⇒ [PDF] Free The Party The Thrilling Richard Judy Book Club Pick 2018 Elizabeth Day author 9780008194260 Books

The Party The Thrilling Richard Judy Book Club Pick 2018 Elizabeth Day author 9780008194260 Books

Download As PDF : The Party The Thrilling Richard Judy Book Club Pick 2018 Elizabeth Day author 9780008194260 Books

The Party The Thrilling Richard Judy Book Club Pick 2018 Elizabeth Day author 9780008194260 Books

This is a novel of obsession. The premise is great as is the writing. Two narrators tell this tale. Martin Gilmour and his eventual wife, Lucy.

Raised by a controlling mother, Martin's childhood lacks nurturing but, by nature, Martin would be hard to nurture. He is impulsive and attention seeking without seeming to understand the differences between the negative and the positive. He is a pitiful child but hard to pity. He meets Lucy when he is well into his late twenties and she, being herself a nurturer, sees Martin as interesting, introverted and in need of a person of her caring nature. Martin believes himself to be clever, his motivations hidden. Unfortunately, if there is a flaw in this narrative, it is that Martin's actions are fairly obvious.

The novel opens when Martin is an adult being interviewed by the police in a matter revealed much later. The story really begins, however, when Martin wins a scholarship to a prep school, Burtonbury. He imagines this transition from his shabby elementary school to be one where like minded young intellects sit near a roaring fire discussing great literature and is disappointed to find the students older but still adolescent. However, on Day One at Burtonbury, Martin meets the person who will be the focus of his life.

Ben Fitzmaurice is everything Martin is not - sporty, popular, connected, rich and good looking. It is easy to see why Martin spends the majority of his time finding ways to be in Ben's company. What is much less clear is why Ben puts up with Martin. Martin eventually worms his way into Ben's life and his family and refers to "my best friend Ben," well into adulthood. Martin follows Ben to Cambridge, agonizing over Ben's female admirers and, once again, placing himself in Ben's presence at every opportunity.

Then, Martin has a golden opportunity. This opportunity causes Ben's family to be forever indebted to Martin. Martin, oblivious, accepts the ongoing bribe but fails to see how this might mar his relationship with Ben.

Ben eventually marries the lovely Serena and they have big houses and several children - when Martin marries Lucy, they remain friends but as Serena becomes more involved with her children and Ben becomes more involved in his family and his career, Martin refuses to accept his diminishing importance in Ben's life. He is, "Martin, Ben's best friend."

For Ben's fortieth birthday, he and Serena throw a party in their new residence in the Cotswolds, a former home for an order of monks. Since there are multiple bedrooms in "The Priory," Martin assumes that he and Lucy will stay there - since they are, in all but name, family. By the time Martin realizes that no invitation has been issued for lodging, he and Lucy are forced to stay in a small motel near the motorway. Lucy, of course, feels the snub but Martin, as always, comes to the defense of "his best friend, Ben."

The party begins and there is much drinking, hundreds of people, but even then, Martin's objective is to be near Ben. He is impervious to knowing glances, outright laughter or snide remarks and injects himself into conversations by introducing himself as "Ben's best friend Martin." The night goes into morning and Lucy and Martin are summoned to the Priory library with only Ben and Serena. Martin, of course, sees the entire night as a prelude to inclusion, once again, into the Fitzmaurice inner circle. Lucy, drunk as she is, is helpless as she sees Martin about to self destruct. Will he?


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The Party The Thrilling Richard Judy Book Club Pick 2018 Elizabeth Day author 9780008194260 Books Reviews

A friend recommended this book to me saying Wow - you have to read this. And I did and have done the same to so many other people. It's different, so much so that I couldn't say what genre it fits into. It both takes you by surprise and doesn't as the author builds up the characters through an event that as the reader you know right from the beginning will be pivotal. Read this book - it's amazing.
I love Elizabeth Day's writing style. I hope she writes many more. This a mystery of sorts in that some facts only become clear towards the end of the story. And the further you get in the book, the less you like the characters, but you enjoy it because of the writing.
The story keeps your attention and you want to see how it ends. With that said, all the characters are just plain ugly people. The main character Martin, I felt was borderline psychopath/weirdo. Even though his childhood was part to blame, I just did not feel empathy for him. The only decent person was Lucy. At least she got a happy ending. Not sure if I would remember this story in a few months, or if I would read another book from this author.
This is a story of a shy boy, Martin, who comes from a poor background and is bullied. He earns a scholarship to a boarding school where he is befriended by a "popular" boy, Ben, who takes advantage of Martin's devotion to him. Although the story may be somewhat familiar, the characters are well developed and interesting. There is a tragic end to this relationship years later when both are married. This happens at a party held at Ben's wealthy estate. All the characters are flawed including the wives, but the storyline kept me reading until the end.
Well written story of obsession and privilege. It definitely kept my interest. The author did a good job of gradually revealing the true personalities of the characters. If you are someone who wants nice people and a tidy ending, this isn't for you. These characters are dark and twisted, and that made them interesting. (Some comparisons have been made to "The Dinner" by Howard Koch. There are some similarities, but I found this more suspenseful and better written.)
This is a well written book and I read it eagerly to get to the part to see what had happened at the "Party". What a let down! It wasn't anything at all at what I anticipated. I didn't like not one of the characters. It depressed me reading about them and I read to get my mind off my troubles for a few hours and not to be dragged down any further by the awful people in a book. The main character was an awful man who killed birds and his own cat. Why is it every first or second book novelist has to put in about some animal being killed? Yes, I know it is fiction but I don't have to like it and I keep a list of the authors and do not buy any more books by them.
This was a very exciting read, brimming with suspense, anticipation and pace. The characters were complex, multi dimensional and not very nice human beings - oh, but they were so interesting! It was a clever, engrossing story with hidden agendas, out of kilter personalities and secrets in abundance. All the ingredients for a juicy read were woven in love, lust, lies, obsession, jealousy, hate ... it covered the gamut. I think it was all the subversive, implied aspects of the story which grabbed me most of all. The author kept us on our toes the whole way, keeping an element of evil bubbling away just near the surface. This was a very well crafted story which was relentless in its strength and power - it sucked me in and kept me there. The inference that Martin was mentally unhinged really came to fruition at the end. Without giving anything away, Martin was well and truly ready to deliver some full on payback. I found the ending very satisfactory.
This is a novel of obsession. The premise is great as is the writing. Two narrators tell this tale. Martin Gilmour and his eventual wife, Lucy.

Raised by a controlling mother, Martin's childhood lacks nurturing but, by nature, Martin would be hard to nurture. He is impulsive and attention seeking without seeming to understand the differences between the negative and the positive. He is a pitiful child but hard to pity. He meets Lucy when he is well into his late twenties and she, being herself a nurturer, sees Martin as interesting, introverted and in need of a person of her caring nature. Martin believes himself to be clever, his motivations hidden. Unfortunately, if there is a flaw in this narrative, it is that Martin's actions are fairly obvious.

The novel opens when Martin is an adult being interviewed by the police in a matter revealed much later. The story really begins, however, when Martin wins a scholarship to a prep school, Burtonbury. He imagines this transition from his shabby elementary school to be one where like minded young intellects sit near a roaring fire discussing great literature and is disappointed to find the students older but still adolescent. However, on Day One at Burtonbury, Martin meets the person who will be the focus of his life.

Ben Fitzmaurice is everything Martin is not - sporty, popular, connected, rich and good looking. It is easy to see why Martin spends the majority of his time finding ways to be in Ben's company. What is much less clear is why Ben puts up with Martin. Martin eventually worms his way into Ben's life and his family and refers to "my best friend Ben," well into adulthood. Martin follows Ben to Cambridge, agonizing over Ben's female admirers and, once again, placing himself in Ben's presence at every opportunity.

Then, Martin has a golden opportunity. This opportunity causes Ben's family to be forever indebted to Martin. Martin, oblivious, accepts the ongoing bribe but fails to see how this might mar his relationship with Ben.

Ben eventually marries the lovely Serena and they have big houses and several children - when Martin marries Lucy, they remain friends but as Serena becomes more involved with her children and Ben becomes more involved in his family and his career, Martin refuses to accept his diminishing importance in Ben's life. He is, "Martin, Ben's best friend."

For Ben's fortieth birthday, he and Serena throw a party in their new residence in the Cotswolds, a former home for an order of monks. Since there are multiple bedrooms in "The Priory," Martin assumes that he and Lucy will stay there - since they are, in all but name, family. By the time Martin realizes that no invitation has been issued for lodging, he and Lucy are forced to stay in a small motel near the motorway. Lucy, of course, feels the snub but Martin, as always, comes to the defense of "his best friend, Ben."

The party begins and there is much drinking, hundreds of people, but even then, Martin's objective is to be near Ben. He is impervious to knowing glances, outright laughter or snide remarks and injects himself into conversations by introducing himself as "Ben's best friend Martin." The night goes into morning and Lucy and Martin are summoned to the Priory library with only Ben and Serena. Martin, of course, sees the entire night as a prelude to inclusion, once again, into the Fitzmaurice inner circle. Lucy, drunk as she is, is helpless as she sees Martin about to self destruct. Will he?