Offered Books:
The Air You Breathe by Frances de Pontes Peebles
Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear
The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
The Line That Held Us by David Joy
Goodbye, Paris by Anstey Harris
Selected:
The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
Other Purchased:
None - yet
Sabrina arrives at a dinner with her best friend, but finds 4 extra guests there, including Audrey Hepburn. Having made and kept a 'dinner list' of 5 people for ages, she suddenly finds herself in the surreal situation of actually participating in one. Thus starts The Dinner List, by Rebecca Serle
First and foremost, I want to commend Serle for managing the not-inconsiderable feat of making a 290 page book that is primarily people sitting and talking to each other interesting. I was a bit skeptical when selecting this book - it was primarily an attempt to push myself into genres I normally don't read. However, Serle delivered an interesting romantic fantasy that made me appreciate the choice.
One of the challenges of this sort of novel is making the conversation interesting, but also believable. The dreamy fantasy of the situation is addressed quickly, and it allows the characters to plow into the meat of the novel: why she selected each of the guests, and what she wants to say to them.
While the presence of Hepburn is a selling point for the novel, Serle is wise in her use of the character. Hepburn is not the main focus, but the interactions with the other characters aren't forced, and having what in normal circumstances would be the 'unbiased observer' character instead be a world-famous actress allows Serle to play with the trope in refreshing ways.
The only downside to the book is that it is hard to review, as the presence of certain people are inadvertent spoilers, so delving too much into their interactions is hard to do.
Not sure this is a book for everyone, but it is a nice little novel that I would recommend.
3.5 out of 5
Author Links:
No comments:
Post a Comment