The Last Book Party Audiobook By Karen Dukess cover art

The Last Book Party

A Novel

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The Last Book Party

By: Karen Dukess
Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
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A propulsive tale of ambition and romance, set in the publishing world of 1980s New York and the timeless beaches of Cape Cod.

In the summer of 1987, 25-year-old Eve Rosen is an aspiring writer languishing in a low-level assistant job, unable to shake the shadow of growing up with her brilliant brother. With her professional ambitions floundering, Eve jumps at the chance to attend an early summer gathering at the Cape Cod home of famed New Yorker writer Henry Grey and his poet wife, Tillie. Dazzled by the guests and her burgeoning crush on the hosts’ artistic son, Eve lands a new job as Henry Grey’s research assistant and an invitation to Henry and Tillie’s exclusive and famed "Book Party" - where attendees dress as literary characters. But by the night of the party, Eve discovers uncomfortable truths about her summer entanglements and understands that the literary world she so desperately wanted to be a part of is not at all what it seems.

A coming-of-age story, written with a lyrical sense of place and a profound appreciation for the sustaining power of books, The Last Book Party reveals what happens when youth and experience collide and what it takes to find your own voice.

©2019 Karen Dukess (P)2019 Macmillan Audio Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Women's Fiction New York

Editor's Pick

It’s good to be invited, right?
"There’s a communal voyeurism we like to indulge, looking into the lives of the rich and famous to be reassured that theirs is just as—or even more—messy as ours. It’s why we love the The Great Gatsby or Crazy Rich Asians. But it’s a literary focus on that endeavor that makes Karen Dukess’s debut, The Last Book Party, summer listen catnip for bookish nerds like us, with its engaging, almost wistful, narration by Jesse Vilinsky. When young aspiring writer Eve Rosen enters the literati world of New Yorker writer Henry Grey and his poet wife Tillie, everything seems within her reach, but over the course of this summer coming-of-age tale, she finds out what we all know: There’s always more to the story."
—Abby W., Audible Editor

All stars
Most relevant  
Every enjoyable. The writing was good, excellent discriptions of Truro and vivid characters. At first, I found the narration a bit off-putting, but the narrator really gave each character a distinctive voice, and redeemed the early negative impression. I liked this a lot.

Like a summer vacation in Truro

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The is a nice little story with some rather surprising turns, though the plot moved so quickly as to be a bit thin and unevenly fleshed out. The narration, however, was quite a distraction, making me wish I was reading rather than listening. In shorter sentences, the reader's pronunciation of words became clipped toward the end of the sentences, making it sound a bit like Siri at times. I normally don't notice the narration much at all (the mark of a great narrator?). In this, I became distracted initially by a very odd and repeated pronunciation of the town of Truro, which emphasized the second syllable. There were a few other instances of seemingly odd pronunciations, and because Truro is referenced constantly, I actually became angry at this seeming oversight. If it was intentional for whatever reason, it was a bad decision.

Great story, distracting narration

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I really enjoyed the book and the development of the characters. But it left me feeling the autjhor either got board and decided to endit abruptly or it was the first book in a series. It certainly left we wanting to know what happend to the various charaters.

Left Me Wanting More

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The characters were not interesting and nothing was happening an hour and a half in, so I found it tedious and quit.

I had to DNF this out of boredom

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What a waste of time and money. Not a single likable character and boring story line

Don't bother

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