The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

          2.5 Stars

This is quite a peculiar little tale of Sabrina and her five 30th Birthday dinner guests (Audrey Hepburn, Conrad - her old professor from USC, Robert - her estranged father, Tobias - her ex-fiance, and Jessica - her best friend).  Not quite sure why she was limited to only 5 people for her fantasy dinner party list but she was.  Indeed the number five is a recurring theme throughout the book, particularly with Tobias and his random times to ask Sabrina for 5 words to describe how she feels in the moment.

I'm not entirely sure what the author is trying to convey with this story and fear that it is all trying to be terribly clever and deep at the expense of the story itself.  It takes some getting used to the flashing back in time to a specific event and then jolting back to the birthday dinner - in all honesty I never really got comfortable with that and it is a thematic trope I am well used to.  It just felt somehow disjointed and quite fractured, mainly because Sabrina is quite an annoying character.

Everything is told from her viewpoint and it soon becomes clear that she never really considers other people's thoughts and feelings when making plans or doing anything.  Initially we are treated to her derision of her best friend's life and lifestyle choices and then, as the story progresses she is similarly judgmental of her father, her boyfriend and almost everyone she comes in to contact with.

I am still not entirely sure why Audrey Hepburn was on her dinner party list - a very strange juxtaposition between people that were important in Sabrina's life and then a movie star.  It was also quite disconcerting to have words put in to Ms Hepburn's mouth.  As one guest was obviously dead it made sense that others were too so I spent a fair chunk of the book trying to decide who was an who wasn't pre-deceased - it does get drawn out eventually.

This was all a bit of a slog to read, which is a pity as the first few chapters showed a lot of promise and drew me in quite well.  Unfortunately as more becomes revealed you soon realise that Sabrina herself is quite a manipulative and selfish character and that everyone else seems happy to pander to her.  Also, nothing is really resolved by this meal and all the interactions around the table, and the flashbacks they engender, become progressively more and more serious and depressing.  There is no light relief, not even from the supposed love story between Sabrina and Tobias.

All in all, I was very disappointed with the book and felt that it was style over substance.  I did persevere to the end but will readily admit I had to bribe myself with the promise of reading an old favourite if I slogged it out to the end.

THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK PROVIDED BY READERS FIRST.