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I'm closing in on around the 60% mark and I have a good amount of free time this weekend.
I still sometimes get a feeling as if the story is almost too colourful but I'm enjoying it nevertheless. I do feel once the story went to the boarding school days that the descriptions became more confident.
One issue I may have - and this depends on how the rest of the story and revelations play out - is Martin's sexuality. I feel, at least in the beginning, that it's handled in a somewhat outdated and hushed manner that I'm not sure if I buy for such a person in 2015 England. This will depend on what I find out about Martin and Lucy through the rest of the book, but in today's society I just have a hard time buying that such a young smart woman as Lucy would blindly believe Martin to be straight until the sudden epiphany she has that he loved Ben, or that there would have been no gossip or wondering around the office about his preferred type of partner. This also extends to Martin's boarding school- that he was teased, but not for possibly being gay despite being described as effeminate, doesn't seem realistic. Just, sexuality in general being so undiscussed at any of these locations seems odd.
However, I do wonder about some aspects of the narration being unreliable or not fully disclosed so I'm saving judgment until the end. This is especially in regard to Martin, who's not a normal chap regardless of sexuality, although Lucy being the more 'normal' one makes me wonder what else she may be hiding.
One funny thing to me so far is how little of the party has been seen, lol. I was expecting the book to be a tightly narrated account of one night but it's turned out to be mostly flashbacks to prior events all leading up to it, and the party is only now getting started.
Whoever compared this to The Talented Mr. Ripley and Brideshead Revisited were spot on. The story is different but it's almost like Day took direct inspiration from both those to create this, especially Ripley.
As for guesses as to what may be hidden, my first is regarding Lucy's miscarriage. I suspect it wasn't accidental. Either that Martin secretly gave her something to induce a miscarriage, or that she decided to induce one herself to keep Martin.
Finally, I really didn't think of this until well into the book, but (at the risk of giving away my age) I turned 40 in October and I can't believe I didn't realise sooner the coincidence in that I'm reading a book about a 40th birthday party.
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