Customer Reviews

The Divorce Party

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Divorce Party is one of the most oddly moving books I've read in a long time. Since I finished reading it, I have been trying to sort out what, exactly, makes it work so well. Certainly, it captures the emotions of complex people in complex relationships in incredibly lovely prose. It is funny, and surprisingly heartwarming, and hard to put down. And yet it goes beyond that somehow, in a way that so few books do. There is some little bit of magic that it delivers. It leaves you hopeful for your own relationships, and for your ability to embrace your future, whatever it has in store.

Set in Montauk, this novel tells the story of two women, Gwyn, who's getting ready to end her 35-year marriage, and her future daughter-in-law, Maggie, who's learning just how little she knows about her fiancé. Smart, insightful, and gorgeously written, The Divorce Party is a must-read for anyone who appreciates good fiction.

This story is told by the two main female characters: Gwyn and Maggie. Gwyn Huntington is planning a Divorce Party that falls on the day of her thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. Her husband says that he has found a new religion and that they are now too different from each other, but she knows better. Maggie is Gwyn's soon to be daughter-in-law. On the day that Maggie is to meet her in-laws for the first time, she finds out all about Nate's, her fiance, hidden past. The two women must overcome secrets in their relationships to move forward with their lives.

Ok, first let me ask--who thinks a Divorce Party is a good idea?? Maybe since I am so far removed from that situation that I just don't see how it could work. But what do I know?

I do know that I really felt for the female characters in this story. I really liked Gwyn. I felt so bad for her--her knowing that her husband is lying. And I must admit that I admired the way she brought it to his attention that she knew. And I felt bad for Maggie finding out about Nate the way she did. He should have been honest about his past with her from the start. I'm not so sure I would be as forgiving as she she should have been.

That being said, I also liked the male characters. There were times that Thomas seemed to still want to be with his wife. I just wanted to reach into the book and shake him! And Nate seemed so sweet--why was it necessary for him to lie about his past?

This was a serious and moving book. It was a quick read and I think that I liked it although it leaves me feeling unsettled.

Laura Dave is an amazingly talented writer. Her first book, London is the Best City in America was incredible, and this one might even be better if that's possible. Once again, the insight into the many layers of each of the characters is impressive and makes you realize how so many things in life are simple and complex at the same time. Even though the book takes place over a single day, by the end it seems that you've known the characters for a long time.

Summer's not done yet - here's another hot read for you!

Nate and Maggie are newly engaged. Nate's parents Gwyn and Thomas have been married for thirty five years. But their marriage has come to an end. Gwyn is throwing a divorce party with Thomas "to celebrate a peaceful end to a valued union." And this is the day when Maggie will meet her future in-laws for the first time....

This novel is told in alternating chapters from Maggie and Gwyn's viewpoint, all happening in one day. Both women have discovered things they didn't know about their significant other - albeit at a different stages of their relationships - the beginning and the end.

Dave has created charming, warm, wonderful characters that are believable. The female roles are the strongest. Gwyn is a self assured woman who is coming to grips with finding her own path after so many years as a couple. Maggie is an engaging young woman who is finding her footing as well. Supporting characters, notably Nate's sister Georgia, are also searching.

I had a hard time with Thomas. Although he is being true to what he believes to be the best path for himself, I disliked his dishonesty - I found it weak. Nate too has his secrets, but his reasons to be had less to do with selfishness, than his love for Maggie. I was more sympathetic to his cause, but still not thrilled with his duplicity.

When I picked up Laura Dave's second novel, I thought it would be a chick lit read based on the cover. I hesitate to label it as there was so much more to it. it was by turns funny, sad, poignant and hopeful. A fairy tale - no, but a definite page turner. You'll find yourself re reading some of the passages on relationships and thinking about your own.

Fans of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin would enjoy this book. (They both did as they've provided cover blurbs!)

As as a neat aside, Jennifer Aniston's film company has bought the rights to The Divorce Party.

This would be a good choice for a book club as well. There is an excellent reading group guide included in the book.

In a breath-taking mansion beautifully nestled on the peaceful Long Island Sound, Gwyn Huntington is busy putting the final touches on what is sure to be the most talked about party ever to have been thrown in Montauk. Unlike previous celebrations that have filled the home she shares with Thomas, her husband of thirty-five years, this one marks a chapter of her life that she quite frankly fears to tread...the dissolution of her marriage.

At exactly what point and time her relationship began to unravel is still quite unclear to Gwyn. Together, Thomas and she were the pillars of their community. Even their two grown children, Nate and Georgia, are oblivious to the discord in their parents' union as is everyone else in their tiny town. The near-perfect relationship emulated by their closest friends is quickly falling apart. Brought together under such dire circumstances, they choose to reunite at the family compound one last time to celebrate what is soon to be a distant memory. This family quickly learns that as with any relationship, there is more than just one side to the story.

With the party nearing, secrets that perhaps would have been better left untold are suddenly revealed and the simple task of ending a relationship takes on a life of its own. What really happened between Gwyn and Thomas that made them throw away thirty-five years of marriage without giving one another a second chance? When is the right time to leave or is it better to stay and fight for what is truly yours?

The second novel by the talented and extremely gifted writer Laura Dave, THE DIVORCE PARTY incorporates the very essential elements of life into a beautifully written tale of love. Despite the brevity of the novel, Dave is able to encapsulate the pain and suffering akin to the break-up of a marriage into an intricately woven plot. Although the story tugs at the reader's heartstrings, it also highlights glimmers of hope in the life of the courageous woman at the center of it all.

Weddings and divorces are opposite in nature but the same as in the opportunity to start anew. Of course, most of the time there is one party of the couple who is hurting and sees it as an end. Most stories are about the journey of the young, perfect people to the falling in love, then to the happily ever after marriage. How inventive to start at this point of lives and have a party to celebrate it! I love it! This is an enjoyable and entertaining read that captures the complexity of relationships, the challenges of marriage and beyond and the importance of really knowing someone. I love the well-to-do age group with such rich lives and so much more on the go than a simple love relationship. A couple throws a smashing party on their thirty-fifth anniversary to celebrate, not the event itself, but the fact that the marriage is finally at an end. The "perfect couple" proves to still be perfect right down to the divorce. It's inspired!

I also love books by picoult, kingsbury, Pirrung and Rivers.

I wasn't sure to expect from this book when my girlfriend gave it to me -- purple cover? piece of cake? I immediately thought "chick lit", which isn't in my wheelhouse. But I opened the cover and started reading and literally did not put it down until I finished. This isn't chick lit -- this is a slice of true humanity, a breezy yet intellectual expose on modern day romance. There are two women at the center of this book, yes, but really, there are two relationships. One of which is in the beginning stage, one at the ending stage -- yet beginnings and endings get blurry, and Dave's voice and tone proves just how difficult and confusing relationships can be at any stage. Both relationships are racked with lies that soon become exposed. There are great plot twists as characters that seem tangential and secondary become front and center. Dave has nuggets of truisms, too many to recount in this review, that will make ANY reader nod his or her head in wonderment how Dave was able to find words for what so often we only feel. I can't recommend this book enough.

Other reviewers have done a nice job of summarizing the plot, so I'll focus instead on what makes this book so worth reading.

Many books, and movies for that matter, seem to be obsessed with beginnings. Beginnings are easy, and fun, and full of the good stuff: falling in love, getting engaged and married, and embarking on lives full of optimism and hope. But here, as in Dave's earlier book LONDON IS THE BEST CITY IN AMERICA, we find a beginning intertwined with an ending, a parallel that deepens and enrichens both. Implicit in every beginning is the understanding that it can end, particularly when it comes to a leap of faith like marriage, but because this is a complicated subject, many writers skim right past it. Instead, Dave rolls up her sleeves and mines this rich material, and we as readers are better for the experience.

I am also thrilled to read a book where the voice of a 50-something woman is given as much air time as the voice of a 20-something. I'm in my 30s, and as a person who, god-willing, will grow older, I am very much interested in both perspectives. Girls become women, marriages begin and end...I love that Dave doesn't shy away from exploring these worthwhile complexities.

As for those who have criticized this book because its characters are, in many ways, privileged, I have to say I am bewildered by their response. Certainly we all know that matters of the heart are an aspect of life that money is powerless to improve. Falling in and out of love, finding ways to make a marriage work...these are issues with which people from every walk of life must contend. Dave's characters are absolutely relatable, regardless of the size of their houses.

What kind of a couple throws a huge party on their thirty-fifth anniversary to celebrate, not the event itself, but the fact that the marriage is ending? This particular divorce party is marking the end of a coupling that others thought would survive anything--the Huntingtons come from a family of survivors on this island of Montauk. And Gwyn and Thomas seemed to be the perfect couple.

As the guests assemble for this lavish get-together, another couple, just beginning their journey together, is also coming from a home in Red Hook, near Brooklyn, NY. This will be Maggie's first introduction to her fiancé's family. Nate has said little about them; in fact he seems unusually reticent.

Then on their trip to Montauk, through a series of chance meetings along the way, Maggie first glimpses some of the secrets Nate has kept from her. The cracks in the thin veneer that protect them are spreading and threatening to burst. Her first doubts appear.

More is revealed in the first days in Montauk, and the journey may abruptly end unless something drastic happens.

Meanwhile, we see Gwyn's story unfolding, layer by layer, as she relives through memories the journey she and Thomas have taken. And we slowly learn why Gwyn has chosen this particular venue--the divorce party--to mark the demise of the marriage.

Alternately told in Gwyn's and Maggie's voices, we discover what it means to build a life with someone and how, by making very different choices, two different women learn how to create the lives they most want to lead.

What are the secrets Nate has kept, that threaten his new relationship? And what motivates Gwyn to choose this very public setting to end hers? Is there more she hopes to unleash? And will she get the results she seeks?

These are some of the questions resolved in these pages, giving The Divorce Party: A Novel a resounding five stars, in my opinion.