The Party Upstairs: A Novel
(OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen)
Description
An electrifying debut novel that unfolds in the course of a single day inside one genteel New York City apartment building, as tensions between the building's super and his grown-up daughter spark a crisis that will, by day's end, change everything.
Ruby has a strange relationship to privilege. She grew up the super's daughter in the basement of an Upper West Side co-op that gets more gentrified with each passing year. Though not economically privileged herself, her close childhood friendship with Caroline, the daughter of affluent tenants, and the mere fact of living in such a wealthy neighborhood, close to her beloved Natural History Museum, brought her certain advantages, even expectations. Naturally Ruby followed her dreams and took out loans to attend a prestigious small liberal arts college and explore her interest in art. But now, out of school for a while, she is no closer to her dream job, or anything resembling it, and she's been forced by circumstances to do the last thing she wanted to do: move back in with her parents, back into the basement. And Caroline is throwing one of her parties tonight, in her father's glorious penthouse apartment, a party Ruby looks forward to and dreads in equal measure.
With a thriller's narrative control, The Party Upstairs distills worlds of wisdom about families, great expectations, and the hidden violence of class into the gripping, darkly witty story of a single fateful day inside the Manhattan co-op Ruby calls home. Told from the alternating points of view of Ruby and her father, the novel builds from the spark of an early morning argument between them to the ultimate conflagration to which it leads by day's end. By the time the ashes have cooled, the façade that masks the building's power structure will have burned away, and no party will be left unscathed.
Ruby has a strange relationship to privilege. She grew up the super's daughter in the basement of an Upper West Side co-op that gets more gentrified with each passing year. Though not economically privileged herself, her close childhood friendship with Caroline, the daughter of affluent tenants, and the mere fact of living in such a wealthy neighborhood, close to her beloved Natural History Museum, brought her certain advantages, even expectations. Naturally Ruby followed her dreams and took out loans to attend a prestigious small liberal arts college and explore her interest in art. But now, out of school for a while, she is no closer to her dream job, or anything resembling it, and she's been forced by circumstances to do the last thing she wanted to do: move back in with her parents, back into the basement. And Caroline is throwing one of her parties tonight, in her father's glorious penthouse apartment, a party Ruby looks forward to and dreads in equal measure.
With a thriller's narrative control, The Party Upstairs distills worlds of wisdom about families, great expectations, and the hidden violence of class into the gripping, darkly witty story of a single fateful day inside the Manhattan co-op Ruby calls home. Told from the alternating points of view of Ruby and her father, the novel builds from the spark of an early morning argument between them to the ultimate conflagration to which it leads by day's end. By the time the ashes have cooled, the façade that masks the building's power structure will have burned away, and no party will be left unscathed.
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Format:
OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen
Edition:
Unabridged
Street Date:
07/07/2020
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780593210925
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)
Lee Conell. (2020). The Party Upstairs: A Novel. Unabridged Books on Tape.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Lee Conell. 2020. The Party Upstairs: A Novel. Books on Tape.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Lee Conell, The Party Upstairs: A Novel. Books on Tape, 2020.
MLA Citation (style guide)Lee Conell. The Party Upstairs: A Novel. Unabridged Books on Tape, 2020.
Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 5 | 5 |
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
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Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jul 03, 2020 17:25:08
Date Updated:
Dec 09, 2020 21:00:27
Last Metadata Check:
Apr 21, 2024 14:38:12
Last Metadata Change:
Mar 03, 2024 14:00:00
Last Availability Check:
Apr 21, 2024 14:38:15
Last Availability Change:
Apr 13, 2024 10:42:01
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Apr 24, 2024 02:13:21
OverDrive Product Record
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- An electrifying debut novel that unfolds in the course of a single day inside one genteel New York City apartment building, as tensions between the building's super and his grown-up daughter spark a crisis that will, by day's end, change everything.
Ruby has a strange relationship to privilege. She grew up the super's daughter in the basement of an Upper West Side co-op that gets more gentrified with each passing year. Though not economically privileged herself, her close childhood friendship with Caroline, the daughter of affluent tenants, and the mere fact of living in such a wealthy neighborhood, close to her beloved Natural History Museum, brought her certain advantages, even expectations. Naturally Ruby followed her dreams and took out loans to attend a prestigious small liberal arts college and explore her interest in art. But now, out of school for a while, she is no closer to her dream job, or anything resembling it, and she's been forced by circumstances to do the last thing she wanted to do: move back in with her parents, back into the basement. And Caroline is throwing one of her parties tonight, in her father's glorious penthouse apartment, a party Ruby looks forward to and dreads in equal measure.
With a thriller's narrative control, The Party Upstairs distills worlds of wisdom about families, great expectations, and the hidden violence of class into the gripping, darkly witty story of a single fateful day inside the Manhattan co-op Ruby calls home. Told from the alternating points of view of Ruby and her father, the novel builds from the spark of an early morning argument between them to the ultimate conflagration to which it leads by day's end. By the time the ashes have cooled, the façade that masks the building's power structure will have burned away, and no party will be left unscathed. - reviews
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Starred review from March 9, 2020
Conell’s smashing debut creates a vivacious microcosm of life inside a tony Manhattan co-op building, where middle-aged Martin, the super, lives with his wife and daughter, Ruby, in the basement. Ruby, 24, moves back in with her parents after her art history degree fails to land her a job, and John, her boyfriend, breaks up with her. Ruby was raised in the building along with her best friend, Caroline, whose wealthy family lives in the penthouse. As children, the girls played games like “Holocaust-orphans-sisters-survivors,” and didn’t notice the differences in their social classes. They remained best friends as they got older despite Ruby’s growing discomfort over Caroline’s economic advantages, a conflict mirrored in the tension shown in flashbacks with Ruby and John, whom she saw as a “rich boy with family money who displayed his paltry do-gooder paycheck as a badge of integrity.” Ruby now aspires to build a diorama of her building and its residents for the Museum of Natural History. Meanwhile, memories of Lily, an eccentric and beloved neighbor, haunt Martin after he finds her dead in her apartment. Lily speaks to Martin vividly and torments the already anxious super. The story culminates at a party in the penthouse, where Ruby’s recent disdain for her friend pushes her to an act that changes the course of all their lives. Conell’s talent for storytelling, wicked sense of humor, and compassion for her characters will leave readers eager for her next book.
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Ruby has a strange relationship to privilege. She grew up the super's daughter in the basement of an Upper West Side co-op that gets more gentrified with each passing year. Though not economically privileged herself, her close childhood friendship with Caroline, the daughter of affluent tenants, and the mere fact of living in such a wealthy neighborhood, close to her beloved Natural History Museum, brought her certain advantages, even expectations. Naturally Ruby followed her dreams and took out loans to attend a prestigious small liberal arts college and explore her interest in art. But now, out of school for a while, she is no closer to her dream job, or anything resembling it, and she's been forced by circumstances to do... - sortTitle
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