Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake is a dark and funny horror story following Dr. Sloane Hartley, a sociology professor going back to work after having a child, and Nina Kaur, a sophomore rushing for the sorority of her dreams. Nina and Sloane are both trying to navigate their world and get themselves some power, and they find themselves entangled with The House.
The House is an all-too-successful sorority full of women in high places. Turns out, the women of the house are not successful by luck but because of a carefully crafted ritual that lets them sink their teeth in and eat a piece of the not-so-metaphorical pie.
Girl Dinner has an interesting concept, and based on the writing style, I would be willing to try Olivie Blake’s other books. But a slow-burn thriller is an oxymoron on its own, and it just didn’t work for me. It read more like a scholarly paper and opinion article than a novel. 😔
Read our full ARC review of Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake below.
Girl Dinner
Description
Good girls deserve a treat.
Every member of The House, the most exclusive sorority on campus, and all its alumni, are beautiful, high-achieving, and universally respected.
After a freshman year she would rather forget, sophomore Nina Kaur knows being one of the chosen few accepted into The House is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Once she’s taken into their fold, the House will surely ease her fears of failure and protect her from those who see a young woman on her own as easy prey.
Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion to support her partner’s new position at the cutthroat University. After 18 months at home with her newborn daughter, Sloane’s clothes don’t fit right, her girl-dad husband isn’t as present as he thinks he is, and even the few hours a day she’s apart from her child fill her psyche with paralyzing ennui. When invited to be The House’s academic liaison, Sloane enviously drinks in the way the alumnae seem to have it all, achieving a level of collective perfection that Sloane so desperately craves.
As Nina and Sloane each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs. And when they are finally invited to the table, they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power.
Tropes
- Dark Academia
- Horror
- Thriller
- Satire
Review
Overall Impressions 😊
Given that it was advertised as horror and satire, I expected to find Girl Dinner to be darkly whimsical, kind of like Santa Clarita Diet. I thought we would be reading about women eating men in literal rituals like American Horror Story with a humorous twist because it’s a bunch of college girls. That satire and horror would definitely hit a spot with me. But that’s not what I got.
First of all, until about 60% of the book, other than Sloane and Nina introspecting about the unfairness of the world, nothing happens. There’s nothing wrong with writing a book with opinions, but I feel like in a work of fiction, it should be more subtle than just chapters and chapters of self-reflecting.
That being said, I enjoyed some of the satirical elements and some of the dark sense of humor, I just wished it was more dominant in the book rather than just being an afterthought.
Same with the story, I wanted to be more invested in who the meal would be, and yet I couldn’t get invested because of the literal sociology essay this book seems to be. 🙁
Perfect For Fans Of… 🌟
If you’re looking for books with satire and dark humor, this book isn’t for you. However, if you enjoy reading about deep commentary on society, you might find the setting appealing.
Characters 👥
I really liked both Sloane and Nina as characters. Something about two very different women, strong women, who are smart, funny, driven and ambitious is very interesting to read. I connected with both Sloane’s internal turmoil about leaving her toddler to go to work and Nina’s desire to belong and blossom.
The side characters were somewhat cliches, Fawn as the sorority Barbie, Max as the cliche professor. Carolina, Alex, Arya, Dalil, and Jasleen fit very well in their respected thriller roles. That’s why I was hoping to read the satire rather than the opinion piece, so the characters were definitely one of the better parts of this story.
Plot 🗺️
The plot didn’t come quite together, or maybe it just went over my head. The pacing felt really off, with the first 60% being almost entirely introspection + worldbuilding(?). Unfortunately, some of the beats of the plot were huge clichés, although I enjoyed some of the modern elements.
The twist in the ending was unexpected, but I was so frustrated by how much of an opinion piece the story was and so different than what I expected, I couldn’t really get into it. It’s very character driven, and it asks (and tries to answer) some questions about our society, but I wish the satirical elements were more subtle.
Writing Style and Narration ✍️
So the writing style is my most and least favorite parts of this story. I loved Olivie Blake’s prose and writing style. You can tell she’s witty, smart, and clever. But for this being a satire, I wish she took that much further than she did. It was so much convoluted introspection for 250+ pages that it just couldn’t hold my attention. I wish some of the funnier bits about the satirical nature of being an adult woman were more prominent in the book and much, much less commentary.
Spicy Chapters
How Spicy is Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake): 🌶️🌶️
Consume responsibly, best paired with existential dread 🍷🥖
So overall, I loved the characters and really liked Olivie Blake’s prose. I liked the promised plot, a satirical horror book, but it was not what I received. I can see the hints of it are there, but at some point it definitely strayed too far into commentary/opinion piece territory that it made me feel like I was just reading a paper. So much potential, just that it didn’t deliver unfortunately.
Would I pick up another book by the author? Absolutely, but I think I would want to see some reviews first to see if some of the monologues, introspection, and commentary are present. Nothing wrong with enjoying some of the more on-the-nose opinions, I just don’t want to pick up a satirical horror book with that intention!
Did you read Girl Dinner? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
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