Book Description

Writing with the fluent narrative artistry and the acute grasp of human motivation that distinguish all of her bestselling novels, Anita Shreve tells the compelling story of seven former schoolmates who gather at an inn in the Berkshires to celebrate a wedding. Their reunion becomes the occasion of astonishing revelations, recrimination, and forgiveness as the friends collectively recall a long-ago night that forever marked each of their lives.

From Publishers Weekly

A Big Chill–like group reunites for a 40-something wedding in this melancholy story of missed opportunities, lingering regrets and imagined alternatives by Shreve (The Last Time They Met). Bill and Bridget were sweethearts at Maine's Kidd Academy who rediscovered one another at their 25th reunion. Bridget was already divorced; Bill left his family; the two have now gathered their Kidd coterie to witness their hasty wedding—Bridget has breast cancer—at widow Nora's western Massachusetts inn. The death of charismatic schoolmate Stephen at a drunken high school party hovers over the event. Stephen's then-roommate, Harrison, now a married literary publisher, remains particularly tormented by it, especially since he had (and still has) romantic feelings for Nora, who was Stephen's then-girlfriend. Abrasive Wall Street businessman Jerry, now-out-of-the-closet pianist Rob, single Agnes (who teaches at Kidd and has a secret of her own) and various children round things out. Tensions build as the group gets snowed in, and someone gets drunk enough to say what everyone's been thinking. Though Shreve's plot, characters and dialogue are predictable (as are her inevitable 9/11 rehashes), she sure-handedly steers everyone through their inward dramas, and the actions they take (and don't) are Hollywood satisfying. (Oct. 10)

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–This novel has many of Shreve's hallmarks: simple and elegant prose; characters who are entirely convincing in their portrayals of human fallibility; and a plot buildup with a twist toward the end that packs a wallop. Set in New England several months after 9/11, it is the story of seven former classmates who have not seen one another in 27 years but have come together for the wedding of Bill and Bridget, who dated during high school and then went their separate ways. They have reunited and are getting married in the face of Bridget's advanced breast cancer. Nora, who owns the inn where the wedding will be held, is trying to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. Agnes, Nora's former roommate, has a secret she is desperate to share. Over all of them hangs the specter of Stephen, whose charismatic life and tragic death they seem unable to address head-on. Paralleling the story of these friends is the one in the novel Agnes is writing about the Halifax explosion of 1917, a little-known disaster that resulted in the deaths of almost 2000 citizens. This story-within-a-story not only provides an eye-opening account of a piece of World War I history, but also allows Agnes to address some of her own issues. An understated and graceful exploration of the choices that people make in their day-to-day interactions and their consequences, Wedding is an excellent piece of American literature to add to any library.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA

From Booklist

Recrimination and regret underlie an emotional reunion of seven former classmates from the Kidd Academy, an elite prep school, who gather at an inn in the Berkshire Mountains for a wedding. Nora, the widow of an abusive, renowned poet and the owner of the inn, has agreed to host the wedding of Bridget, ill with cancer, and Bill, who has divorced his wife to marry his high-school sweetheart. Among the wedding guests are Harrison, still in love with Nora and still reeling from the tragic death of his roommate, a gifted but troubled athlete, at the academy some 27 years earlier, and Agnes, a long-single history teacher with a tumultuous love life. Uncertainties bred in the wake of 9/11 also play a role here, although they are summoned indirectly through a story that Agnes is writing about a ship collision in Halifax Harbor in 1917 that left 2,000 dead and hundreds blinded. Operating with a heightened sense of their mortality, the former classmates regard each other's life decisions with a mixture of envy, wariness, and spite. The skillful, prolific Shreve, who seems to turn out one best-seller per year, seamlessly moves her story between the horrific events of Halifax Harbor and the nearly as horrific reunion, underscoring the fleeting nature of happiness and the painful trade-offs it often requires.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Joanne Wilkinson

From AudioFile

With too many threads creating an uneven tapestry, Shreve's latest lacks the vitality of her previous novels. Linda Emond's performance is adequate, but with so many subplots to keep straight it's easy for the listener to get lost. Musical segues aid transitions as we are bounced from an inn in the Berkshire Mountains in December of 2001, back to 1974, when a classmate drowned just a week before graduation from the prestigious Kidd Academy, and back even further to WWI, when Halifax was devastated by a blast that left many survivors blind. Too many threads . . . too many story lines to really care. N.E.M.

From Bookmarks Magazine

All though Shreve has all the elements of her previous successful work—an engaging plot, intricate period history, ruminations on lost loves, and a grandiose old house—something falls short in her newest novel. Her characters are variable, some rich, some tiresome. Sometimes the deep, dark secrets seem neither deep nor dark. And the rampant affairs can be wearing. But Shreve still deftly weaves the larger disaster of the Halifax narrative with the personal tragedies of individuals. A Wedding in December, like the movie The Big Chill, still evokes the languorous melancholy of midlife regret. For some, the novel is a guilty pleasure, but the guilt may be too much to bear.

Book Dimension

length: (cm)17.2 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)10.6