I almost stopped reading MANY ARE INVITED by Dennis Cuesta. I only finished because I wanted to know if the blurb was actually as misleading as it seemed....It is.

This book was sent to me by NetGalley. A book approved for everyone, they said, are you interested? The description of this one was personally interesting to me because of Y2K, which I remember clearly because of how stressed out everyone was! I said yes because of that connection, but Cuesta exploited that, because he never went beyond mentioning it.

The blurb claims this book is about the Y2K bug from the perspective of a couple programmers. I thought we would get a little jargon, maybe a couple of scenes of inaccessible code speak. Nope, none of it. This book is about Y2K the way my body is about my big toe--it barely touches it in a useful way.

The blurb also claims this book is about a house party. This party doesn't start until 60% of the way through the narrative though--before this, the plot is stuffed with various useless material. The narrator, Steve, and his work rival/buddy, John, sexually harangue and sometimes harass (since many of them are coworkers), every attractive woman they see (and they see many) for 100 pages. And the politics! Every male speaking character in this book has something to say to the other male speaking characters (which compose most of this book's cast) about atheists, abortion, poverty, and others, and they all seem to agree with each other, so of course, this presents the reader no challenge.

The blurb's big lure is that someone gets injured at this house party. But the injury doesn't appear to have a thing to do with what happened before the party scenes. Oh wait! The narrator was collecting some evidence *in the form of gossip* remember, so this does all loosely add up...to some complete garbage about how hot women are sluts who get abortions and murder weak-willed family men. Funniest ending ever? Whatever, I like irony.

Rating 1/2 a star rounded up for all the poor female characters in this book
Finished November 2022
Recommended to fans of memoirs about women

Thank you NetGalley, Celestial Eyes Press, and Mr. Cuesta for letting me read an ARC of this book.

Many Are Invited

By: Dennis Cuesta

Publish Date: 6 October 2022

Publisher: Celestial Eyes Press

General Fiction (Adult)/Literary Fiction

I would like to thank both Celestial Eyes Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Good Reads Synopsis:

A housewarming party ends in tragedy. . . Steve Galanos, a native Midwesterner, reflects on his time in and near Silicon Valley during the 1990s, a time when the two-digit year emerged as the Y2K problem, the burgeoning Internet fueled the expansion of the New Economy, the dot-com bubble created unseen prosperity and real estate frenzies. Yet it’s a housewarming party, held in late 1999, that affects him the most.

Book Review:

What do I want to say about this book. I gave it 3 stars because I thought the four main characters acted like high school children instead of the thirty something year old’s they are. It was a fast read which was nice and it did hold my attention.

I just couldn’t believe how the adults acted in this story. They always wanted to one up each other which led to the tragedy. I also didn’t like how the men would call attractive women Swedes and then give them a number.

What I did like about the book was the issue of Y2K. I remember the things that were predicted and what the workers were up against, so this was pretty spot on.

I really enjoyed this book! Even though I didn’t particularly like Steve, I did enjoy his inner dialogue and thoughts on things. I loved that the book was set in 1999 with Y2K as a big theme. I remember that time vividly and how worried everyone was! I don’t feel like the ending wrapped up too quickly. I think it was wrapped up ironically and perfect.
Thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for a digital review copy for my honest review.

Thanks Net Galley for the opportunity to review this title.

Steve Galanos and Josh Goetz meet and become "friends" in the 90s. Steve is jealous of John's success in business and in his personal life. This jealousy is mean to provide tension, but I found it petty and annoying. Over time the each become a couple - John and Mary, Steve and Lauren - and the group of friends is now a foursome. There is jealousy between Mary and Lauren as well.

When the story opens, we know that a tragic event has happened at a party. We get the backstory in flashbacks. I love a dual timeline story, particularly one in which we know something has happened in the "now" and get to delve into the why and how through the flashbacks. I enjoyed the time period of the 90s and the dot com era, as I was a young adult during that time. I am not sure how this would play with younger readers.

Sadly, a lot of the promise of this did not pay out for me. I found the characters unlikeable and annoying. There was nobody to root for, nobody for me to relate to. Not to be gender restrictive, but this also read very much like a "bro" book. Because of the unlikeable characters, the plot was not compelling.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this, and I hope it does well, but it wasn't a book for me.

I received a copy of Many Are Invited for review via Net Galley! Opinions are my own!


Many Are Invited is an interesting plot, that centers around a housewarming party, in the late 1990s (think: the Y2K scare). I had heard it was supposed to be a play on the Great Gatsby, but in “more current” times. That alone made me want to read it.

It was a VERY quick read, but nothing really connected with me. I didn’t love any of the characters, which makes it hard for me to love the book. Maybe it was the perspective? I’m no feminist, but it was a little heavy on the bro-speak/locker room style chat.

It’s 1994 in California and people are starting to consider what the year 2000 is going to do to all IT systems relying on the date. Since most IT coding was done with 19xx in mind, there weren’t too many systems ready to either take in the 20xx, or if they only used two digits to represent the year, the systems were most likely going to think New Year’s Day was going to take in the year 1900 (see the problem?). Steve meets John around this time, and even though he’s not fully convinced of the Y2K urgency, after some time working together Steve realizes he and John have a lot in common and they become good friends. At least until John leaves the company for a start up and hits it big when he’s able to cash out of his IPO stocks. It’s around that time that Steve starts to see more of John’s flaws, and the little green monster from the land of envy is born. I wasn’t sure about this book when I started reading it, but it definitely grew on me, especially since I worked on many of the Y2K projects in IT myself. There were a lot of twists and turns and the more I read, the more I liked the book. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough follow-thru for me in the ending since I found I had more questions than answers, which is not really how I like the books I read to finish.

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Holy Mother-of-Ramblers Batman. Literally almost no point to the first say 150/242 pages. All of the "thriller" action (and I'm using that term LOOSEly) happens in the last 40-50 pages. Even the author felt the need to explain the entire point near the end which also SPOILED THE CLIMAX.

This is a spoiler but it is SO OBVIOUS in hindsight. This is an over-aged extra moldy gorgonzola plot because it's a retelling of The Great Gatsby but Y2K instead of 1920s. If I understand the writing correctly (and remember GG correctly) this was also a fan-theory rewrite, not just a retelling. The author spends pages upon pages explaining Y2K and uses it as a continuous joke throughout the book where even his characters are tired of hearing about it. It does get some nostalgia points for me since I remember Y2K (first new years I had champagne xD) and it was a decent set up at the beginning for the characters. That being said, they were not at all likeable characters, almost all of them were terrible people.

The twist is half-hearted at best, I didn't see it coming because it was the most unrealistic untwist that could have happened in my opinion. The obvious one would have been better. Oh, and there's an extra unfunny Y2K joke thrown in last minute like the author forgot he should tie the first half of the book to the second half. Then the book just ends. There's no actual conclusion it's literally just a phone call that ends.

The only people I think who may like this are fans of The Great Gatsby and even then, I don't think they'd enjoy it either.

This is my sign not to bother with reading every e-arc netgalley sends me...nothing about this story was enjoyable for me.

I thought it was going to a different book from the description and tried to like it but I could not.
I didn't like the main character; I could not sympathize with him or find some kind of connection and the end too left me disappointed.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Quick read. This book started out promising, with an interesting mystery setup and details slowly revealed. The narrator is somewhat unsympathetic, and at times motif, a concept that should have been played with more. However, the plot ended up being unsatisfying to digest. This could be because the chapters spent more time with moving the story along, rather than allowing for emotional connections to the characters. We did not get character depth, which might have made this a better short story than a novel. As such, the book felt both too long and too short at the same time. I was left thinking "ok so what?" at the end.

This has been sitting there looking at me, waiting to be read, but I just can't get into it. I found I am just not interested in the premise and was hoping to be more interested. Thank you for the opportunity, but this one wasn't for me.

I'm not sure if I was the right reader for this book.
It was ok but wasn't quite what I expected.
I really liked Mary, though!

This book was not what I expected and not really my " cup of tea" I did read entire book but never really got invested into it. I think writing and plot fine if your thing just not really mine. Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC and opertunity to read it and find out. This was my honest opinion and hope you love it.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. A housewarming party in 1999 takes an unexpected, tragic turn. I thought it dragged a bunch especially while talking about Y2K.

Steve and John have been frenemies since they met at work. John’s proposal lands him a promotion and Steve grows resentful. Eventually John leaves the company and meets and marries Mary. Steve developed a relationship with Mary roommate Lauren and the couples hang out frequently.

There’s definite tension and resentment within the group and all of the secrets and lies come out during John and Mary’s housewarming party.

Many Are Invited is available now.

Thank you to netgalley and celestialeyespress for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

"Many Are Invited" by Dennis Cuesta is one of those novels that is more art than entertainment. Though I enjoyed reading it, and loved the parallels to my favorite classic, "The Great Gatsby," it's a very character driven book and not much happens until the end. All of the characters are simply awful people. This is a short, though smart, read and I finished it in just one afternoon.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Did not like. I couldn't get past the first few pages. I didn't like the writing style at all, Nothing intrigued me to continue reading. Will try again later.

Having lived during the hectic era of the 90's and the dot com bubble, this was a well written re-telling of the era and I enjoyed the quick pace and the focus on friendships and the actions we take within our relationships. I found the characters well developed and the novel was quite accurate in terms of the time..

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me access to an early copy of the book, this is my unbiased review.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of this book.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Publishes 10.06.22

Summary:

Review: Many Are Invited is kind of like the Y2K version of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. I just kind of liked Faulkner’s more.

I’m not sure if we’re supposed to like any of the characters in Cuesta’s book. The narrator/main character, Steve, is jealous and petty. His best friend and the women the two surround themselves with are very much the same. No one is happy for anyone else’s success, and, ultimately, it’s their inability to reconcile their flaws, stop lying, and establish healthier relationships that leads to their downfall.

Cuesta is a good writer. He had a genuinely interesting premise, the characters were three-dimensional, and it was a quick and easy read. The only cons throughout were the unlikeable characters, consistent “locker room” talk, Steve’s pettiness, and the rushed ending.

We spend so much time reading about Y2K, what companies needed to do to prep for it, and Steve’s jealousy of, and petty revenge towards, his (seemingly only) friend, John, that when we finally get to what happened at the party it feels almost like a quick “and this happened.” But leading up to all of that were genuine moments of excellent foreshadowing and dramatic irony. The insight to certain characters created a clever tie to aspects of the climax that I loved. I just wished those nuances had more time to shine when we got to the party scene.

The party scene, though. By the time we see what’s going to happen, we know how each character is going to react and it’s beautifully crafted. There’s drama, irony, and general dysfunction that worked, and would have been awesome to see less condensed.

Overall, I don’t think I’d recommend this one.

Special thanks to Celestial Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Gosh I'm having a bad streak. Probably my fault for picking a book about technology. I hardly knew the jargon and had to skip some parts because I'm 50 not 20, and was lost in a technological K-hole.

This book is about one man's narration of a party that he went to in December 1999, with Y2k looming ahead and the world changing on 1/1/2000, that never came to be.

I did like the writing style but the chapters were short and Steve, the narrator being envious of his old partner's success. I couldn't relate at all, to the characters or the plot.

Wanted to love this book but it felt slow right into the end. I wish we would’ve been able to see more of John and Mary’s relationship as well as what Mary decided to do after the end of the book.