A review by cmclarabee
At Weddings and Wakes by Alice McDermott

2.0

Alice McDermott can create a sense of place like almost no one else, and her minutely observed descriptions of people and use of language are head and shoulders above the skills of most writers. Unfortunately, in the case of At Weddings and Wakes, all of that was not enough to overcome what at times felt like a glacial pace and, more important, a terribly awkwardly executed shift in time. The way she handled the fate of one of the main characters was both confusing and, ultimately, took away from the impact of what happened, which is really a shame.