The Guest List by Lucy Foley falls under the category of suspense and thriller. photo courtesy of Jess Daninhirsch
An exciting turn on vacation awakened the bookworm inside me.
When my mom and I traveled to Cabo San Lucas over the summer, our interests shifted completely. Rather than focusing on the beach and room service, we were only focused on turning the page. This was surprising for me because reading was never really a hobby that I took part in. Each year, my dad orders books for our family vacations – as if I was actually going to read them. However, this most recent summer, I decided that I would give The Guest List a try. When he gave me the book before the flight, I knew the author’s name was very familiar. I had been hearing positive things about Lucy Foley’s writing on social media, and this book specifically had earned an award from Reese’s Book Club, calling it a Goodreads Choice Awards Winner. While we sat in the airport, my mom told me that she was able to download The Guest List on her Kindle. That way, we could read the book together on the trip and debrief. Right off the bat, we were intrigued.
Each chapter of The Guest List follows a different character’s narrative. Books like these, such as One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus, tend to grab the reader’s attention more easily due to the deep connection with each individual character. Lucy Foley’s other novels, like The Paris Apartment and The Hunting Party, are written with the same technique of changing which character is the narrator. This writing style is known to enhance dramatic irony for the reader. Knowing each character’s thoughts, emotions, and actions can bring an interesting twist to any novel if the only person that knows the full story is the reader themselves. The beginning of The Guest List is actually an excerpt from a much later part of the book, which already intensifies the reader’s urge to keep reading. “The guests freeze. They stare at one another. They are suddenly afraid again.. They all knew what they were hearing. It is a scream of terror.”
After my mom and I read the very beginning of the book, we were curious. Knowing that this exact part would make more sense later into the book, we read with interest. Even after a three hour flight, I struggled to get my head out of the book. Our first “debrief” was after six chapters that followed the five main characters in the book. The first chapter, called “The Wedding Night” is the foreshadowing chapter, where the chapters that follow take place before the day of the wedding. In the story, Jules and Will are getting married in Cormorant Island at a Folly that is owned by Aoife and Freddy, the wedding planners. The first chapter assures the readers that something awful takes place on the night of the wedding, and this terror was caused by somebody on the wedding guest list. After getting to know each character through their personal chapters, my mom and I began to make predictions on what might happen on the night of the wedding. Fortunately for us, the truth of what really happened is very unexpected, and couldn’t be predicted by any reader, which is what makes The Guest List a valuable read.
Not only does The Guest List shift which character is speaking in each chapter, but the story continues to refer back to “The Wedding Night.” These parts of the story were never given with context, nor does the author tell you who was speaking or who was involved. That way, the book remains a mystery, but also brings more information to the reader as they get farther into the novel. In the end, each of the chapters make full sense. Each character is connected in their own way to one another, and Foley uses the most significant characters for her chapter titles, so that the realizations at the end bring the readers to more disbelief.
My mom and I spent our entire vacation reading this book and talking about it. We both felt satisfaction from the way the story turned out, which truly made our jaws drop. The story brought tears and a thrill to the both of us. My mom said, “It surprised me how much this book changed our trip. I was so relaxed and focused on the story! Reading together brought me excitement because it was truly so much fun to talk about the characters and plot as we kept reading. I enjoyed making predictions together as this story got more unbelievable.” The characters influenced us in an emotional way. Overall, I was able to bond with my mom during our family vacation, and we still look forward to finding time to read together. Not only did this bring laughter to the both of us, but it also encouraged me to read more often whenever I get the chance. If it wasn’t for our mom and daughter “book club,” then I wouldn’t even think to pick up a book as a choice. Foley’s way of writing is very memorable, and so my mom and I bought another book of hers – The Paris Apartment – for our flight back home.
