heavily on stereotypes, coming dangerously close to turning the family into caricatures. But, on second thought, they may have been predictable cardboard figures most of the time, but, they played their roles chillingly well. The characters in the book were a unique blend and being set around the upper class of British society was.... good enough. However I couldn't work out if the author was writing from a place of anger or envy as the main character himself was never quite clear on the point. Martin grew up poor - and insecure about himself. His academic scholarship to a boarding school at age 13 looked like an opportunity to reinvent himself from ‘awkward and shy’ to a little more ‘with-it’. Ha! By the time I reached the end of this book - the 2nd ending of this story......( it wasn’t quite over where I thought.....making things more interesting)......Martin gradually inveigles his way into the Fitzmaurice home as a proxy for Ben’s dead brother. The relationship is formalised when Martin takes the rap for Ben following a serious accident while they are at Cambridge University. Martin marries Lucy and husband and wife tell the story in alternating first-person narratives. The novel is framed by Martin’s interview in a police station following some unknown-but-terrible event at Ben’s lavish 40th birthday bash, the eponymous party. Martin que gracias a una beca para estudiar en una prestigiosa escuela privada conoce a Ben y por ende, se relaciona en un ambiente social al que no estaba acostumbrado, se convierte desde entonces en la sombra de Ben (PS, pequeña sombra como le llaman socarronamente los compañeros de internado). Cuando Martin llega al internado es una especie de bicho raro, no es su ambiente ni puede estar a la altura del resto de los estudiantes, ni su acento es el adecuado ni sus modales. Sin embargo, desde el momento en que conoce y se convierte en amigo de Ben Fitzmaurice que es justo lo contrario a él, encantador, sofisticado, rico y seductor, se le abren las puertas de la élite social e incluso se convierte en parte de la familia Fitzmaurice. A partir de ahí conoceremos más de cerca esta amistad desde esta escuela privada pasando por Cambridge hasta que ya adultos y ambos casados, se reencuentran en la fiesta. Want to find out more about Elizabeth Day? Here are the books she’d take with her to a desert island. About The Party Martin Gilmour is an outsider. When he wins a scholarship to Burtonbury School, he doesn’t wear the right clothes or speak with the right kind of accent. But then he meets the dazzling, popular and wealthy Ben Fitzmaurice, and gains admission to an exclusive world. Soon Martin is enjoying tennis parties and Easter egg hunts at the Fitzmaurice family’s estate, as Ben becomes the brother he never had.

La historia comienza en una comisaría tras la fiesta del 40 cumpleaños de Ben. Están interrogando a Martin ¿qué ha sucedido? A partir de aquí Martin y Lucy analizan de forma retrospectiva su relación con los otros dos protagonistas principales, así como los hechos que han ido sucediendo en la fiesta y que han llevado a que todo salte por los aires ¿Qué hay detrás de esa amistad entre Ben y Martin, que parecía indestructible? ¿Qué pasa con Martin, qué esconde? ¿Qué falla en el carácter de Lucy?. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

The first hint that something is slightly off kilter is Lucy’s feeling that she and Martin have been slighted by the Fitzmaurice’s, who, despite having ample room in their enormous home, they have not invited them to stay overnight, forcing them to make a motel reservation at the last minute. Elizabeth Day grew up in Northern Ireland. She is an award-winning journalist and has written extensively for The Telegraph, The Times, the Guardian, the Observer, Vogue, Elle and the Evening Standard. Estar rodeado de gente así, gente rica, privilegiada, guapa, egoísta, no es bueno para el alma. Piensan en sí mismos todo al tiempo que fingen ser todo generosidad. El resto de nosotros no les importamos. No es una maldad consciente, tan solo la incapacidad de imaginar cómo son las vidas de los demás". While Lucy is far more perceptive than Martin, who is desperate to remain on good terms with Ben, she goes through the charade for her husband. But, don’t underestimate this woman. She may appear ordinary on the surface, but she’s got a little bite to her. I thought of all the characters in this little drama, she was the one I’d want on my team. No se puede atrapar a un hombre con amigos tan poderosos. Es imposible enfrentarse al poder del statu quo. Reputación. Encanto. Riqueza. El conocimiento de cómo funcionan las cosas.