 |
| Softcover version |
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.
****
The Wedding People
Author : Alison Espach
Published year : 2024
Pages: 384
Language : English
Genre : Literary Fiction, Fiction, Romance
Age recommendation: 21+ (TW: suicide)
This will be my first fiction review after two two-year of hiatus. During the last two years, I've read some fiction books (a lot of great books!) but couldn't find time to write down my thoughts. Anyway, I need to push myself and really make time to start writing again.
Okay, then let me tell you how I love the protagonists- Phoebe! It's been a long time since I really liked the book's narrator and was really rooting for her. Phoebe is like a real person, relatable, and her quirk is just adorable!
Phoebe is in her late 30s, and she has been married long time to her smart husband. She is a temp (adjunct) professor at the same university as her husband, where her husband is a permanent (tenure) professor. Phoebe has been in the battle of fertility over the recent years, and in the middle of her depression, her husband divorced her.
She has always been a good person, lives very diligently, taking care of her health as a priority, obeys the rules, lives frugally, so when she finally signed the divorce papers, she decided to leave her identity behind. She booked an expensive hotel for a night to leave everything behind.
Then, when she arrived at the hotel, she met a lot of wedding people. The hotel has been booked by the bride only for her guest list.
The bride, a 27-year-old beautiful girl named Lila. She is very perfectionist and surprised when she realizes that Phoebe is not one of her guests. Additionally, Phoebe confided in her about her suicide plan. Not willing for her perfect wedding to go in ruin, Lila decided to talk to Phoebe to delay her plan until next week, when the wedding is over. See? The audacity of the bride intrigued Phoebe.
Previously, Phoebe's therapist told her that she is not a suicidal type. And Phoebe wanted to prove her wrong. Yet, Phoebe's suicide plan was to overdose herself with her cat's medicine--which I found odd and funny. I think maybe, deep down, her implicit memory keeps her from being suicidal.
And after one night of suicide plan failure, Lila barges into Phoebe's room, telling her everything what's going wrong in her life. Later, she even invites Phoebe to become one of her wedding people. Lila thought that Phoebe's honesty could help her get through her wedding week.
Meanwhile, Phoebe realizes that talking with Lila and finding herself involved in the wedding drama helps her get out of her dark space. Moreover, she had never been asked to be a bridesmaid. Her sense of duty and pride kicked in. So, Phoebe agrees to join Lila's wedding parade.
Later, Phoebe was drawn into the layers of Lila's life. She met with handsome strangers who turned out to be Lila's groom, Gary, and his antique family, especially Gary's daughter-Juice and brother(ex-in-law). Same with Lila's family, her artsy, spiteful, and lonely mother, who opposed Lila's marrying an older man (Gary is the same age as Phoebe).
What I found most enjoyable in this book is the friendship between two polar opposites. Phoebe, who is very smart, responsible, and her new self is now snarky and honest, versus Lila, who is a privileged princess, superficial, self absorbed. They exchanged a very honest conversation about their crisis identity and love-need. Their POV is also a real example of how a 39-year-old's brain has evolved versus the fresh and alive mind of a 27-year-old girl.
Phoebe is a smart book (yes, since she is a professor), her love for books and relating them to anything in her life is relatable to me. Gary is also not a boring doctor; he is funny, especially whenever Phoebe is around. Even Lila is not a typical shallow blonde. She is brave, smart, and funny in her way.
Reading Wedding People is like a combination of a Western book and Japanese style writing. There are so many reflections, deep thoughts about life and loneliness, and everyone in the book has their own POV, which makes everything a whole. This is not a simple chick-lit where everyone has a happy ending.
Moreover, it is a page-turner, especially in the 3/4 parts of the book. The part when Phoebe's husband came back asking for forgiveness and Phoebe did not throw a big tantrum is a letdown for me. I feel ambivalent about the ending. I know it is the best and realistic ending, but deep down I want more (maybe a sequel?).
Well, it is a recommended book, something that will put you back on track after a long book slump.
Comments
Post a Comment