The Dinner List is a play on that question, who are the five people you would have dinner with, alive or dead? While the how if it all is never addressed, it was a truly beautiful character drama despite hitting in one of my biggest pet peeves.
There are 6 people at this dinner, Sabrina and her five guests. There are throwaway characters, Audrey Hepburn and an old college professor. They served virtually no purpose besides being the wise commentators and moderators of the dinner. Her estranged father is also in attendance and their reconciliation was the one uplifting part of the story.
I had a love hate relationship with Jessica but by the end it was mostly hate. At times she was so practical, and at other times she was such an energy-sucking killjoy. Same thing with Tobias. At times I found him so intriguing, and at other times he was so unbearably nonchalant and immature. And then Sabrina, in one moment so relatable and in the next, such a sanctimonious egocentric pain. And yet, I somehow managed to love this book. The characters were nuanced, fully fleshed out, realistic, albeit annoying people I’d never want to know in real life.
Above all, it’s a tragic story about two people who were desperately in love but were ultimately unable to overcome their differences in time. Told in alternating chapters of past and present, as the chapters ticked closer together in time, it’s easy to see how it will all end up but it was a sucker punch nevertheless and very well-paced and well-written.
4.5 stars for somehow managing to deliver characters I disliked but a book that I still loved.
There are 6 people at this dinner, Sabrina and her five guests. There are throwaway characters, Audrey Hepburn and an old college professor. They served virtually no purpose besides being the wise commentators and moderators of the dinner. Her estranged father is also in attendance and their reconciliation was the one uplifting part of the story.
I had a love hate relationship with Jessica but by the end it was mostly hate. At times she was so practical, and at other times she was such an energy-sucking killjoy. Same thing with Tobias. At times I found him so intriguing, and at other times he was so unbearably nonchalant and immature. And then Sabrina, in one moment so relatable and in the next, such a sanctimonious egocentric pain. And yet, I somehow managed to love this book. The characters were nuanced, fully fleshed out, realistic, albeit annoying people I’d never want to know in real life.
Above all, it’s a tragic story about two people who were desperately in love but were ultimately unable to overcome their differences in time. Told in alternating chapters of past and present, as the chapters ticked closer together in time, it’s easy to see how it will all end up but it was a sucker punch nevertheless and very well-paced and well-written.
4.5 stars for somehow managing to deliver characters I disliked but a book that I still loved.