The Party: A Novel
The Party: A Novel book cover

The Party: A Novel

by
Price
$24.77
Format
Hardcover
Pages
352
Publisher
Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1501161247
Dimensions
6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Weight
1.12 pounds

Description

“Cleverly constructed and brilliantly paced, The Party is a raw telling of a family coming apart at the seams. Robyn Harding weaves a riveting tale that is impossible to put down.” -- Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of Did You Ever Have a Family"Robyn Harding spins a masterful tale of the disintegration of a seemingly perfect family in the aftermath of a disastrous sweet sixteen party. Engrossing and unflinching in its portrayal of the dark side of human nature, The Party takes the concept of 'mean girls' to a whole new level." -- A. J. Banner, #1 bestselling author of The Good Neighbor and The Twilight Wife"Suspenseful and provocative, The Party is a story that will keep you reading and keep you thinking long after you’ve turned the last page. This is one party invitation you don’t want to turn down." -- Barbara Taylor Sissel, bestselling author of CROOKED LITTLE LIES"In this blistering fast read, self-obsessed soccer moms battle it out with their nasty teenagers who refuse to grow up. Why should they? Their parents never did… A compulsive page-turner that mines the push-pull between basic impulses and doing the “right thing,” The Party is a domestic drama that spins off the rails with hellish consequences. Consider yourself warned." -- Erica Ferencik, author of The River at Night"A tense and riveting story about one night gone horribly wrong, and the fallout within a family and a group of friends. Secrets, desires, choice and consequence, The Party reveals that what lies inside a family—and each person—is not always as it seems. I was hooked from the opening scene and could not look away until I reached the very last page." -- Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls"Fast-paced and tension-filled, The Party explodes the myth of the perfect family and is one invitation you can’t turn down." -- Rebecca Drake, author of Only Ever YouEveryone is flawed in this contemporary tale of mothers and daughters. Everyone behaves badly. And the story is a pure delight. -- Lucy Ferriss, author of A Sister to Honor“With teenagers worthy of Mean Girls , and a healthy dose of suspense, The Party reads like a cross between Megan Abbott and Jodi Picoult by way of James Patterson.” ― Booklist "The intricate family dynamics that Harding teases out are complex and engaging.” ― Publishers Weekly "Domestic drama... done well." ― Kirkus Reviews Robyn Hardingxa0is the author of numerous books, including international bestsellers The Party , The Arrangement and The Swap , which was an instant #1 Globe and Mail (Toronto) and #1 Toronto Star bestseller. She has also written and executive produced an independent film. She lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family and two cute but deadly rescue chihuahuas. Visit her at RobynHarding.com or follow her on Twitter and Instagramxa0@RHardingWriterxa0or Facebookxa0@AuthorRobynHarding. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Party Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Robyn Harding’s domestic drama, hailed as “tense and riveting” by Megan Miranda,
  • New York Times
  • bestselling author of
  • All the Missing Girls,
  • explores the aftermath of a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, as the members of a wealthy family in San Francisco find their picture-perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed, and their friends turned to enemies.
  • One invitation. A lifetime of regrets. Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming-of-age, a milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong? But things do go wrong, horrifically so, and Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies, dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and the truth about their perfect daughter is exposed. Perfect for fans of
  • Big Little Lies
  • , this is a white-knuckled and “riveting tale that is impossible to put down” (Bill Clegg,
  • New York Times
  • bestselling author of
  • Did You Ever Have a Family
  • ).

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(919)
★★★★
20%
(613)
★★★
15%
(459)
★★
7%
(214)
★
28%
(858)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Sorry people but NOPE!!

This book didn't tie up many loose ends! SPOILER ALERT! The boys, Noah and Adam, kept hinting that "the parents better not find out we were at the party!". No worries there because THEY DIDNT! I thought they were going to be the cause of the accident but nope! Nothing happened regarding them. It was a fast read but a stupid one. Hannah the good girl ends up wanting revenge on Lauren by being "popular "??? Maybe I'm missing something but not one character in this book had any redeeming qualities! Avoid!
9 people found this helpful
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Spoilers ahead

Theee stars because I liked the book, it was an easy read. But it was bull. I didn't get how Lisa got all the money when basically it was her who drove Ronni to her suicide attempt by isolating her from Hannah. She should've had a comeuppance. And we should've heard about What happened to Lauren instead of an insinuation. And why did Hannah want to be #2? Just to mess with Lauren? It just didn't come together the way it should've... I don't think kim and Jeff should've lost everything to Lisa. They weren't at fault.
5 people found this helpful
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Every character is a jerk

I hated this book, and I love most books. Every character is a selfish person that makes poor decisions. I felt like the plot was fine enough but the ending was a huge disappointment. I felt like the world was a terrible place when I had finished reading it and there wasn’t one character I could relate to. If you want to lose all faith in humanity, buy this book.
3 people found this helpful
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HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

I highly recommend this book for young teens/ young adults. You never want to put it down, you want to everything that gonna happen next. The plot might seem a silly at first but, then it gets intense and fierce!
2 people found this helpful
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Awesome ride- can be enjoyed by any reader or any genre

Kim and Jeff Sanders are throwing a party for Hannah, their daughter, on her sixteenth birthday. Kim and Jeff are very hands on parents and Kim immediately lets the five girls know that the party will only consist of a sleepover, pizza and a movie and not any drugs, alcohol or boys. Jeff thinks it might be time to let his little girl have a little bit of fun and gives the girls a bottle of champagne. The girls have a different idea and don't think that is enough. Each girl sneaks in their own alcohol and drugs and things quickly spiral out of control. One of the girls gets so intoxicated that she falls into a glass table and ends up cutting her face and eye. Life is about to change drastically for the girls and their families.

This is an amazing ride of a story! There are tons of twists and turns and it was so exciting to read it. There were elements in this book that I didn't expect. There were also very important elements, as well, such as the lessons about a parent's responsibilities and the realities of over-parenting or under-parenting teenagers. While the characters were really interesting, they didn't have drastically different voices. This can all be forgiven, though, because of the complexity of the characters. Hannah's character is amazingly honest. At one point, Hannah thinks to herself how much she dislikes some of the things that the so-called popular kids in school do but she would still give up anything to be apart of their group. Lauren is crazy scary (I don't want to reveal any spoilers- you'll just have to read it to know what I am talking about)! This book moves incredibly quickly and I felt like I couldn't put it down. I was hooked from the very first paragraph. The ending was a true shocker; I didn't see it coming! I really loved this book and I think it is one of the better books of this year. Because it can be considered a thriller, a mystery, literary fiction or maybe even young adult fiction, I would recommend this book to any reader.
2 people found this helpful
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No one escapes unscathed

Many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

THE PARTY is a roller coaster, unputdownable book where all the characters are despicable. It’s the story of a sweet 16 birthday party gone horribly wrong, with consequences that will last a lifetime. Hannah, the daughter, is just trying to be more popular. Kim and Jeff are her parents, with the trope of “strict goody two shoes mom” plus “emasculated father trying to be cool”. The events of the fateful night are told over flashbacks, over the course of the story; which kept me interested and hungry for more detail.

The complex and turbulent relationships between the characters are drawn well and evoke a great deal of emotion. Everyone is manipulating – or manipulated by- someone else. There are multi layered agendas. There are mean girls. There is isolation, greed, and shallowness.

I literally could not wait to get back to the book, and thought about it while I wasn’t able to read; I just had to see what was happening next. It’s the kind of book you read with incredulity, wondering if there is going to be a happily ever after despite knowing another crash is coming.

The author exposes the ugly side of relationships with adeptness, even glee (if you read between the lines). Just when you almost start feeling sorry for someone, they expose their seamy side and you go right back to sneering at them. Delicious!

Do people really behave this way now, or is it just something that takes place in fiction? I am glad I don’t have to navigate the treachery of high school, where Facebook posts are created to hurt, and cliques do a lot more than name calling.

No one escapes unscathed from THE PARTY – it’s the kind of story that you will think about for days after you finish the book, considering all the wrong choices every character made and how it affected their lives.
1 people found this helpful
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A fine beach read that's not at all emotionally draining.

2 1/2 but I'll bump it up to a 3 because it wasn't quite a 2.

I was lured into requesting this book from Netgalley when I received an email that promised me many juicy secrets and perfect people who behave very badly. I admit that I am a sucker for that kind of thing.

This is a great book to pick up if you don’t want anything too heavy, too emotional or basically anything that’ll strain the brain. It makes for a good mindless “beach book” which to me means I can drop it in the sand, get salt water all over it and even crack the spine (ahhhh!) because I’ll be leaving it behind for someone else when I’m done without feeling sad about the torture I’ve put it through. The material flirts with darkness and there is even a throwback “Heathers” moment but it never gets too deep and, for me, that was a great big problem.

So here’s the jist. Heather, uh, Hannah is turning sweet 16 and she invites her two childhood friends and two newer, cooler friends to her party. She worries that her new friends will find her terribly uncool once they realize her mother is a controlling witch who won’t let them drink, do drugs or play with boys. Ummm, she could’ve avoided all of this angst by not inviting them in the first place but then we wouldn’t have ourselves a book now, would we? As you can suspect, the teens get up to naughtiness after mom goes to bed with a sleeping pill and some wine. Dad sneaks down and gives them a little present and soon after a very bad accident occurs that will ruin one forever and the others temporarily.

All of this setup was enjoyable and had me turning the pages awaiting some great and nasty reveals in the wake of this “event” but it never truly panned out. This accident spawns a series of Lifetime tv movie-like events that were dramatic but in the scheme of things a little too “meh” for my liking. Too much of the book gets hung up on boring lawsuit talk and selfish characters boo-hooing about the meanness of humankind whilst they ponder their navels and act like jerks.

I found myself losing interest in all of the characters somewhere after the halfway mark but especially Hannah who only cared about being the Queen Bee, even when she saw her “friends” being complete deplorables. To hell with being a decent person, popularity is far more important.

If you’re in the mood for something that is more surface than substance and can stomach a cast filled with humorless unlikable people, you may love this book but it wasn’t meant for me. I need my darkness dark and emotional and The Party didn’t deliver that for me. Honestly, if I want to entertain myself with evil teenagers, I’d rather just rewatch Heathers.
1 people found this helpful
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I’ve heard The Party likened to my homegirl Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, but I didn’t think there were many similarities

was Really looking forward to reading The Party. The premise is right up my alley; I love books where secrets are exposed, values are tested, altercations occur & I already know the gist of the climax- that way, I know what I’m getting Into.

I read The Party in one day & it’s a good summer read. I loved how Robyn told the story of The Party through the eyes of a few different characters; I felt it added some depth to the story. I’ll be honest, there were parts of this book that were hard to read. These are not the most likable characters & these high school girls are awful! Drugs, sex, lies, manipulation, a law suit & more. These characters were a challenge to connect with & even more of a challenge to root for.

I’ve heard The Party likened to my homegirl Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, but I didn’t think there were many similarities. Robin’s characters carry sadness & a bit more weight around than Liane’s. The cast of The Party is a messed up bunch of folks, more similar to Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest.

While The Party was a good read, it didn’t stick with me. There were parts I just didn’t buy, parts that made me roll my eyes & the ending wrapped up really quickly. I re-read the last bit twice & it left me with a furrowed brow, confused & frustrated. When I give my time to a book, I don’t like guessing at the end. I could see why someone could be Really Into This book, but it just wasn’t for me.
1 people found this helpful
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It’s sitting in my trash bin....

This is, by far, one of the worst books I have ever read. If I didn’t know better, it seems like something that a teenager would write for a creative writing class, in a hurry, over a weekend, after raiding their parents’ liquor cabinet. I think that the teenager’s writing would have been better, though. It’s just that bad.
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Easy read

Pretty good story. Easy read.

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