✨ Let’s Get Back to the Party ✨

Book Review 📖

✨First off, this cover is brilliant! It’s absolutely perfect for this impressive Debut book by Zak Salih... this book leaves a mark on your soul, and makes you crave more. 🙌🏼

✨LGBTTP takes place post-Obergefell. What I love about this book is that it focuses on what it means to be a gay man in modern society. It was refreshing to read a queer book that wasn’t centered around coming out, but instead the nuances and unique challenges in a world where the queer community can live more freely.

✨The book is written in dual POV, which is perfectly suited to explore the lens of Sebastian and Oscar... childhood friends whose lives are both intertwined and separate. I felt pulled in by the gravitational force of Sebastian and Oscar. Although they are living very different lives, they are both experiencing regrets, loss, grief, trauma and anger, but in different ways. I love the flawed characters in LGBTTP because they are human. The complexity of the queer community will always be one of my favorite aspects to be explored in a book. 💯

✨The book takes a few chapters to get situated and acquainted with the main characters. It’s a slow burn that really shines in the middle and leaves you with a sucker punch at the end. Although the pacing was uneven, I think overall it complemented the story.

✨I love reading books by debut authors. Zak Salih is a talented writer with beautiful prose. Fingers crossed for a sophomore novel soon! 🤞🏼

This book is powerful, but deals with very heavy topics. I highly recommend, but please read with care.

⚠️: animal death, suicide, depression

Let’s Get Back To The Party will release on February 16, 2021! 🍾 Thank you to Algonquin Books, the author and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review. ❤️

Shortly after the historic ruling on marriage equality, Sebastian Mote runs into his childhood friend, Oscar, at a wedding. It’s been nearly a decade since they’ve talked. Now in their thirties, the two men have a brief conversation. While Sebastian is lonely and sees this as an opportunity, Oscar has no interest in reconnecting.

Oscar is a gay man who sees all his friends marrying and becoming domestic as a death to the gay culture. He preferred when gay was seen as “different.” He is drawn into a friendship with an older writer who lived through the wild times of the disco years and the risky ‘80s, hoping to find some glimmer of the glory years.

Sebastian is a school teacher and he envies the teens that live out in the open, as he never did. He yearns for a life of normalcy, whatever that may be. But when he becomes fixated on one of the teens in his class, he and Oscar find their lives entangled again.

We hear from both Oscar and Sebastian, which allows Salih to gives us two different perspectives on how gay men might feel, living in today’s culture. Written with vivid candor; it’s hard not to become emotionally involved.
(TW: sexual scenes, homophobia)

Thank you to @algonquinbooks and @zakigrams for this advanced copy.
This book comes out on February 16, 2021.

I almost find it hard to talk about this book. Ultimately it was quite clear very early on that this was not going to be a title that I enjoyed. Part of that was simply how Sebastian's chapters were formatted and part of that was just the pacing at which things were told. I've never been a fan of narrative that just jump through time and this book does that at a couple different points and never to any kind of service to the characters? We always seem to rejoin them at similar points to where we left them and the skip doesn't seem tied to any kind of growth of the character or progression of the plot. The plot here seemingly being the dynamic between Oscar and Sebastian. Even that I felt was rather flat. I didn't seem to ever understand why Sebastian was holding these things against Oscar, particularly things that Oscar didn't seem to be in control over. And while their opposing personalites could have made for an interesting story they have so little to do with one another at points it felt odd that they were telling this story in alternating perspectives. The central "conflict" of the novel left me again scratching my head as Sebastian to be motivated by jealousy but also never seeming to reflect on his own actions that often felt parallel to the actions he was accusing Oscar of taking culminating in an ending to a book that just kind of exists and doesn't quite pack the punch I feel Salih was going for. Not quite the worst book I've read, but on that exists and for a certain subset of readers will enjoy, I just think the window of readership is simply too narrow to ever include me.

Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin for my copy of LET"S GET BACK TO THE PARTY in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately there were a few issues that I had with it overall.

I found Oscar and Sebastian very unlikeable characters. This usually doesn't affect me liking a book overall, but this combined with toxic and predatory behaviour was frustrating. Both of their "relationships" with Alexander, the minor, were so inappropriate! Even if there was no sexual exchange of any sort, the power dynamic in itself was so wrong. I feel like there was a slight realization that they shouldn't be corresponding with the minor, but it was brushed over. And there were no consequences for this behaviour.

That being said, I think the only thing preventing me from giving this book a one star was the discussion of preserving gay culture in the midst of gay marriage. I also liked the acknowledgement of the privilege it takes to come out to one's family, friends, and community.

This book was not for me, but I can definitely see how others would enjoy it.

As someone who doesn't read a lot of literary fiction but also as someone who lived in DC during the time when this book took place, whose roommates (only one of whom was queer) went to the gay clubs/bars on weekends, who cheered with her queer friends when marriage equality was affirmed by the Supreme Court, this book was an interesting blend.

I was driven ever so slightly crazy by the lack of quotation marks in Sebastian's sections. I felt the references to art history going way over my head. I found myself really aggressively judging both Oscar and Sebastian - for their childishness, for how close they got to weird and predatory. But it also got me thinking about what it means to be queer in America these days, with straight people infiltrating safe spaces (ie straight girls at the gay bars).

Watching these two men spiral completely out of control, especially at the end, felt... Strange. I felt like I needed more direction in their endings. All of that and it feels like they both ended up exactly where they started - except Oscar is maybe a bit less angry.

Honestly, my experience suffered because this just isn't the kind of book I normally read. I was looking for the kind of structure that a "genre" book would give me and I didn't get it. But that's a me problem, not the book's problem.

With clear voice, Zak Salih shows potential in his debut LET'S GET BACK TO THE PARTY, but inconsistent concepts and wildly unsavory principal characters sour its intriguing beginnings. Attempting to flush out a divide that exists in modern, young gay men, Salih does the most to draw Sebastian and Oscar's staunchly opposing gay-tenets in slapdash black and white. One looks forward, one looks back. One's on the apps, one isn't. One becomes fascinated with an older man, the other with a younger. It's rather dull, especially when they spend most of the novel repelled like mismatched magnet poles. To Salih's credit, the context of their relationship is original and could be compelling, but they aren't together long enough to ever truly find each other and figure it all out.

I appreciate the bold conceptual choices made here, but there are perhaps too many to execute any single one successfully. Correlating Sebastian's childhood with the art piece that triggers each memory, while fabulously conceived, goes absolutely nowhere. Each chapter is (too?) cleverly named for one of Sean Stokes' novels but only loosely (and unsophisticatedly) connects to its namesake's subject. The stakes, while sometimes provoking exciting beats, are rarely grounded in truth. And why create an alternative app in "Cruze," when it is so obviously just Grindr? It detracts from the circumstance of the novel, which is so specifically anchored between the very real LGBTQ+ hallmarks of 2015 and 2016: passing Marriage Equality, the election of Trump and the Pulse Nightclub attack.

I generally appreciate when authors push their readers to find empathy for unlikable protagonists, but I was particularly squicked out by how Arthur, at 17, was lusted after throughout the novel. The-underage-posing-as-of-age is a very real gay trope, but I'm not entirely sure why it is was a feature of this story. The teacher-student dynamic, which has been repeatedly used to weaponize the LGBTQ+ community, is thrown in somewhat haphazardly, and for no good purpose. It truly only makes Sebastian and Oscar that much more disgraceful (an impressive feat for Oscar in particular, who assaults a woman towards the beginning of the novel). Arthur could have easily been rewritten to be of-age, someone slightly younger, but still the contemporary of the two principal men, and served the exact same function.

It is obvious the Salih took some commendable risks but they ultimately eclipse the fruitful debate about whether the mainstream acceptance of queerness (especially as it pertains to marriage) has effectively neutered gay culture. I think there was great possibility here, but it unfortunately missed the mark.

Thank you to Algonquin Books for my copy in exchange for an honest review!

“This is the gayborhood, circa July 2016: caught between a mass murder and a presidential election.”

Let’s Get Back to The Party looks at what it means to be a gay man today by following the stories of two estranged childhood friends, Sebastian and Oscar, in the time between the landmark Supreme Court case legalizing same sex marriage and the Pulse nightclub shooting and lead up to the 2016 election. It was a fast read organized in a way that I never got bored with Oscar or Sebastian’s alternating chapters before it was time to switch again, and I truly enjoyed the author’s style. That said, neither Oscar nor Sebastian were likable characters and no secondary characters got enough of a build out to really have a full personality or be fully part of the book (even Sean Stokes, who has a large presence, felt under-developed to me, which was a shame as he was the most interesting character in the book), which is why I knocked off one star. As far as the theme, as a straight woman, I don’t think I’m the right audience to weigh in on whether it was handled well or not, but I get the sense that this will be an important novel for the LGBTQ canon. Overall I really enjoyed Let’s Get Back to the Party and am grateful to Algonquin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance in exchange for this honest opinion.

This book is interesting. It's about the way that culture and society continue to change around us. Some of that change is good, some not-so-good...and we have a way of thinking that change is unilaterally accepted. In fact, change isn't what every member of a group wants, needs, or acknowledges.

This is an interesting exploration of the way the world moves forward. Politics and correctness and norms continue to mold the way we function day today.

DNF @ 25%

The reason I did not finish this novel was not because of the subject matter, it's because the text was so difficult to follow. All the paragraphs were chopped up, and certain words were broken apart or misspelled. Very hard to comprehend the story when the text is so confusing to get through. Too bad because I had high hopes for this one. Guess I'll wait until the finished copy is released.

This is a thoughtful and well written story of two diverging paths of two friends too young to have experienced the AIDS crisis and too old to have grown up with complete acceptance. While more of a character study than truly plot driven book, it was an enjoyable read with rich details of real life happenings. Not many books have characters like this.

At one of many the first same sex marriages It is 201to follow 2015’s Supreme Court marriage equality ruling, childhood friends Oscar and Sebastian run into each other since an ill-fated evening on a college campus a decade earlier. When Let’s Get Back to the Party starts off, we find the two friends (who were once inseparable) at the same wedding, but with totally different life goals.

Sebastian is envious of the grooms. He wants is to settle down. His latest relationship has just ended and when we meet him, he’s still stinging from the breakup, extremely lonely and living in his father’s old house in the sleepy suburbs of D.C. While his love life is lacking, he is happy with his job as a high school art history teacher. And when he runs into Oscar, he sees a chance to rekindle their friendship now that they are both grown up, openly gay adults.

Oscar, on the other hand, is reluctantly at the wedding and spends the reception on his phone trying to set up a post reception hook up. Oscar is tired of attending weddings, tired of gay bars and drag shows (as he laments) being invaded by bachelorette parties and straight people and gay culture fading as more of his friends settle down and have babies.

He has no interest in reconnecting with Sebastian, he has no space in the fabulous life he’s leading of random hook up after hook ups, boozy bunches and evenings of bar hopping for a “boring” suburbanite like Sebastian.
As they go their separate ways after the wedding, Oscar (having been stood up by his post- reception hook up) meets and befriends an older gentleman at the bar – who turns out to be a prolific queer novelist and gay icon, one who fought at Stonewall and embraced his gay lifestyle long before most were “out”. Oscar becomes fascinated by him, and his ability to not hide who he is or his lifestyle.

Sebastian returns to his quiet suburban life, but he also gets drawn into a relationship but with someone of a different generation– one of his students. As the faculty member charge of his school’s LGBTQ club, he meets Arthur. He envies and is fascinated by Arthur’s ease to be himself, at an age Sebastian had to hide his sexuality. His fascination grows to a harrowing borderline of obsession that builds to a climactic event (and a shocking revelation involving Oscar).

Both men learn about themselves from their respective new friendships, which span three generations of gay men, from AIDS-era to today. Along the way, they find each other and friendship again but not without some major bumps and near-catastrophic lessons along the way.

THE FINAL WORD: I love when a book creates characters so vivid, I feel like I know them. Zak Silah has painted Oscar and Sebastian so well that I found myself getting irritated with them both as if they were my friends irl for some of their actions. I also found myself cheering for them. This is a very powerful and immersive story. Thank you #NetGallery and Algonquin for inviting me to read this book!

More of a 2.75⭐️

I think the main reason I didn’t jive with this book is because both characters are so unlikable and hard to root for.

This book centers around two gay men, Sebastian and Oscar, who were best friends during their childhood and keep bumping into each other during various points in their adult life.

Sebastian was always the more put together of the two, while Oscar was always a bit more of a loose canon. Sebastian is now a high school teacher, recently broken up with, and looking for love when he becomes weirdly obsessed with one of his students. Is it envy of an easier adolescence or is it something more? Oscar, on the other hand, has become obsessed with an author from the 70’s who vowed to live life one sexual conquest at a time, a vow Oscar is now taking on for himself. He’s also fed up with straight people taking over gay bars and gay spaces, and is just generally angsty and broody most of the time.

I can definitely see all the pros of this book. I think it really highlighted some of the struggles that gay men still face in the world today and struggles of the past too. I also really liked the alternating POV’s, both Sebastian and Oscar had such a clear voice and even a different writing style in each of their chapters that it was super easy to differentiate them and to really get to know them both individually.

However like I said earlier, I just truly despised both of these characters, Oscar especially. I know the whole point of the book was that he was angry at the world and Sebastian was just so sad and lonely, but I never found myself really enjoying the book for that reason even though they both have some character redemption arcs at the end.

I acknowledge that’s a Me Thing though and I’m sure there are plenty of people who will really appreciate this story.

Thank you to Algonquin Books for sending me a copy to review!

TW: suicide

I don't even know how to review this book. I am dumbstruck as to why I was approved this title.

I thought the premise of this book sounded incredible. I was so eager to read about modern gay life from the point of view of a gay man who has had good and bad experiences. But, what I am left feeling after reading this book is a mix of wonder and awe for the writing and disdain and bewilderment at the characters depicted in this book.

In Let's Get Back to the Party, we have Oscar and Sebastian, two gay men that were childhood friends, both unaware at the struggles and feelings the other was going through at that same time in their lives. Through the course of many years, we see them attempt to connect with one another again and again. Meanwhile, they are living their separate and very different lives.

Sebastian is an art history teacher who has befriended a gay teenager named Arthur, whom he forms a sort of obsession with. He watches this boy be utterly and completely true to himself and Sebastian feels a jealousy in that.

Oscar is a more jaded and angry man, sick of the straight populous infringing on what he thinks that gay men have conquered and taken for themselves. He makes a very meaningful friendship with an older gay author who writes primarily about sex and self discovery.

I can't really say that I liked either Sebastian or Oscar. I got a toxic vibe from both in their own ways, but I still wanted the best possible outcome for them both... even if it wasn't ultimately with each other. I enjoyed the progression of the story and the realistic nature of the writing, but I am still left wondering what possible benefit my critique could lend to this book.

Just after a Supreme Court decision makes same sex marriage legal across the U.S., two former friends living in DC grapple with what it means to be a gay man in a changing society. Both are lonely; one's loneliness leads him to drown in sadness, while the other's turns to rage.

This is definitely a thought-provoking read on the current state of gay male culture, and as a queer person living in DC, I really enjoyed the setting and local references. I think the protagonist's perspectives lacked some balance. Maybe a third perspective would have helped? But overall, this book starts an interesting dialogue that I would like to see continued.

As much as I did not like the writing and structure of Let's Get Back To The Party, I can see that author Zak Salih has hit the heart of the emotional needs of the gay men portrayed in the novel. He achieved a core purpose. Would only that he paid more attention to the writing and the misplaced paragraphs. Now, about that title...
Thanks, Netgalley, for the ARC.

This book is a poignant look at a couple of very different gay men who had been childhood friends. They both move awkwardly through their lives trying to decide who they are and where their communities are. The striking impact of the Pulse nightclub massacre impacts the end of this book, not directly but in the peripheral way that it affected everyone in the LGBTQ community at the time. Highly recommend..

As a gay man, this is the book I didn’t know that I needed. Let’s Get Back to the Party is unputdownable. Oscar is a familiar character, I know many men like him who long for a gay culture that is less mainstream/traditional/sterile. The author takes us on Oscar's journey along with his newfound friend Rich, an older author gentleman who has lived what Oscar thinks is the true “gay experience." What I loved most about this book is how diverse the LGBTQIA+ culture has become and how it continues to evolve. We are not all the same and have different desires, hopes and dreams for our lives. This book encourages gay desire and I think that is pretty awesome.

Pub Date: 16 Feb 2021
Book: 102/101
Star Rating: 5+

This book is everything that is great about gay fiction! I can’t wait to see more from Salih! Let’s Get Back to the Party is gripping and real and powerful and exactly the book needed in this world.

Hooooo, Lordy, I loved this book! It’s gripping and powerful, with characters that are fully realized. It captures so beautifully the shame and struggle of growing up different and the pain that comes from trying to run from your true self. The prose is lovely. I finished this book in one sitting (I couldn’t put it down!) and have been thinking about it since I read the final sentence.

Let’s Get Back to the Party by debut author Zak Salih isn’t a book I will soon forget. Sebastian and Oscar reconnect at a wedding on the heels of Supreme Court marriage equality ruling. Once the best of friends, Sebastian and Oscar have little in common as adults. Sebastian craves a life in the suburbs, marriage and stability. Oscar is repulsed by the idea of marriage and settling down. Their paths, albeit different, continue to intersect. Salih’s characters are so real and raw and are ultimately looking for what we are all looking for-connection and community. This book is one of the best of the year for me!