Most of the time when I’m reading a book, I don’t like to read a lot of other reviews. At least not until I write my own. Don’t get me wrong, I like reading book reviews (obviously) and I love chatting books with other readers, but most of the time I like the chance to formulate my own thoughts before hearing others’ opinions. Some books though, I can’t run fast enough to the internet to figure out just what the heck was going on.
The Cocktail Party was one such story. To be fair to T.S. Eliot, this is a play and is meant to be acted and seen on stage by actors. I can imagine that a lot of the nuance and characterization would be brought to life on stage in a way that doesn’t quite come across on the page.
(Fun fact: The Cocktail Party debuted at the Edinburgh Festival in 1949 and Alec Guiness played the role of Reilly.)
The story begins and ends with a cocktail party and there’s actually a good deal of humour in the interactions between the guests. Edward is the host and although he attempted to cancel the planned party after his wife Lavinia left him early that day, he was unable to get a hold of all of the guests. So he is stuck hosting a small scattering of guests and inventing a fictional aunt that Lavinia has suddenly been required to visit. There is a man at the party that none of them know, Edward assuming that Lavinia invited him. The mystery of the man only grows when he stays behind after the party and turns out to know more about Edward than one might have expected.
By the end of the book, the religious themes were obvious to me but not entirely clear. Reading a few articles and reviews of the play online helped clarify the conclusion and the full thoughtfulness of Eliot’s work became apparent. In the end, I do think going in blind was better as there is a confusion that I think Eliot intended. Edward himself doesn’t know who this man is or what’s going on and I think we’re supposed to feel the same.
In the end, it was definitely a story and idea that left me pondering a few things and I’d love the chance to see it acted out the way it was intended.
Karissa Reads Books 
I’m not sure I’ve ever understood T.S. Elliot, unless someone told me what to think, and that’s my least favorite kind of lit. I don’t know about Elliot, but other famous writers struggled mightily to get their most famous novel published because no one liked it. I always wonder how they got over the hump, and why, and why I still have to read them. Joyce and Melville are in this camp.
I’ve read and enjoyed Eliot’s poetry. I’m not sure his skill quite translates to a longer format like this one but I do feel like I’d have to see it on stage to really judge fairly.
This sounds like a fun read! I’m the exact same reviewer process as you. I avoid reading other reviews until I’ve formulated my own, because I don’t want to feel like I’m ‘copying’ someone else’s thoughts, those plagiarism units from English lit still plague me to this day. However, some books I’m so confused by, I head to google to help and see what others thought. Or, if I think a book is truly terrible (i.e. the new Chuck Palahniuk) I go to goodreads to make sure I’m not the only one who thought that. And I wasn’t!
Hahaha, I check reviews of books I don’t like too – probably because I like to be vindicated about my opinions!
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