The Feast: the perfect staycation summer read

The Feast—aptly named—will remind you of Agatha Christie. Its setting: a small inn on the Cornish coast; looming behind it, huge, picturesque cliffs. Several families are in residence; some bring their children, and all, including the innkeeper and his family, are accompanied by their individual griefs, grudges, and obsessions. But instead of a murder, a natural disaster occurs. We learn in the first chapter that a section of cliff has collapsed, burying the hotel and everyone inside. Some have managed to survive, but we don’t know who. The rest of the novel tells the story of the week prior to the disaster. We soon begin to have favorites among the guests, hoping for their survival. Others we’d like to see buried under the cliff! Only at the end of the book do we learn who has managed to survive and how. This is a book with a gripping plot and skillfully developed characters, and it will leave you with plenty to chew over and reflect on after it ends. The Feast was one of my favorite reads of the summer and it ranks as one of my “best ever!” books.

The plot of the novel "The Feast" has been described by others here, so I would just add that this is a modern take on the many historical morality plays--many characters (some of whom are just awful people, and others who surprise the reader in a good way), and intertwining stories all playing out to a disaster (or spiritual justice, depending upon your perspective) that the reader knows is coming from the first pages. A good read!

Allegory of good and evil; prods the reader to root for the innocent and good.It is not nice to say, "Good" when a cliff collapses on people, but hey the author kind of made me do it. :)

The Feast by Margaret Kennedy is an intelligent, literary novel being re-release by McNally Editions. Originally published in 1949, this very highly recommended novel is a morality play covering the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. Set at the Pendizack Manor Hotel at the seaside in Cornwall in the summer of 1947, readers will know from the start that a cliff will destroy the the hotel and only sixteen survive the collapse. Before we know who survives, we are introduced to the guests, the family that runs the inn and their staff.As a character driven novel, The Feast excels as both a character study and a morality story. The focus is on the characters, their actions, integrity, and true nature. It is a pleasure to read and discover such a delightful, thoughtful, and memorable novel. It is quite clear why The Feast was re-released for a new generation of readers. This would be a perfect summer vacation read.Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of McNally Editions via Edleweiss.

If you look at the dust jacket you'll see a small hotel at the base of a huge cliff. The cliff has been undermined by an errant mine that washed into a cave at its base and exploded. No ill effects are noted for some time. But then cracks appear at the top edge of the cliff and they get wider..and wider...a note is sent to the owners of the hotel urging them to abandon the building for safety but the letter goes unopened in a pile of correspondence and rubbish...Meanwhile, life goes on in the little hotel. There's the petty squabblers,the mopers, the heroes, the innocents as well as the seriously deranged "monsters" and even a love interest or two. Margaret Kennedy develops characters with such depth of insight into the human psyche that I felt that if she was sitting in a room with me she could pick my brain apart and tell me a thing or two.Such an unusual but fascinating book. The only other book I've read similar in style to this is Dorothy Evelyn Smith's The Lovely Day, a book where no one character steals the show but every member of the village is given a slice of the story.Well worth a read!CONTENT:SEX: None shown to readerVIOLENCE: NonePROFANITY: Very MildMY RATING: G

I think people have covered why this book is so interesting. I picked it up at a library sale and when I finally got around to reading it I was simply entranced. Good and evil people, mediocre people, morals being tested all set in a lovely location in a small hotel on the edge of the ocean with a gloomy cliff looming over it all.I've read it several times throughout the years and have learned things about my own character each time. Some of the people I don't like and some I love. Give it a chance, suspend today's world and feel like what it must have felt like staying at an intimate hotel. I'll bet you'll end up loving it!

My copy of "The Feast" is inscribed with my maiden name; which proves I first read it more than sixty-five years ago. I loved it then and now am finally re-reading it. It's better than ever ! Although "The Feast" has several sub-plot lines, it is actually a most remarkable character study with dialogue. Bad people have successes and failures and get their just deserts. Good people have their good moments and bad moments and are finally rewarded. If there is any caveat, it just that it was written during England's post-war Age of Austerity. Some modern day readers could be baffled by one or two of the several sub-plots There is no secret about the main plot or the final outcome. It is revealed in the opening chapter. But Kennedy's progression toward the great judgement day and the justification for the ending is so beautifully done, with such poignant characters and with laughs and tears and moments of reader's disgust that one feels a tull part of the story from beginning to end. Briefly, it is set in a deteriorating seaside hotel. We long for justice for nearly twenty briliantly-portrayed guests and members of staff and feel rewarded at the end. (The only other novel to which I can remember awarding five stars is William Golding's "Edmund Talbot trilogy"

I've read quite a few fast paced heavy books recently, so I picked up #thefeast by Margaret Kennedy thinking that it would be a gentle, easy going and light-hearted read. I actually got a shock when it was quite a big darker than I had expected.Set in the Summer of 1947 in sunny Cornwall, the book opens with a bang... quite literally! The hotel Pendizack Manor is hit by continuous rubble and rock from a collapsed cliff and people are buried inside it. Some guests live and some die, but are the survivors the ones who deserved to live?Seven Deadly Sins are represented by seven guests at the hotel. As the story unfolds you discover which guest represents which sin. Now there is humour in this book and the clashes of personality and opinions between guests and staff are quite hilarious at times. I instantly disliked Mrs. Cove, a guest who was utterly deplorable.

The introduction (full of spoilers, as they often are) points out that seven of the characters are based on the deadly sins. I didn't notice, but then if it had been the sort of thing you'd notice then the book wouldn't be nearly so good. Margaret Kennedy has an interesting mind, and is skilful at handling a large cast of characters. My favourite was the bossy 10-year-old Hebe, who loves founding secret societies, but all are believable and vividly evoked.

A clinical portrait of post-war England, drawn with wit and insight.

Published in 1950, this novel is set in 1947, when a group of people visit the Pendizack Hotel in Cornwall. We know, from the beginning, that the cliffs have fallen on the hotel and killed everyone inside, but we also learn there are survivors. As the Rev. Bott struggles to write his sermon, we learn of the assortment of guests and staff, that were staying at the hotel of the time of the accident. Kennedy meant for some of the guests to represent the seven deadly sins, so we have pride, gluttony, covetousness, lechery, wrath, envy and sloth, represented by a variety of characters.As the story progresses we learn of tragedies, of blossoming relationships, cruelties and neglect. There are lots of contemporary touches, such as anger at one character moving to America during the war, to escape shortages, rationing and bombs. I found it absolutely enthralling and could hardly wait to get to the end to see who lay beneath the rubble and who, hopefully, survived the crash. Absolutely one of my favourite reads of the year and I look forward to exploring more of Margaret Kennedy's work and am glad to have discovered her.

This was bought as a present - the recipient loved it.