A review by nwhyte
House Party by Rachael Smith
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2629312.html
My eye was caught by Smith's Bryan Lee O'Malley-like art, and I picked up this book, apparently her first full-length story. (In the frame above, Siobhan wakes up badly hungover from the eponymous party.) It's a fairly brief story about three young housemates who decide that they will try to reclaim their youth by throwing a party with the cool kids from the year below who are still at college; it all goes wrong and they wake up sadder, wiser and with aching heads. It's well observed, particularly the central protagonist Mish (short for Michelle). It's just a bit of a shame that the nice people in the story aren't all that smart, and the smart ones aren't very nice. I guess that's necessary for the plot to develop in this case, but it's a barrier to engaging with the characters.
My eye was caught by Smith's Bryan Lee O'Malley-like art, and I picked up this book, apparently her first full-length story. (In the frame above, Siobhan wakes up badly hungover from the eponymous party.) It's a fairly brief story about three young housemates who decide that they will try to reclaim their youth by throwing a party with the cool kids from the year below who are still at college; it all goes wrong and they wake up sadder, wiser and with aching heads. It's well observed, particularly the central protagonist Mish (short for Michelle). It's just a bit of a shame that the nice people in the story aren't all that smart, and the smart ones aren't very nice. I guess that's necessary for the plot to develop in this case, but it's a barrier to engaging with the characters.