A review by bella613
The Wedding People by Alison Espach

emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Read this for my first book club meeting!! 
Tbh it was way better than I expected and I probably wouldn't have read it on my own based on the description, so I'm really glad my new book club read it. I didn't think much of our discussion because I felt like I might have been the only one on the group who's actually been suicidal and experienced the weird little things that end up keeping you alive because you get invested. But I don't really know these girls yet, so maybe they didn't speak up on that in the same way I didn't. 
This book handles grief pretty realistically and I love dark humor so I really connected with it. I didn't love the ending- I hate that
she implicitly leaves the female friendship behind to get with the groom. Neither of them are in the right place to be looking for a partner and hes a huge red flag for acting like that at his own wedding. It was weird that the ex husband showed up, and Juice's story never really felt closed. I would have been much happier if it ended with friendship and mentorship than with a weird almost romance.

However, despite the ending I really liked the focus of the book and the details like Juice mentioning "it doesnt matter, were all going to die anyway" (not a direct quote). In chapter 2 the main character says (paraphrased) "A story can be beautiful not because of how it ends, but because of the way its written" and I think that applies well to her own story.
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