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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
2.5 out of 5 stars.
The approach the author took to the telling of this story took me for a loop. Despite it being Jenna’s wedding, she is not the main character of the story, nor is the reader provided with any insight from her point of view. Instead, we receive the story of Jenna’s wedding weekend from her older sister, Margot, her father, Doug, and her soon-to-be-mother-in-law, Ann. The combination of these characters was unexpected and together they represented a very jagged and bitter perspective on love. Sure, at one point all of the characters provided with a voice had experienced love (or what they thought to be the ever-lasting type of love) but circumstances in their lives have altered their opinions on love so much that at times this was a bit of a depressing book to read. I would have really liked it if I had been able to read about Jenna’s wedding from the perspective of Jenna.
The plethora of characters also made Beautiful Day a bit heavy handed. Very few of the characters were likable which made it difficult to care about the drama they brought to the wedding. In the span of a few short days there seems to be so much chaos and turmoil that I would have not blamed Jenna at all if she would have decided to boot people from her wedding party, but we will never even know if she thought about that due to the perspective problems that I have already harped upon. The only other thing that I believe is worth mentioning about this book is that I did enjoy the excepts from the Notebook left behind by Jenna and Margot’s deceased mother to detail how she would go about the wedding planning process. I found the mother’s words to be insightful, especially in the areas of love, invitations, registries, etc.
Elin Hilderbrand is a good writer and I do consider this book to be well written. I’m not opposed to giving another one of her novels a shot. This one, unfortunately, just did not hit the mark for me as much as I would have liked.
The approach the author took to the telling of this story took me for a loop. Despite it being Jenna’s wedding, she is not the main character of the story, nor is the reader provided with any insight from her point of view. Instead, we receive the story of Jenna’s wedding weekend from her older sister, Margot, her father, Doug, and her soon-to-be-mother-in-law, Ann. The combination of these characters was unexpected and together they represented a very jagged and bitter perspective on love. Sure, at one point all of the characters provided with a voice had experienced love (or what they thought to be the ever-lasting type of love) but circumstances in their lives have altered their opinions on love so much that at times this was a bit of a depressing book to read. I would have really liked it if I had been able to read about Jenna’s wedding from the perspective of Jenna.
The plethora of characters also made Beautiful Day a bit heavy handed. Very few of the characters were likable which made it difficult to care about the drama they brought to the wedding. In the span of a few short days there seems to be so much chaos and turmoil that I would have not blamed Jenna at all if she would have decided to boot people from her wedding party, but we will never even know if she thought about that due to the perspective problems that I have already harped upon. The only other thing that I believe is worth mentioning about this book is that I did enjoy the excepts from the Notebook left behind by Jenna and Margot’s deceased mother to detail how she would go about the wedding planning process. I found the mother’s words to be insightful, especially in the areas of love, invitations, registries, etc.
Elin Hilderbrand is a good writer and I do consider this book to be well written. I’m not opposed to giving another one of her novels a shot. This one, unfortunately, just did not hit the mark for me as much as I would have liked.
Probably a 3.5. It was a typical Elin Hilderbrand book. I enjoyed the story and really liked one of the main characters Marge the brides sister. About half of the book is told through her eyes and she is easy to relate to. Some of the other characters it wasn't that easy. Came across as spoiled and selfish which I guess is real life but I wasn't always rooting for them. This book shows what planning a wedding and living it out can do for a family both the good and the bad for everyone involved. Though it was a bit long at times I did want to continue reading to see what kind of family drama would be stirred up next! Not my favorite Elin Hilderbrand book but worth a read!
This book was so irritating and stupid but kept my attention via audiobook.
So I started this book in 2018 and couldn’t make it through the first 3 chapters and then I decided to give it another try. I think I am now used to Elin H, and I find her stories moving. The protagonist in this book, Margot, was one of Elin’s better ones. She had grit and vulnerabilities. She was trying to get through her sister’s wedding with the death of their mom in the rear view window. Someone this wedding became a time for reflection for many of the wedding party.
I found myself rooting for Margot.
I found myself rooting for Margot.
I really love how Elin Hilderbrand always manages to capture the intricacies of relationships, precarious situations, and the inner workings of her characters’ minds. She always manages to portray her characters as normal, relatable people (even amongst her backdrops of well-off Nantucket families) who make mistakes, flounder, figure things out.
I've read other Elin Hilderbrand books and liked them better than this one. Some of the female characters in this story really got on my nerves - they were overemotional and hypocritical. The story had some good points. I liked it enough to keep listening until the end. I preferred Hilderbrand's Blue Bistro and Winter Solstice.
Wedding, Nantucket, sad untimely death...it's a Hilderbrand novel, all right, but that does not mean it's not enjoyable. Hilderbrand gives such attention to characters' internal worlds that you feel as though you are there, although sometimes that trademark is her greatest fault.
Listened to the audio version. A bit slow in parts but overall a nice love story.