Ralph's Party

Ralph’s Party is the first novel written by Lisa Jewell and was originally released twenty-five years ago. It’s a contemporary romance and very different to the mystery books she had written, such as; Then She Was Gone, The Night She Disappeared and none of this is True

The book is set at 31 Almanac Road in London. On the first floor of the house live Ralph and Smith. They have been the best of friends since University and nothing has ever come between them. In comes Jem, there new flatmate. Jem is a fun, down to earth and easygoing addition to their flat. Both men are attracted to her but have very different intentions.

On the first floor live Karland Siobhan. They have been very happily living together for fifteen years. That is until Cheri, from the flat above, gets involved with Karl. Karl is completely devoted to Siobhan, so why would a little indiscretion cause her to be upset?

Everything comes to a head at Ralph’s party. Emotions are very high. Theresa are makeup’s, breakup’s, fights, tears and laughter.

The characters are rich and I found myself loving them and hating them at the same time. The plot is often predictable but I still found myself very intrigued to know what exactly would happen next. Would those that deserved them, get their just dessert’s? Who would end up with who? Would they all end up going their separate ways.

The book has a nostalgic 90’s vibe which is quite warming. It is written in a very humorous manner and echo’s some similarities with Bridget Jones. However, it also highlights the negative discourse around women and their objectification. It’s quite an eye opener to see how some things have hopefully changed for the better.

An average book in my opinion but quite an eye opener on the not so distant past.

Was keen to read the rerelease of Lisa Jewell’s first book to compare with her more recent publications.
I’m glad she kept going and much prefer her later topics.
Ralph’s Party definitely fits into the 1990’s Chick Lit category.
An easy read followed the romances of the Almanac Road residents.
Sometime’s Funny, Sometime’s Sad.
Ralph won and Smith poor fella got a very public shaming.
Many thanks to Penguin and Readinggroups.org for sending us copies

Mixed reviews from our book club. Opinions differed about whether the characters were likeable. On balance, probably not, but Ralph and Jem seemed to be the most agreeable. We felt there was too much reference to casual drug taking although that did lead to some interesting discussions in our group. There wasn't as much of a plot as we would have liked and we generally agreed we prefer Lisa Jewell's later books.