This book really made me think about how I review books and authors and it was a little scary. It really made me think about the conflict between helping along an author or performer/ performance and giving a brutally fair assessment to help others decide if this work is for them. I think most non-professional reviewers tend to the positive side. I will say since I read this book I have become more mindful of my reviews.
But I did love this book. Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to read and give my own opinion.
What I loved :
The main characters - I really enjoyed getting to know Sophie and Alex. Their interaction felt fresh and interesting. Less sure about Hayley - at some point I got a little fed up with her vindictiveness.
The setting - The performing Arts Month is Edinburgh sounds so enticing.
The moral dilemmas presented by the book. We never really understand both sides of most stories and what life experiences shape an individual. This book will definitely stay with me because of this.
Highly recommended!

I really enjoyed this book a lot. So well-written, great plot twists, wonderful character development, The book kept my interest throughout. I enjoyed seeing the characters develop throughout the book as well. Got a great sense of Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival and the author did a great job with sensory descriptions. Highly recommend.

Charlotte Runcie provides the story of Alex Lyons, an overly confident ladies' man and theatre critic who gets the #metoo that he deserves. Lyons' downfall is narrated by his younger female colleague, Hayley, who is struggling with her own career and increasingly distant marriage. Lyons sleeps with a young performer whose earnest one-woman show on climate change he has already reviewed savagely for one star out of five. Humiliated, the actress changes her show into a personal and public catalog of Lyons' failing with women.

Runcie's story seems so detailed that the reader suspects it's drawn from real life. As a former performer and director, Runcie's world of cynical critics and overly melodramatic theatre people is all too believable. The author does a particularly good job of making each character believable and sympathetic, including Lyons, who seems hurt and a bit bewildered by all these women complaing about him ("It wasn't anything serious, and I was nice to them!"). A readable glimpse into the world of theatre, modern gender relations, and the perils of pride.

After writing a one-star review of a play, Alex sleeps with the play's main actress Hayley, who finds out who she went home with the morning after. This event spirals an uncovering of all of Alex's wrong-doings, in the form of Hayley's revamped show. Alex's coworker and fellow journalist, Sophie, gives us a front row seat to this unfortunate series of events, as well as her own personal relationship struggles. I was very excited to pick this one up, and it was such a pleasant surprise! Sophie is such a great narrator, and I truly felt like I understood each character, even though we only got one perspective. There were so many situations in this book that really made you think about how there are always "two sides to every story". I am a sucker for characters with unlikable qualities, and this book is full of them. I also enjoyed that we truly went deeper with each character, and their story did not stop at surface level. What a wonderful debut!

I will be recommending this book to anyone who wants a darkly comic beach read with a side of revenge. I'm not always a fan of the observer/narrator, but it totally works here.

I really liked the unique story line. The author also does a great job in making me really hate Alex. The ending felt a bit rushed and would have loved to explore more of Sophie's complexity as a career woman, mom, daughter and partner.

In Bringing The House Down, Runcie tenderly explores the tension between creator and critic, especially through Alex and Sophie’s complex, shifting bond. The haunting fallout with performer Haley Sinclair lingers. I gave it 3 stars—but never 1. Just putting something into the world is brave. This story stays with you.

Thank you to DoubleDay and Runcie for the Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley!

#BringtheHouseDown #NetGalley

Thank you, NetGalley and Doubleday Books, for the ARC of this novel.

For anyone who has been to the Edinburgh Fringe, this novel brings all the fun, wild, fascinating and often overwhelming world to life. It's a bit surreal, as if you've landed in some sort of magical place where someone is telling a story around every corner and in every nook and cranny of a beautiful city. From an attendee, I found myself feeling like a kid in a candy shop and this book brought so much of it back.

Seeing it from a different side, from the theatre and art critic side, was really interesting. But at the same time, it was the journeys of the characters that really made the story. Told from the viewpoint of Sophie, the art critic who finds herself torn between missing her baby and her desire to get closer to the charismatic theatre critic Alex, she fluctuates between a voyeuristic reporting and a sort of personal emotional breakdown. Alex, who has the privileged cynicism of a nepo-baby in the theatre world, is suddenly called out for his behavior with women in a very public way. But still, Sophie is drawn to him, finding a sense of self worth in being his closest confidant during his downward spiral.

It's a fascinating insight into human behavior - the teetering tightrope between things we are proud of and things we feel shame for. Much like the Fringe itself, there is every flavor of story you can imagine and it's all part of what makes the experience special.

Searingly smart, blisteringly funny, and incredibly insightful about the nuanced mess that comprises both art and humanity. I loved this book.

Bringing Down the House by Charlotte Runcie was a pleasant and quick read for me. The novel actually brought forth many emotional topics through the use of the storyline. The story was told using first person, by Sophie who was an art reviewer, sent by her newspaper to a festival. Sophie’s character felt dissatisfied with life as a mother and wife, and actually would feel better when thinking about other’s disappointments and ignoring her own. She was sent to the art festival with a fellow worker, Alex, who was a known playboy. Alex, as a reviewer was unscrupulous in his reviews of theater productions and always seemed to be self assured in his dealings with others, quite the opposite of Sophie.

The story describes the three weeks that Alex and Sophie spend at the Art Festival and their encounters with the other characters of the novel. There are themes of uncertainty in marriage, relationships with coworkers, trivializing a person, jealousy, trust issues, and the affect of how we are raised has on oneself and others.

It was an interesting novel in the sense that it gave me an appreciation of how difficult and biased it is to review another’s creation. The reviewers opinion can destroy a career in just a few words. The novel also addressed the reviewer and their feelings. If you were a person who was kind, it would be difficult to give an unbiased, bad review, and if the reviewer was brutal, it just may be that they did not care, and needed to meet a deadline. It appeared to be a difficult job.

I found the book to have an interesting story, but, for me, too many side stories that did not enhance the main theme or have relevance. 3.5 stars

Sophie, a new mom who is feeling constrained by the traditional role, is happy to go away for 3 weeks to report on an art/ theatre festival for her newspaper. She must share a flat with Alex , a popular theatre critic. Alex gives a one star review to a one woman show then hooks up with the performer without telling her he gave her review one star. What follows is Sophie’s view of the social media fallout. Is Alex a horrible person or just a flawed human? Is Sophie wrong for wanting to help him.? The book is an entertaining, deeply felt study of the human heart.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC . My opinions are my own.

The climax occurs in the first quarter of the story. If this had been a novella, it would have kept its tension and solidified its point beautifully, it was fascinating. But after the initial point, the tale got mushy. It was a Tell You not Show You told in passive voice that swamped all the power the book had built. So so disappointing.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

I’m not sure what to make of this novel. I get that overall it's a take on the idea of rating something and 1) how subjective it all is, and 2) how so many artists live and die by those reviews...even when they know that they are subjective. But it's also a strange take on male-female relationships, power dynamics, and sexual consent.

What was most strange about this novel is that fact that it's never told from the perspectives of either of the main characters. The narrator is a bystander attempting to be an expert on something she actually know nothing about, and then takes us down rambling roads through her own personal struggles that really doesn't have anything to do with anything. We're never really able to get a sense of the inner struggles or motivations of the characters who matter the most. It almost felt like a tabloid telling of a story. I didn't like that and honestly I was uncomfortable with that narrative choice throughout the entirety of the book. I kept hoping it would get better and make some sort of artistic sense as the story evolved, but it didn't. It was weird, and rambling, and unnecessary, and I really didn't care about her at all.

I'm also just seeing that this book is being marketed as a comedy which is strange because it isn't funny at all. It's dark and sad and a bit soulless.

The premise is interesting though, especially since it's based on actual events. Overall, 3 stars.

What an intriguing concept for a book! An art critic acts as the narrator for the repercussions felt by both her colleague and the actress whose career he destroys when he writes a one-star review of her one-woman show. When the actress wakes up in the morning and realizes that her one-night stand is the one-star reviewer, she changes her show's content to take him down. While I was hoping there would be more female rage, and having a narrator who is a hot mess herself is not my cup of team, the book was different and well-written. There are a lot of themes to be explored in this book: who's at fault when a relationship (whether it is a long-term or one-night one) goes wrong? How much does one's past influence and illustrate their decisions? Is it attraction or proximity? How does how we treat others reflect upon ourselves? Does having a child transform your identity? What's the difference between collective justice and mob mentality?

The exploration into the world of arts journalism and criticism was self-aggrandizing and annoying with its obvious winks to those in the know.

It was an intriguing concept, and an intriguing book. I'm not sure if I liked it, but I certainly thought about it, and isn't that what art is supposed to do?

Premise
The story is told through the eyes of Sophie, an art critic at a magazine. She attends a month-long art festival in Edinburgh with her colleague Alex, a theater critic to review the performances and gallery shows by artists from across the world for the magazine. Alex is a relatively well-known critic, famous for his strongly opinionated reviews, always giving 1 or 5 stars.

On the first night of the festival, Alex gives a one-woman show a 1 star review, submits it to the magazine for publishing. He then comes across the same actress at a bar and they end up sleeping together. The next day, the actress finds out about the review and is deeply betrayed, upset, angry that Alex withheld his identity the night before.

The actress (Hayley) changes her show that night - it is now a platform for rating Alex. Throughout the month, the show hears from exes and other women Alex has wronged over the years. The show becomes a viral hit and arguably grows faster and larger than it would have without the review.

Sophie reflects on these events, hearing the story from both Hayley and Alex. At the same time, she starts to reflect on what it means to be an art critic and often questions her career path, self fulfillment and general happiness. Essentially a lot of this comes down to how much we reflect on the consequences of our actions regardless of our intentions. As Alex’s love life unfolds before the world, Sophie also thinks about her own home life, wondering whether it is satisfactory or not. Similarly, there are a number of parallels/ foils drawn between Sophie and Alex in their approach to relationships, criticism, etc. In the end, most events are left up to the reader to interpret: 1) is a strongly opinionated 1 star any better than a waffly 3 stars with false praise? 2) where is the line in labeling a man as a jerk vs an outright abuser? 3) how much do we forgive our coworkers, friends, spouses for male privilege?

Readers may feel one way about a character and change their mind completely in the next chapter!

What worked well
I adored the way the author describes art and theater. It made me want to get out to a gallery and buy a ticket immediately. I feel the genuine love the characters have for art and theater.

The description of the festival itself was very nostalgic and magical. I really enjoyed the imagery and felt like I was experiencing it with Sophie.

For me, the author articulated so well what it means to be a critic and what it means to create art. She did such a phenomenal job of describing the work, heartache and passion artists put into their pieces/ performances and what it means to then comment on that in a public way. The author also does a really good job of drawing parallels between putting those reviews in print vs on social media.

Rating
Overall, the book struck a good balance of spelling out a solution and letting the readers reflect to come out with their own opinions. Some of the home-life reflection felt a little undeveloped and unclear on the direction it was going at points.

It’s easy to move through this book quickly and it has a good mix of reflection and present day events. Again, reading the author’s reflection on the space is super interesting and I definitely learned a bit and thought a lot about what I would do in those same situations!

This review reflects my personal opinion and experience with the book. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Charlotte Runcie’s debut novel, Bring the House Down.

This book is set at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and follows the story of a theatre critic, Alex Lyons, who writes a career-ending review of a one-woman show, and then proceeds to have a one night stand with the star of said show in the very same night. After the star finds out the next morning, while still in his flat, she completely reformats her show to drag and expose Alex for his crime. It’s told through the lens of Alex’s work colleague, Sophie.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It was funny, smart and page turn-y. As someone who celebrates unhinged women in literature, I would have happily received more of the female rage that was promised in the blurb… but Sophie was a sympathetic narrator and I’ll forgive her for that. Sophie’s own relationship trauma, grief and new motherhood added layers to the plot and perspective that I really appreciated. Without that perspective, it might have been just a fun pulp story- entertaining but a little lacking in substance. About halfway through the read, I was thinking “hm, not sure if this title is gonna work”, but then it really, really did. I definitely recommend this one (coming in July) and will be looking out for more from Charlotte Runcie in the future!

While this was fast-paced with deliberate readability, I did not, at any point, get "funny." I actually got fucking tragic/the vast wasteland of humanity, which comes up less often.

It feels daunting, almost counter-intuitive, to write a review of a book that on one level, is about the power of artistic reviews to make or break the lives of the individuals behind the creative work. Author Charlotte Runcie was inspired to write this story based her own experience as a young journalist who wrote a bad review of a comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, only to become the subject of the comedian's wrath, who then roasted her nasty review - and her personal life - on stage for the remainder of the Festival. Runcie crafts a story where actress Hayley receives a one star review for her opening night environmentalist show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from famous critic Alex Lyons, who that same evening meets her in bar, sleeps with her, and doesn't disclose his identity or the review until she reads it in the paper the following day.. Hayley takes her sweet revenge by transforming her show into the The Alex Lyons Experience, a runaway hit based on Lyon's lifetime of misogynistic behavior and the true life stories of the women he harmed, who show up on stage night after night to bear witness and corroborate Hayley's experience. The show becomes a symbol of feminist revenge turned rage and Alex becomes the literal poster boy for the rich, white philanderer everyone has a reason to hate.

All of this makes for a page turning novel, but the story goes deeper and explores many paths - from family and inherited trauma to legacy, grief, parenthood, and marital infidelity. At the core is a basic question about individual destiny: can we redefine our past to shape our future through a lens of self-acceptance? The narrator, Sophie, a co-worker of Alex Lyons, provides the reader with observed complexities of how each character interprets and comes to terms with Alex's behavior and how their choices inform their destinies. Through Sophie's eyes, we see that everything may be black and white in a newspaper review, but life is a palette with many shades of gray.

Runcie cleverly wraps complex themes inside this page-turning story. Readers will devour this in one sitting, then be left thinking about the multilayered characters for days after. Highly recommend! Thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

After reading a book about the effects of reviews, I am admittedly anxious about writing a review!

What a refreshing premise that highlights the ubiquitous review culture. Alex Lyons is the son of a treasured actress and is a newspaper theater critic working at Scotland's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Alex has a reputation of being a cocky, privileged, white boy who enjoys stepping on the passion and reputation of artists. He revels in the power given to him by directors and actors who are desperate for his approval, with little concern for the sacrifices they have made.

Alex attends a one-woman show by Haley Sinclair, a struggling unknown actress, who is looking for her big break. Alex does not enjoy the show and writes a vicious, one-star review. Later in the evening, he meets Hayley in a local bar, and they have a one-night stand. Haley is unaware that he is a critic who has given her show a one-star review. What results from Haley's humiliation and revenge is a revamped show that is a one-star review of Alex's life.

The story is narrated by a co-worker and fellow journalist, Sophie, who is battling her own demons (grief, motherhood, self-deprecation) and and who slowly becomes complicit in Alex's downfall. The author cleverly wove other difficult subjects into the main premise- motherhood, parenting, misogyny, the price of fame and more.

As I read this thought-provoking book, I began to reflect on review culture. Is there a difference between an honest critique and cruelty? Who should have the power to decide if art is good or bad? Is a dishonest 5-star review worse than a 1-star review? What is toxic review culture? Who should control the narrative in reviews?

Thank you NetGalley, Doubleday books, and the author for the advanced reading copy.

BRING THE HOUSE DOWN was propulsive and hilarious. A true gem of a novel. I loved everything about it.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley.