Book Review: The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

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BOOK review

Started on: 13 November 2021
Finished on: 21 November 2021

 

The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

 

Title: The Party Crasher

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: The Dial Press

Pages: 368 pages / 352 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2021
Price: Rp 410,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 4/5

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"This family may be broken. It may be shattered. But it's my broken, shattered family. And I want to be here, I finally admit to myself. To be at the party, even if I'm invisible. This is the last hurrah, even if no one's cheering."

Ever since her parents got divorced, Effie's image of the happy and loving childhood that she thought she had was destroyed. She gradually become distant with her father and embarked on a feud with his new (and much younger) girlfriend, Krista. On top of that, Greenoaks—the rambling Victorian country house Effie called home her whole life, has suddenly been sold. So when Krista decides to throw a grand 'house-cooling' party, Effie declines Krista's last-minute 'anti-invitation'. However, she remembers that her beloved childhood treasure is still left hidden in the house. While everyone is busy celebrating, Effie sneaks and hides around the house in order to retrieve it. Effie then unintentionally discovered that her sister, brother, and father holds secrets that she never knew before—and she begins to see her family in a new light. To make things worse, Effie runs into Joe—the love of her life who broke her heart long ago, and even more truths emerge from their encounter. Over the course of the party, Effie realizes that she must be honest and confront her past before she'll ever be able to face her future.

"And now I'm getting the beginnings of a plan. An audacious idea is crystallizing in my head. I mean, it's mad. I admit it's mad. But, then, this whole evening is a bit mad—so what's new?"

"Whenever something mortifying happened to us at school, she would sympathize up to a point but then would say the same firm words: No one ever died from embarrassment. Exactly. So proceed."

I decided to pick up this book when I want something light and easy to read. I've enjoyed Sophie Kinsella's books in the past, so I was pretty excited to read her newly released book. After I'm done reading, I can safely say that The Party Crasher is definitely the kind of book I was hoping it would be. Reading this book made me feel like I was watching a family / romantic-comedy movie that I can just sit back and enjoy. There are some parts that made me laugh and also some moments that warms my heart. The plot itself is rather simple—which doesn't require a lot of thinking, and some aspects of the story are quite predictable; but I found myself having a good time whilst reading this book from start to finish.

"My mind roams over all my family members. All keeping secrets. From one another or from the world. Mimi and Dad... Krista and Dad... Gus and Romilly... Bean... Everyone's hiding something from someone."

"And I don't know if it's the bright light or what, but they suddenly seem like a load of Russian dolls to me, lined up around the table. All hiding their inner layers. All protecting their secrets, whether it's behind glossy smiles or sunglasses or under straw hats. Or simply with lies."

The whole story is written from first-person POV of the main character, Effie. It begins by introducing us to her whole family during the Christmas season. But the image of their happy family was suddenly shattered when her parents suddenly announced that they are getting divorced. 18 months later, Effie still struggled with the aftermath of her parents' divorce. To make things worse, Effie gradually became distant with her father after he had a new (and younger) girlfriend named Krista. The main event in this whole story is a "house-cooling" party that Krista arranged after she managed to sell Effie's childhood home that holds so many memories of their family. Initially, Effie didn't want to come to the party even though her siblings begged her to. Things start to get interesting and funny when she decided to sneak in because Effie had to retrieve her childhood treasure that's still left hidden in the house. While she lurked around the house, that's when Effie discovered some things about her family that she didn't know about. A huge part of the plot focuses on the family issue and how they're slowly confronting the problems that has been piling up ever since their parents got divorced. I love how the author slowly revealed the mystery behind each family members one-by-one, which makes the story a little bit more intriguing. The way the story is narrated also helps me sympathize with Effie and understand her feelings better. I especially liked Effie's character development and how she's resolved to finally fix her relationship with her family—which is truly commendable.

Another aspect of the story is Effie's romance with her ex-boyfriend, Joe—who's apparently one of the guests in the "house-cooling" party. Joe is incredibly charming and witty, which makes his character so easy to love. There are some laugh out loud moments when Joe was trying to cover for Effie, especially when he teamed up with Bean—Effie's sister. Those moments when they both defended Effie during the party were really sweet and heartwarming. I have to applaud their sincere love towards Effie even when she's being ridiculous and can be embarrassing at times 🤣. I'm actually quite sad because the romance is only a small part of the story because I wanted more Joe and his interaction with Effie.

"But it's the same. You can't fix something if you're hiding from it."

As I've said earlier, The Party Crasher is feel-good story that warms my heart and managed to put a smile on my face 😊. At the end of this book, we also learn that there's always two sides to every story—which will enable us to see the bigger picture and understand why some people act they way they do. Almost all of the characters in this story changed for the better—which can be encouraging for readers who might be experiencing the same things that these characters did. Overall, this book is an entertaining read even though the plot itself might not be particularly unique. I think Sophie Kinsella is my go-to author whenever I need something to make me laugh and have a good time 😉.

"Everything inside me has shifted. I'm stronger. Not only am I able to let go, I'm happy to let go. I'm focused on the future."

by.stefaniesugia♥ .