Title: The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Book Beginnings quote:
The hotel looks exactly as Phoebe hoped.
Friday56 quote:
Phoebe waits for Lila to blush, but she doesn't get embarrassed, she gets angrier.
Summary: Phoebe, a divorced and depressed professor of 19th Century Lit., decides to treat herself to a decadent night at an expensive hotel in Rhode Island. When she gets there she finds out she is the only guest who is not part of the wedding party. The bride, Lila, wants her to leave because she thinks Phoebe's presence will wreck the week's worth of pre-wedding activities. As it turns out Phoebe stays and becomes friend and confidant to all.
Review: The Wedding Party is a book club selection for this month. I was the one who recommended we read it, not because I'd read it but because it was selected as the top fiction book on Goodreads last year. It also sounded like it was humorous and we've been looking for lighter books than what we typically read since all the serious and awful things we're experiencing in our country are dragging us down otherwise. I expected a light and fluffy book, and in some ways the Wedding Party filled that bill, but it also had a much deeper and thoughtful side I wasn't expecting.
Instead of giving away too much more of the plot I thought I'd give a partial character list and a few other points/questions I think might be helpful for our meeting.
- Phoebe -- a depressed and divorced professor. Her husband left her right after a miscarriage. She has been working on a book about 19th century female characters and is uninspired by her own research. She's not sure life is worth living.
- Lila -- the bride-to-be. She works in an art gallery with her mother but doesn't care that much about art or partially like her work. Her father gave her lots of money for her wedding, hence the fact she could afford to rent out the whole hotel. Unfortunately her father died of cancer before the big day.
- Patricia -- Lila's mother who always seems to make everything about herself.
- Gary -- the groom-to-be. Is a doctor who treated Lila's father, that's how the two met. His wife, Wendy, died of cancer. Gary misses her very much.
- Mel aka Juice -- Gary's 11-year-old daughter who is unhappy about the prospect of her father getting married to Lila. She is a melodramatic pre-teen.
- Marla -- Gary's older sister who works as a judge and is a know-it-all.
- Jimmy (Jim) -- Wendy's brother and now Gary's best friend. He is not sure that Lila is the gal for Gary either.
- Matt -- Phoebe's ex-husband. He is also a college professor.
- Assorted other friends of Lila, including a maid-of-honor who can't make it to the wedding due to COVID.
Questions:
- What do you think went wrong with Matt and Phoebe's marriage?
- If you were Phoebe would you have stayed at the hotel even if the bride begged you to leave, like Lila did? Why/Why not?
- What did you think of each of the characters at first and how did your opinions change?
- Phoebe makes a personal transformation. How did that happen in such a short period of time? Do you think that is a realistic possibility in real life?
- What did Phoebe do that made her such a good listener? Why did the other characters all seek her out as a sounding board for their problems?
- In a lot of ways the novel was about grief. Do you think the topic was handled well. Give examples.
- What did you think about the ending?
My rating: 4.5 stars.
Sign up for The Friday56 on the Inlinkz below.
RULES:
*Grab a book, any book
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader (If you want to improvise, go ahead!)
*Find a snippet, but no spoilers!
*Post it to your blog and add your url to the Linky below. If you do not add the specific url for your post, we may miss it!
*Visit other blogs and leave comments about their snippets. Expand the community. Please leave a comment for me, too!
First Line Friday hosted by Reading is My Super Power to share the beginning quote from your book.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I look forward to your comments and interactions! Join in the conversation.