The Wedding People by Alison Espach
published 2024
Moodboard
for a Coastal Wedding, borrowed from Pinterest
“You know what open-toed shoes
are?” Lila asks.
“Is this a maid of honor
test?” Phoebe asks.
This is a very unusual book, in that it veers between a couple of different styles of fiction, then will suddenly do something even more unexpected. I enjoyed it very much and would highly recommend it as satisfying, readable and involving.
The Wedding People has a
dark and compelling setup. Phoebe is 40, her marriage has failed, she can’t
have children, her academic career is on hold. She has had it. She decides to
check into a very fancy hotel, have one last fabulous meal, then commit
suicide. Yes, that’s a downer of a start, but at least you know it’s got to be
up from here don’t you? And the chances are she is not going to succeed – at
least for another 300+ pages.
Phoebe gets to her lovely coastal resort hotel in Newport
Rhode Island, and as she waits to check in she realizes she is in the middle of
a huge and fancy wedding party. She has been allotted a room by accident, as
the wedding group is supposed to have taken over the whole hotel. But that’s
not going to stop her – is it?
So over the next six days (this is one extended wedding)
she slowly comes back to life, and becomes inextricably involved in the lives
of several of the wedding party. The best bits come with the bride, Lila, 12
years younger than Phoebe and determined not to have her wedding spoiled
“if I wake up to your corpse being rolled into the lobby tomorrow morning, you should know I’ll never recover from something like that.”
The conversations between Lila and Phoebe are an absolute
delight, the book lights up the moment they are in a room together, they had me
roaring with laughter. They have very different views on life, and we find out
the past history of each of them. (they reminded me – and this is a great
compliment – of Audra and Elspeth in Katherine
Heiny’s Standard Deviation). There is a cast of other relations of
the bride and groom, and Phoebe ends up having a conversation with each of
them, and it is a very clever way of giving us another POV, in
not-too-formulaic manner. The resolution of various of the issues surrounding
Phoebe and the wedding people can be a little bit fairy-tale/chicklit/wish
fulfilment, but honestly – by that time you’re cheering them on.
It is slightly unconvincing that Phoebe is quite so good at
solving others’ problems, and giving out advice, when she was not so good at
her own life – but OK, we’ll give her a pass.
Meanwhile there are wonderful scenes along the way. Phoebe
uses someone else’s phone to get GPS directions and keep seeing the very raunchy
sexts sent by the woman’s husband. A
long discussion of an invented cocktail called Vacation in a Cup – is the
plural VacationS or CupS? (And what about Sex on the Beach?). The descriptions
of the bridal events – the Sex Woman talking about pandas, the Blending of the
Families event, Phoebe’s search for ‘dick-themed compostable flatware’. “You
omitted the palate cleansers? … this is unacceptable” (I have corrected the
spelling in my edition – given as palette, tchah). it is all quite wonderful.
A while back on the blog we had the coastal grandmother (in
a blogpost on Elizabeth
Day’s The Magpie) Here we had this – Phoebe is talking to the
recently hired ‘property manager’ at the hotel:
…“They told me I had to wear
coastal business casual, and I honestly had to google it.” Pauline laughs like
this is a great joke between the two of them, and Phoebe looks at her tight
body-con black dress with an overly formal boat neckline. Normally, Phoebe
wouldn’t say anything, but she feels bad for Pauline, a girl who showed up to
her new life in the wrong dress.
“That’s not quite right,”
Phoebe says gently.
“No?” Pauline asks, looking
down at her outfit.
“The boat neck is a little
formal.”
“I thought the boat neck was
like, relaxed and boaty.”
“Try more blues. And whites.
And loose linens.”
Later we see the effect of Phoebe’s words:
Pauline, too, has transformed
this week—she wears a loose gauzy dress, with wavy beach hair cascading over
her shoulders. And Phoebe feels proud.
Now, is this a thing? It was very hard to find any
reference to it anywhere online, though there are many subsets of ‘coastal’
clothes. But I thought I’d give it a go.
What do we think of these outfits? Coastal business or not?
(dark blue dress from
Etsy)
I think in the UK she could head to the White Company for
some ideas. Lila the bride has lots of floaty white dresses for her varying
events that would probably do too.
The wedding of John and Jackie Kennedy is referenced a
couple of times in the book, in that very snooty way that I always
enjoy, particularly when Americans tell me, apparently straight-faced, that
there is no class-consciousness or snobbery in the USA, that it is entirely
confined to England.
(I did a post on that very wedding
here,
and there are a number of posts
featuring fictionalized or biographical
versions of the Kennedy family.)
You might be able to predict some of the plot turns and tropes
in the book, but probably not all of them, and it is touching and life-affirming
as well as very funny. A key pivot comes near the end:
So the transformation is
complete: Phoebe is one of the wedding people now.
And by that time you care about all of them, all the wedding
people…
Coastal grandmother is a thing, Moira. Here's a link to how it looks: https://www.styleatacertainage.com/style-at-a-certain-age/how-to-wear-the-coastal-grandmother-trend/
ReplyDeleteAs for the book, it sounds delightful. And I see what you mean about it being sort of a mix of things, and moving from one to another. When that's done well, it really can work. And I'm always one for wit in the stories I read.
Thanks for the link Margot - very helpful! Are YOU a coastal grandmother? It's certainly an attractive style.
DeleteAnd yes, the book is great!
I think it is much easier to offer advice on fixing other people’s lives than it is to sort out your own problems. It’s a bit like subbing, where you instantly spot all the glaring errors in someone else’s copy, whilst developing a blind spot about your own idiosyncratic spelling, punctuation and grammar!
ReplyDeleteSorry! That was me commenting on giving advice but, as usual, it went wrong.
DeleteHow very true, I do agree! Although I do think this character could have tried a bit harder before the book opened. But yes. Along with everyone thinking they did most of a joint project, and that everyone else dominated the conversation.
DeleteI wouldn't usually think this was my kind of novel, but it sounds huge fun. Chrissie
ReplyDeleteI just started a book called The Unwedding about a recently divorced woman who goes alone to the resort where she was supposed to spend her anniversary with her husband. She is not planning suicide because she has three children but she is seriously depresssed. I will get this one too and compare them. Also, I like that Etsy dress, although have bad luck ordering clothes like that online.
ReplyDeleteOh interesting- this is obviously the theme of the moment. Tell us how the comparison goes...
DeleteI am very careful about ordering online from unknown sources - the photos can be very misleading. But then, you can get lucky too.
Moira: I am not likely to read the book but "coastal business casual" caught my attention as did Margot's link to "coastal grandmother". From your examples and her link it appeared the terms meant you could only wear white or beige or maybe khaki colours. I took a look online and found https://ca.pinterest.com/ideas/coastal-business-casual/910911374377/. From my research I guess the palette can be extended to blue. What would happen if someone showed up in red or orange or purple or a rainbow of colours?
ReplyDeletethanks Bill, I might have guessed you'd be on it! I like the page you sent me to, exactly what I was looking for but unable to find.
DeleteIt's an attractive and elegant look, but (as you imply) I would be hankering after some vibrant colour after a while...
Has anyone else noticed the bleaching of colour from clothes and décor? Soon everything will be greige. (And one of my nieces said the words "granny boho" to me. That's when you dress like a goblin.)
ReplyDeleteGranny boho/goblin really made me laugh.
DeleteSomeone was telling me that the removal of colours was an explicable and real thing - much easier and less chancy for manufacturers and designers if they keep the palette simple and neutral. Smaller range to produce, less waste, cheaper. But still surely the soul longs for some brighter colours?
Perhaps we're all going to have to buy everything in white and dye it the colours of our choice! There's usually colour in summer clothes but all too often it's a choice of citrus yellow, lime green, orange or neon turquoise.
DeleteThe US seems to have some extremely specific dress codes. Mind you maybe the UK does too, and I haven't noticed because I don't go to many "occasions" these days.
Sovay
Just Googled "Granny Boho" and got wall-to-wall crochet ...
DeleteSovay
'citrus yellow, lime green, orange or neon turquoise'' - I remember being with other mothers watching our children play - US, summer - and one of them saying 'our girls are the Popsicle kids' because they were all dressed in those colours.
DeleteDress codes: It's a question for the ages, isn't it. In the very early days of the blog I wrote about a book set in Seattle dealing with the issues:
https://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2012/01/waxwings.html
and how the book rang true to me.
There are definitely codes in the UK, but variety is seen as fine. I love going to the Royal Opera House in London, and love the fact that there will be people in full evening dress and others in jeans, quite possibly sitting next to each other.
Crochet - yes, that was a whole lot of it...
PS - looking back at that old blogpost, I would have chosen a quite different picture nowadays... I very rarely used modern pictures back then.
DeleteThe 2003 Seattle social scene sounds extremely stressful! I read some of Jonathan Raban's travel books years ago but didn't know he wrote fiction.
DeleteI was going to say that at least these days one can Google the dress code, but Pauline in the post above says she did that, and she's still ended up in completely the wrong clothes! I like the navy dress - the fact that it has a defined waist pushes it in the direction of business but absence of sleeves keeps it within the realm of casual. I suspect that it's a full time job keeping track of all the nuances though.
Sovay
It took some getting used to!
DeleteI loved Jonathan Raban, one of my favourite travel writers. His novels worked so well for me because we lived in Seattle at the same time (I met him) and I loved his picture of what life was like right there in that era, when the tech business was going crazy. He has a character in one of the books (a famed hoaxer) whom I also came across.
I went to a high-tech company event in London in the early 1990s, and I was literally the only woman there not wearing a little black dress. I had to make a determined effort to enjoy myself anyway.
I think it helps growing older and just minding less about what you should be wearing.
It is, and I think you would enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, so much reaction happening here.
ReplyDelete1. Moodboard, eh? I suppose that's Newspeak for Collage.
2. Vacation in a Cup. I read that as Vatican in a Cup. A concept I find more intriguing. And more wine-ish.
3. "Americans tell me, apparently straight-faced, that there is no class-consciousness or snobbery in the USA." Uhhh...
Sigh. I wrote a bunch of pithy responses and deleted them all. Words fail me.
1) Oh yes, you have to be into your moodboards. the first time I saw the word I thought it was something to do with being cross, 'in a mood', spilling it out. But no. I now know better. If I am reading any kind of advice or tips, and it mentions moodboards, that's usually the end for me...
Delete2) LOVE Vatican in a Cup. Communion wine?
3) Indeed
P. S. Me again. Susan D.
ReplyDeleteAll those fashion commandments. Thank Heaven Fasting I'm retired and can wear whatever I darn well like, which is usually sweat pants/leggings/joggers (all either black or black), t-shirts/sweatshirts, and a long-sleeved blue denim shirt. (Yes, I know; "joggers" is also Newspeak. Or maybe it's already Oldspeak, since I've had them a few years.)
"Thank Heaven Fasting I'm retired and can wear whatever I darn well like," Yep. Although if I'm going to be leaving the house, I try to avoid looking like a bag lady, a fate that befell a co-worker many, many years ago, and which caused her to switch her party affiliation from life-long Republican to Democrat.
DeleteSusan - it's the consolation of getting older, feeling free to wear whatever you want.
DeleteShay - there's a story I'd like to hear more about.
An etiquette book, speaking of whether you should give up your seat to an older lady (but fear offending her), recommends looking at her shoes. If she is in high heels she values being thought young, if she is in flat and sensible she is probably happy to be seen as older if it gets her a seat. I always think about this on public transport. I am always in flat shoes, but I hope stylishly so. And I will always take the seat...
Susan D again: Me too, Shay and Moira. That story needs telling, big time. (It reminds me of an episode of Kate & Allie.)
DeleteOh yeah, the seats on transit. I'll usually take the seat, since a) I can read more easily when sitting and b) I want to encourage them. Nice kids.
I agree - take the seat and be appreciative of the gesture. I used to do this even though inwardly slightly offended, on the grounds that refusing might put people off offering a seat to someone who could really do with it, but now there are days when that someone is me ...
DeleteSovay
Yes, all agreed. If someone offers you a seat they shouldn't be discouraged by a snooty answer. And these days, like Sovay, I am grateful for the seat as well as the thought.
DeleteYears ago, I had an office job in an older building downtown, a part of town that was/still is frequented by the homeless. Our building was across the street and half a block down from the county Republican Party headquarters.
DeleteIIRC, we were doing something dirty that day, such as moving files out of our original 1888 dirt-floored basement. For obvious reasons we were wearing sloppy old clothes and were covered with dust, sweat and quite a few cobwebs. My colleague went on her lunch hour down to the store next to the Republicans to buy cigarettes, and was standing outside their windows lighting up when a female functionary came out and angrily shoo’d her away, threatening to call the cops. The lady was quite nasty about it.
Diane was LIVID when she returned to the office.
Moira here - excellent story Shay, lived up to its promise...
Delete