Let’s Get Back to the Party is the story of Sebastian Mote, a 30 year old professor who is single and envies his students that can live so freely. After meeting his old childhood friend, Oscar Burnham, he discovers the current gay culture and how, as they both get older, see the ever-changing world. I did not finish Let’s Get Back to the Party, stopping at
Book: Let’s Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: February 16, 2021
(Thank you NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review)
**Happy Release Day!**
Tags: Adult, LGBTQ+
Links: Goodreads | Ebook | Paperback | Hardback | Audio
Read: February 13, 2021 to February 16, 2021
What Does It Mean to Be a Gay Man Today?
It’s just weeks after the historic Supreme Court marriage equality ruling, and all Sebastian Mote wants is to settle down. A high school art history teacher, newly single and desperately lonely, he envies his queer students their freedom to live openly the youth he lost to fear and shame.
So when he runs into his childhood friend Oscar Burnham at a wedding in Washington, D.C., he can’t help but see it as a second chance. Now thirty-five, the men haven’t seen each other in a decade. But Oscar has no interest in their shared history. Instead, he’s outraged by what he sees as the death of gay culture: bars overrun with bachelorette parties; friends getting married, having babies.
While Oscar and Sebastian struggle to find their place in a rapidly changing world, each is drawn into a cross-generational friendship that treads the line between envy and obsession: Sebastian with one of his students and Oscar with an older icon of the AIDS era. And as they collide again and again, both men must come reckon not just with one another, but with themselves.
Rich with sharply drawn characters and contemporary detail, provocative, and emotionally profound, Let’s Get Back to the Party is sure to appeal to readers of Garth Greenwell, Alan Hollinghurst, Claire Messud, and Rebecca Makkai.
Spoiler Free Review
Let’s Get Back to the Party is the story of Sebastian Mote, a 30 year old professor who is single and envies his students that can live so freely. After meeting his old childhood friend, Oscar Burnham, he discovers the current gay culture and how, as they both get older, see the ever-changing world.
I did not finish Let’s Get Back to the Party, stopping at 32%. I had been interested in Let’s Get Back to the Party when first hearing about this but I found that it wasn’t very plot strong and fell quite flat while reading. The plot felt rather simple, nothing really grabbing my attention. It felt like I was forcing myself to push through this book but nothing really interested me while reading this.
The characters seemed rather basic, their actions were lacking and it seems that they were the stereotypical cliche gay men that you hear about. While I would not know how gay men act, it just seemed like it was forced and it did not seem to work into the story.
I hope you guys have a great day, please like and comment down below if you enjoyed this book as well or if you plan on reading it!
Loves,
Veronica Chen