Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin: book review
Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin Overview: Kate's life has been marked by grief. First, her father passed away when she was a young teenager. Then her twin sister died at seventeen. The novel takes on the impact of the grief and her family's sensibilities on Kate from her childhood through middle age. The novel opens and closes with two anniversary dinner parties a year apart. In between, chapters take place in 1999, 2016, and 2018 to build out the full scope of Kate's life and her family. Overall: 4 Characters: 5 All of the characters feel incredibly real, deep, and believable. There's an impressive mastery in creating each character's complexity as a person as well as designating their role in the family. Everyone is much more than how they first appear on paper. I don't often mention trigger warnings in reviews anymore, but I will note that a large part of Kate's arc has to do with developing an eating disorder and an unhealthy relationship with alcohol ...