The Wedding People by Alison Espach

 

Summary (from the publisher): A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help us start anew.

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 dreamt of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she's here without him. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe―which makes it that much more surprising when the women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns uproariously, absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach's The Wedding People is a look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

Review: Phoebe Stone feels out of options. Her husband has left her, her job as an adjunct professor feels like it is at a dead end, and so she has booked a room at the grand Cornwall Inn. Once she arrives, she is immediately mistaken as one of the wedding guests, who have rented out the whole hotel. Instead of the isolated trip she has imagined, Phoebe instead is befriended by the bride and swept up in the social drama of the wedding. 

This book is an interesting look at chance encounters that change our fate. Because Phoebe booked a room at the same time that the hotel was booked up for a wedding, her plans were altered. Ultimately, the bride ends up befriending her and making Phoebe her maid of honor. Instead of a tragic final journey, Phoebe spends her time flirting in hot tubs, on excursions with the wedding party, and reeled into the drama of the wedding family and the tumultuous relationship between the bride and groom. 

I guess I ultimately wondered what the point of the interactions were, other than to pull Phoebe back to life and its possibilities. For instance, there is one scene where the vintage convertible the bride has rented through the hotel is seen being violated by a random stranger. Phoebe is told to demand a new car from the hotel since this one is now clearly unusable because it "has been fucked." This scene is never referred to again, never tied back to in anyway. What was the point? Was I supposed to be amused? This is sort of how I felt about much of this novel. Just did not understand the point it was trying to make or what I was supposed to be getting out of it. Did not enjoy it nearly as well as I had hoped. 

Stars: 3