‘The House Party’ Review: Unflinching But Negligent

It was a party they would never forget. When a bunch of overworked, rich teenagers decide to blow off some steam and party in a house under construction, they leave it in ruins and their lives are changed forever. Causing around 100 thousand dollars in damage, the teenagers are all in deep water, putting their bright futures in serious jeopardy. Entering a conversation about wealth and white privilege, “The House Party,” investigates the issues that plague seemingly perfect suburban towns. Rita Cameron hits the nail on the head with her take on how the justice system treats those with privilege versus those without, but she unfortunately fails to treat the serious topic of sexual assault with the sensitivity that it deserves.

Though the story follows the teenagers who attended the house party, their parents end up taking the spotlight. The wealthy parents of New Falls all succumb to toxic ideals as they refuse to hold their children accountable. “Kids will be kids,” becomes their common catch phrase in defense of their children's actions as they cut deals with law enforcement to get them off the hook. This characterization is nicely juxtaposed by some of the working-class parents, such as Linda O’Conner, who disagrees with shielding the kids from the consequences of their actions: “We can’t protect our kids from the real world, and we shouldn’t try.” Cameron’s characterization of the divide between the upper and middle classes sheds light on how money can affect people’s carelessness and repentance, to wondrous effects. As the juxtaposition creates a bittersweet humor, highlighting how ridiculous the upper-class families are in an unfortunately realistic way.

The foundation of the novel is its social commentary on wealth, which stands strong. Cameron enters the conversation by focusing on how the enforcement treats the kids with lots of money, versus the kids without it. Chief of Police Whitman Quarry attempts to pin the entire party on the “local yokels,” otherwise named as the working class, and let the other kids off with a warning. “I know a few of these names. They’re good kids, but they made a mistake. Let’s not rock the boat,” he says. The tendency for law enforcement to go easier on people with lots of influence and power is problematic, as they focus more on protecting their personal relationships and less on getting justice for victims. This is exactly the point Cameron makes, as Whitman is eventually called out in an article for his problematic behavior. Cameron makes poignant commentary on our current law enforcement through sad but realistic dialogue, as it shows how little law enforcement cares about injustice when its perpetrators come from wealthy and white backgrounds.

The novel falters heavily, however, regarding its sexual assault storyline, as it takes a back seat to the rest of the story and makes it feel like a cheap plot device. The storyline starts in the beginning of the novel when Maddie, one of the middle-class protagonists, is assaulted by an unknown man, causing Will to break a glass window to save her. The scene moves in quick succession, as Cameron captures the trauma of it all without using too many vivid descriptions. With the party turning to chaos immediately after this scene, it’s clear that Maddie’s sexual assault is what catapults the main plot into place. But throughout the rest of the book, Maddie gets little to no focus in the story, with most of what happens to her being relayed through other characters' perspectives and not her own. Not giving Maddie’s experience and recovery decent page time leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the readers, as the treatment of such a serious storyline leaves much to be desired.

Overall, Cameron succeeds in her powerful commentary on privilege and power, as she speaks to the problems that many of those with privilege love to ignore. But with so much focus on the social commentary, the sexual assault storyline gets painfully ignored to the point of negligence. It’s clear there were many things Cameron wanted to say and point out in “The House Party,” but by juggling too many arguments, the novel fails to dig deep into all its serious topics, leading it to feel more superficial than it should.