Party

By: Tom Leveen

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Anthony Bowden, Kevin Free, Kevin T. Collins, Suzy Jackson, Josh Hurley, Fred Berman, Stephen Dexter, Vikas Adam

It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and it seems like everyone is headed to the same destination. The reason is simple: To celebrate the end of school. But for eleven different people the motives are bit more complicated - to be noticed, to hook up, to make friends, to numb the pain, to get over an ex, to say goodbye. As each character takes a turn and tells his/her story, the eleven individuals intersect, reconnect, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming. Combine the poignancy of Thirteen Reasons Why with the energy of films like American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, and Sixteen Candles and you get Party - a sneak peek into the lives of contemporary teens over the course of a single night. Alternating points of view and the timeless setting of an end-of-school party make this a compelling listen. Those who download it cannot stop listening.

Narrated by:

• Oliver Wyman
• Anthony Bowden
• Simone Tetrault
• Kevin Free
• Kevin T. Collins
• Suzy Jackson
• Josh Hurley
• Fred Berman
• Stephen Dexter
• Vikas Adam
• Alicia Harding

©2010 Tom Leveen (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Well Handled and Enjoyable

I grew up in the 90s so I'm a sucker for teen party movies. You know the ones that always take place on the last night of school where the geek gets the cheerleader, the jock gets humiliated and the quirky girl finds her perfect quirky guy?

Well I picked up The Party expecting something along those lines but The Party wasn't a raucous teen comedy throw-back though.

Instead we meet a diverse group of teenagers dealing with issues like death, religious conflict and racism. The conflicts are modern, fresh and well handled. There are no easy fixes for the wide social, financial and political barriers isolating our characters and the author doesn’t undercut the fact.

The characters were deftly drawn, the stories interwoven smoothly and the brought to life by the full cast recording.

The Party wasn’t a wild rager, it was an intimate gathering and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different in YA.

A great YA novel by Tom Leveen!

Someone already mentioned this as the breakfast club for the 200’s generation and that is a great description of the feel of this book. But there is so much more depth to the characters, the intertwining of the story and the resolution of the issues many teenagers face and need to work out with each other. A fantastic read I would easily recommend!

Can't Hardly Wait... Of this decade

Any additional comments?

Not bad. I actually liked how each perspective was so clear and their thoughts made their actions so understandable.

Surprisingly Heartfelt, Interesting, and Inspiring

I guess it is kind of like a Breakfast Club story for this generation. It takes place all in one day, but from each character's perspective, without going backwards in time, so that made for a fast paced read. All the main characters seemed to have a great deal of depth to them, even though on the surface you think that they will be completely shallow. My only small compliant would be that there should have been extra follow-up with a couple of the character's, as one was let off the hook a bit too easy, with too quick of a wrap up of that particular story line. Overall, I couldn't stop listening. The readers were all fantastic. I hope there is more like this to come from this author in the future!