I quite enjoyed The Wedding People by Alison Espach, though it was definitely not what I thought it was going to be. I probably should've paid more attention to the part of the book jacket that read that our lead character Phoebe is "at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself" and less to the part where she's the only one at a hotel in Newport, Rhode Island not there for Lila and Gary's wedding. Which is to say that the first chunk of the book is a bit difficult and full of things there should be trigger warnings for--suicidal ideation and infertility, particularly.
I couldn't give this the full 5 stars because I
feel like people who have depression might have issues with the
depiction of Phoebe; not her depression itself, so much, which felt to
me pretty realistic, but rather at her somewhat miraculous bounce back
from feeling suicidal (though she'll undoubtedly snap out of it, so...I
don't know). I also don't know that we needed the scene when Phoebe's ex-husband shows up and begs to take her back and I have mixed feelings about whether everything was really just too neat. Of
course Lila doesn't want to marry Gary, making Phoebe's feelings less
of a problem...because of course Lila and Jim have feelings for each
other. And of course Phoebe gets along great with Gary's daughter Juice,
and of course a fabulous fantasy job opportunity in Newport appears. Life usually doesn't work out quite that well, but also, I do read books for escapism.
All
that said, I really liked this. As an English major, I enjoyed the
references to Victorian literature and I loved the setting--Newport is
on my list of places I want to visit. I enjoyed how because Phoebe
wasn't actually invested in any of the wedding people, she could be
honest while also getting to know everyone without any preconceptions.
The description of Phoebe's marriage falling apart, and the gradual
realization that it probably wasn't ever as good as she may have
thought. The looks at Phoebe's childhood and how they made Phoebe into
who she was...and Phoebe taking this moment to change.
I liked
her journey of trying to figure out her own life, past, present, and
future, and I appreciated that the ending was left fairly open. Also, I
quite liked Espach's writing:
Nat and Suz are excited to hear the story, and Phoebe imagines they could probably listen to it a thousand times the way her father could watch Vietnam War movies over and over again. Bridesmaids need the same kinds of stories soldiers do, stories that justify why they do what they do. Why they are willing to sacrifice who they are and a good night's sleep for the noble cause of defending democracy and Lila and Gary's love. (p. 112)
Under [her dead mother's] gaze, Phoebe was careful never to make any mistakes. Phoebe was quiet and obedient, never talking too fast or too loudly, because she never wanted to be a burden to her father. She had felt this way in her marriage, too--careful never to cry too hard or tell meandering sties at dinner. Careful always to wear nice pajamas to bed. Careful never to lose control. (p. 66)
But Phoebe is starting to understand that on some nights, Lila is probably the loneliest girl in the world, just like Phoebe. And maybe they are all lonely. Maybe this is just what it means to be a person. To constantly reckon with being a single being in one body. Maybe everybody sits up at night and creates arguments in their head for why they are the loneliest person in the world. (p. 151)Recommend.
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