The Divorce Party – Laura Dave

Aug 20, 2009 by shanyn

The Divorce Party
Laura Dave
Received from publisher

Gwyn Huntington knows how to throw a party. And Hunt Hall, her postcard=perfect Victorian home in Montauk, is no stranger to celebrations. But on the morning of her thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, she’s putting finishing touches on the last party she’ll host there: a party to celebrate her divorce.

Just over one hundred miles away, Gwyn’s future daughter-in-law, Maggie Mackenzie, sits on the floor of her Brooklyn apartment attempting to organize her new life. She’s in love with a wonderful man, and today she is meeting his family for the first time.

The Divorce Party takes us into the lives of these two women at opposite ends of marriage. For all the differences between them – distance, privilege, age – Gwyn and Maggie have one thing in common. Each has found herself at a crossroads, facing the same question: How hard should you work to stay with the person you love?

Insightful, funny, and deeply moving, The Divorce Party will touch anyone whose heart has weathered an unexpected storm.

I read a review of this book on another blog and thought that I would like it. Once I got to see the cover and really read more about it, I was fairly convinced it fit well into the genres that I like to read. It also has many glowing quotes from sources I enjoy – Jane Green and Emily Giffin, to name a few.

The book starts off in 1938 in Montauk, an unexpected time period for a novel with this plot summary (at least it was unexpected for me). In fact, the beginning of the book makes most sense when you are actually finished reading the entire thing (but I won’t ruin why).

Soon we are taken to the lives of Maggie and Gwyn, the two female leads described in the plot summary above. Maggie is the younger fiancee, and Gwyn is the one in the middle of the divorce party. Chapters alternate back and forth between the two, describing both the impending marriage and divorce.

The book obviously deals a lot with love and the feelings and thoughts behind it. There are multiple, multiple profound statements made by Gwyn and Maggie towards the end of the book – many that I wanted to highlight and keep for later. That was probably my favorite part of the book – I didn’t necessarily connect instantly with either Maggie or Gwyn, but I did connect with the ideas about love and relationships, and I think that that makes this book successful. Emily Giffin’s quote about the book says “I love The Divorce Party for so many reasons. It is funny, absorbing, and heartwarming – like having a glass of wine with your most insightful friend.” Seems like an accurate description to me.

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