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ilman002's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this tale of home invasion in a small French hamlet. The prose is beautiful and leisurely paced but it keeps you on edge. It's a fine example of psychological literary thriller done right. The characters are well-developed and everyone has a secret, which keeps you guessing until the end. Mauvignier masterfully builds tension and the novel gets progressively darker as you read. I would recommend this book to the fans of psychological suspense and literary fiction.
basketballwasneverlikethisskip's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
chloeread_s's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
srooo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Very interesting style of writing, engaging story.
Some observations were done really thoughtfully, I enjoyed it.
Felt that the narrative voice was too strong; difficult to say who the author was talking about because there was no individuality in the characters, they all sounded the same.
Sometimes the writing felt too clunky. There was no weighting of important and not so important information so there were moments when it dragged.
Plot itself was quite predictable, there were some questions which were left ambiguous, but the story didn’t feel as though it had an unsatisfying ending. The book was overall very engaging.
Some observations were done really thoughtfully, I enjoyed it.
Felt that the narrative voice was too strong; difficult to say who the author was talking about because there was no individuality in the characters, they all sounded the same.
Sometimes the writing felt too clunky. There was no weighting of important and not so important information so there were moments when it dragged.
Plot itself was quite predictable, there were some questions which were left ambiguous, but the story didn’t feel as though it had an unsatisfying ending. The book was overall very engaging.
lizawood's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
deebury's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
monicalewinsky6969666420's review against another edition
1.0
This book was a seriously gnarly level of boring
aaliyah33's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Happy i read it, interesting story as it is 500 pages set over one day. Prose is very stream of consciousness that flows nicely between characters. Very immersive and i like the closeness between reader, the character and the plot. This however comes at the cost of the pace of the novel and the sharpness and impact of the suspense/thrill/tension.
dukegregory's review against another edition
5.0
Stressed me out! A glacially paced thriller that surprised me. The plot is lovely. Very Funny Games without being totally like Funny Games. Mauvignier is a sadist. Or I'm a masochist. Because the deluge of information as told via hefty multiclausal sentences piles and piles and piles on until it feels unbearably heavy, like being buried alive. Mauvignier rarely lets you come up for air. The novel evades expectations by fixating on its characters' interiorities and describing an abundance of external detail. Just an amazing time. Made my heart rate quicken.
Mauvignier makes a novel that so easily could be simply about class into something more dynamic. Class hierarchy collapses and becomes more of a shorthand for a character's background rather than an essential trait. The Birthday Party is about the manner in which we live our lives: constantly pondering an uncertain future and concretized past. So much is going on here regarding perception, subjectivity, self-loathing, identity, art-making, assumptions about French fly-over country, cinema's effect on the way action is conceived in literature, marriage, love and lust, and, probably the most important, the plausibility of liberty (or lack thereof?).
Mauvignier makes a novel that so easily could be simply about class into something more dynamic. Class hierarchy collapses and becomes more of a shorthand for a character's background rather than an essential trait. The Birthday Party is about the manner in which we live our lives: constantly pondering an uncertain future and concretized past. So much is going on here regarding perception, subjectivity, self-loathing, identity, art-making, assumptions about French fly-over country, cinema's effect on the way action is conceived in literature, marriage, love and lust, and, probably the most important, the plausibility of liberty (or lack thereof?).