Party by Tom Leveen

Published: April 2010

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 240

Copy Provided by: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and school is done for the year. Everyone is headed to the same party.Or at least it seems that way. The place is packed. The beer is flowing. Simple, right? But for 11 different people the motives are way more complicated. As each character takes a turn and tells his or her story, the eleven individuals intersect, and reconnect, collide, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming.

Review:

I often find that the majority of my reading material comes from women writers. I don't do this consciously, I just feel that there are more women who write the kinds of books that I enjoy. To take a break from my regular supernatural genre, I decided to give Party a try. I'm glad I did!

First, let me say, the setup of this novel is great. There are several characters involved and each one narrates a different chapter. Mr. Leveen did a fantastic job of capturing both the girls and boys POV....right down to the intricate way girls interact with their girlfriends and how guys interact with their buddies. The book touches upon many common teenage issues - feelings of isolation, drinking, racism, being ignored, relationships, friendships, etc. Some of the characters reminded me of my friendships. I have close friends who have been around since I was in grade school.

Of course Beckett and Ashley were my favorite characters (one starts the book off and the other ends it). There were so many different stories happening at once, it was like a spider's web coming together nicely (or not so nicely for some characters) at the end of the book. I don't want to give anything away but you should give Party a try. It was a quick read and well worth the ride.