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Ralph's Party

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I’m just going to pretend that this wasn’t written by Lisa Jewell because It’s the first book by her that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. This story is clearly written last century. The men are all entitled and mysoginistic; one who doesn’t view women as real people (Ralph) and one who cheats on his wife and when the women he’s sleeping with gets an abortion he says she’s murdered his baby and he will ‘get his revenge’. He also seems to feel entitled to cheat on his wife and he mentions her being infertile; whilst it is never explicitly said that this is why, it seems implied. I felt pity for his wife till she used a homophobic slur when talking about how women where she lived were worried about any sort of body hair showing. She seemed to be terrified that if she didn’t get rid of all her body hair people would think she was a lesbian, as if a) that was at all true and b) people thinking that would be horrible. She also used an ableist slur. A big, special mention to the narrator, Imogen Church. She gives the characters the right, emotional tone for their situations. She makes them annoying and insufferable, and then calm and restrained. She goes up and down with them and you can almost feel them coming out of your speakers. She's just fantastic and now I'll look for more of her work. The first time I'll look for a narrator, not necessarily an author. This may be partially my fault as i only knew Lisa Jewell as a thriller/mystery author, and A Friend of The Family certainly isnt that. But i have to say i found this story just okay. It's not awful, but i was glad to have finished it.

Ned finds high school sweetheart, but she's all grown up and over him now. Ned's Australia girl starts sending him pieces of herself (hair, toenails, eyelashes, etc.) in the mail and texting him "cunt" over and over. He finally writes a letter to her parents and we never hear anything more from her. Ned finally decides he needs to get a job and starts working for a temp agency. He meets a girl on the job and they hit it off, but when Ned makes a move, she turns him down stating that he hasn't grown up yet. Ned and Gervase are get close.This book was rather different to the ones I'd read before; which wasn't a problem at all and I enjoyed it. Though to be honest, I wasn't in love with either of the main characters... DISCLOSURE: I listened to the audiobook of Ralph's Party by Lisa Jewell, narrated by Imogen Church and published by Penguin, via Overdrive. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. It's also interesting for me in that Ralph's Party was very much set in the approach to 1997, the arse-end of a pretty bad recession and a moribund Tory-led Britain before the expectation of a New Labour victory. This one is set literally after that party. Not exactly that you notice it much in the text -- she's not a political writer or anything of the sort, but it's interesting that she dabbles fleetingly in religion and the spiritual, and even hints that the jollies the central couple used to get was sort of, well, vacuous. The good times are gone.

MY THOUGHTS: Light, fluffy, funny but with hidden depths, Ralph's Party is reminiscent of the Oscar Wilde classic The Importance of Being Ernest. I enjoyed this comedic romp, Lisa Jewell's first novel which she wrote as the result of a dare. There are a few cringeworthy moments, but nothing out of character. Though I must admit that Ralph's character could be extremely irritating at times.of course, as such, the aura of mystery and anticipation surrounding its arrival unfortunately built-up the potential majesty of said-prize. ABOUT THIS BOOK: Meet the residents of the London brownstone on 31 Almanac Road who together weave a tangled web of romance. Ralph, a ne'er-do-well artist, suddenly realizes he's head over heels in love with his new flatmate Jem, the most fun and sensible girl he's ever encountered. Unfortunately, Ralph's best friend, Smith, has already won Jem's affections, although Smith has not entirely given up his passion for the femme fatale, Cheri, who lives upstairs. Across the hall, Karl and Siobhan have been happily unmarried for years, until Karl gets a smashing job as a London rush-hour DJ and momentarily gets tempted into Cheri's cozy lair. honestly, i'm not sold on this novel. i wanted desperately to love it, because i won it! and winning is made of awesome! but i couldn't get past all the bullshit and pretense. no one comes across as particularly likable or vulnerable. the writing at times feels stilted (more so at the end when jewell seems to cave to the pressure of the happy ending and needs her characters to find forgiveness - i can't imagine EVER being okay with my fake-hubby disappearing for three weeks to paint pictures of my family so we can start anew. but i am most definitely not jem). Jewell's ability to round her characters out is already in evidence here, as is her ability to think outside the box. Not everything went as I expected, she has thrown a few surprises in the mix. If I'd had to buy the book the old-fashioned way, it would have stayed on the bookstore shelf. Because I would have been able to flip through the book and easily determine that the Jewell magic, at least for me, just isn't present.

This is not what I was expecting from Lisa Jewell. The previous Lisa Jewell books I've read were suspense thrillers, this was more a love triangle and it wasn't thrilling in any way.

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There are several more incidents of this sort of selfish behaviour that made me thoroughly dislike them both. They came across as the epitome of pampered London types, used to getting their own way, using others without thought of the consequences and so forth, and I really didn't like either of them.

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