Review by chemistryreads - The Wedding People

chemistryreads 's review for:

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

3.0

sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I picked this book up because it was the only one that felt interesting enough to read from a Goodreads challenge. It was fine, but honestly felt like it was trying too hard to be some sort of genius literary fiction rather than just a good story. It reminded me of Something Borrowed, but make the characters wise and highbrow instead of ordinary. Not to mention, the entire novel starts off as idealizing suicide! Where the fuck were the warnings for that?! It goes on for half the novel! Then we toss in major infertility?! I wouldn’t say this was funny at all - it was largely the third person view of a woman who is suicidal and then things that would never actually happen, happen and she is suddenly bffs with a bride. I wouldn’t call this achingly tender either, but more tragic indeed several people dealing with grief and in a sense, recovery from the pandemic. Phoebe being an adjunct who hasn’t even finished her degree (for years!!!) and then whining about being an adjunct (which, yes, adjuncts aren’t treated well, but you do need a PhD to be a full time professor) and then constantly showing off her random and pointless knowledge… then we throw in Lyla and her mother working at an art gallery and the groom being a doctor - it’s all just an attempt to have this book be considered a literary masterpiece instead of “woman’s fiction” (which generally shouldn’t be it’s own category) or “romance.” It’s an okay story, but it just felt forced and sad. 3⭐️, 1🌶, ⚠️

Content Warnings