For Sabrina’s thirtieth birthday, she somehow manages to have one of those dinner parties that one often fantasizes about; i.e., if you could choose any five people, dead or alive, to have dinner with, who would it be? In Sabrina’s case, only one of the invitees is someone famous: Audrey Hepburn. We don’t learn why she chooses her until close to the end.
The others include her best - but currently estranged, friend Jessica; Professor Conrad, a philosophy professor she had in college; her boyfriend Tobias; and her estranged father Robert who left Sabrina and her mom when Sabrina was five.
Indeed, five is a recurrent theme in this book. Another role it has is in the frequent game Sabrina and Tobias used to play: name five words to describe your life right now, right this minute.
Sabrina and Tobias had gotten together when they were twenty-three and living in New York. They had met four years before in Santa Monica, but only Sabrina remembered.
The story doesn’t provide any explanation for how this party happened or for the magic behind it. We just accept it as a given and allow ourselves to become immersed in how the interrelationships play out over the evening. The dinner begins at 7:30 p.m., and somehow all the participants know it will only last until midnight. Many of the chapters are preceded by the time. Sabrina understands this dinner is her last chance to find out things about the past and make things right about the future.
Evaluation: This book was not what I expected. I thought it would be fun, and one of the blurbs described it as “heartbreakingly romantic.” I guess I’d go more with just heartbreaking; it was surprisingly sad, in my opinion. I also didn’t think everything was completely clear or resolved at the end. Nevertheless, I was glad to have read it.
The others include her best - but currently estranged, friend Jessica; Professor Conrad, a philosophy professor she had in college; her boyfriend Tobias; and her estranged father Robert who left Sabrina and her mom when Sabrina was five.
Indeed, five is a recurrent theme in this book. Another role it has is in the frequent game Sabrina and Tobias used to play: name five words to describe your life right now, right this minute.
Sabrina and Tobias had gotten together when they were twenty-three and living in New York. They had met four years before in Santa Monica, but only Sabrina remembered.
The story doesn’t provide any explanation for how this party happened or for the magic behind it. We just accept it as a given and allow ourselves to become immersed in how the interrelationships play out over the evening. The dinner begins at 7:30 p.m., and somehow all the participants know it will only last until midnight. Many of the chapters are preceded by the time. Sabrina understands this dinner is her last chance to find out things about the past and make things right about the future.
Evaluation: This book was not what I expected. I thought it would be fun, and one of the blurbs described it as “heartbreakingly romantic.” I guess I’d go more with just heartbreaking; it was surprisingly sad, in my opinion. I also didn’t think everything was completely clear or resolved at the end. Nevertheless, I was glad to have read it.