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A review by coolcatalycat
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
This was an easy 5 star for me, I wish I could give it 6 stars.
I can’t believe I almost didn’t read this book. It wasn’t until I heard someone speak about the concept that I knew I had to read it. And I’m so glad I did. I was literally hooked from the start, and tried my best to drag it out.
I could read about phoebe discovering how beautiful life is, with all its complexities and hardships, forever. This book just felt so human. Phoebe was literally grieving her past self and learning how to become a new version of herself. I felt that so hard. I related to her so much. Her character development was so beautiful to read. This book made me cry so much.
The “funeral” and the tarot reading scene had me genuinely sobbing.
Some of my favourite quotes (there’s too many and some of them are paragraphs so here are a few):
“Her husband is not watching. Her father is not watching. Nobody was ever really watching, except Phoebe. Phoebe was the only person waiting in the dark to condemn herself for every single thing when the day was over.”
“This sounds true to Phoebe. This sounds like exactly what she wants, what she has secretly always wanted. To read books when she wanted to read books. To be sad when she was sad. To be scared when she was scared. To be angry when she was angry. To be boring when she felt boring.”
“You do things in the moment for the person you hope you might be two years from now. You don’t kill yourself when you are sad because one day you might not be sad. ”
“I think we talk about happiness all wrong. As if it’s this fixed state we’re going to reach. Like we’ll just be able to live there, forever. But that’s not my experience with happiness. For me, it comes and goes. It shows up and then disappears like a bubble.”
😭😭😭😭 I love when books.
I can’t believe I almost didn’t read this book. It wasn’t until I heard someone speak about the concept that I knew I had to read it. And I’m so glad I did. I was literally hooked from the start, and tried my best to drag it out.
I could read about phoebe discovering how beautiful life is, with all its complexities and hardships, forever. This book just felt so human. Phoebe was literally grieving her past self and learning how to become a new version of herself. I felt that so hard. I related to her so much. Her character development was so beautiful to read. This book made me cry so much.
The “funeral” and the tarot reading scene had me genuinely sobbing.
Some of my favourite quotes (there’s too many and some of them are paragraphs so here are a few):
“Her husband is not watching. Her father is not watching. Nobody was ever really watching, except Phoebe. Phoebe was the only person waiting in the dark to condemn herself for every single thing when the day was over.”
“This sounds true to Phoebe. This sounds like exactly what she wants, what she has secretly always wanted. To read books when she wanted to read books. To be sad when she was sad. To be scared when she was scared. To be angry when she was angry. To be boring when she felt boring.”
“You do things in the moment for the person you hope you might be two years from now. You don’t kill yourself when you are sad because one day you might not be sad. ”
“I think we talk about happiness all wrong. As if it’s this fixed state we’re going to reach. Like we’ll just be able to live there, forever. But that’s not my experience with happiness. For me, it comes and goes. It shows up and then disappears like a bubble.”
😭😭😭😭 I love when books.