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burnyayhayley 's review for:
The Wedding People
by Alison Espach
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The first thing I will say is OMG please check the content warnings because the first 50 pages of this, nearly in entirety, are BRUTAL. There are very sad, hard and raw emotions of the main character, and a lot of situations are completely lined with despair. I was NOT prepared and it took me about 5 business days to recover and read on.
After that, it was sort of impossible to not love Phoebe, and, therefore, not to feel defensive and protective of her, to not feel everything she felt along with her. I felt it all, I saw it all. The story is incredibly interesting and surprisingly full of twists for a general fiction novel. The unpredictability of it felt correct, considering the central meditation of the story is about life being uncontrollable, much to the average human's dismay. Simultaneously though, the story's build-up works a lot of hope through it, which was held in especially sharp contrast to the beginning of the story feeling so dark and full of despair. The work with the tone evolution was very impressive actually.
Altogether, there is a lot to unpack in this story, but the throughline is clear: love wholly, and be weird. Gotta love it when that is the takeaway.
After that, it was sort of impossible to not love Phoebe, and, therefore, not to feel defensive and protective of her, to not feel everything she felt along with her. I felt it all, I saw it all. The story is incredibly interesting and surprisingly full of twists for a general fiction novel. The unpredictability of it felt correct, considering the central meditation of the story is about life being uncontrollable, much to the average human's dismay. Simultaneously though, the story's build-up works a lot of hope through it, which was held in especially sharp contrast to the beginning of the story feeling so dark and full of despair. The work with the tone evolution was very impressive actually.
Altogether, there is a lot to unpack in this story, but the throughline is clear: love wholly, and be weird. Gotta love it when that is the takeaway.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gaslighting
Minor: Racism, Fire/Fire injury