The Wedding People Book Review
Check out my review of The Wedding People by Alison Espach, a darkly funny book about a rich cast of characters during a 6-day wedding in Newport.
As the hostess of the Peanut Blossom Book Club, I consistently read lighthearted books for consideration as options for our annual book lists. If you’re a longtime member of our club, that is likely the sort of recommendation you’ve come to expect from me.
However, as much as I adore a lighthearted romance, in my private reading time you’ll find me enjoying a wide spectrum of genres and story types.
The Wedding People is not a book I’d ever choose for our lighthearted book club and yet it is one of my favorite books over the last year.
Reading something as darkly funny and emotional as this selection gives me the variety I crave for my own reading list. It also serves as a perfect complement to my lighter picks. Much like pairing a dark red wine with a light and airy chocolate cake. Both are delicious and they can be better when enjoyed together.
Curious if this book is for you? Check out my full review below.
Summary of The Wedding People
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe’s plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.
In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.
What I Liked
Here’s what I would tell my best friend about the book:
- Darkly Funny: My family has a very dark and dry sense of humor. When I described some of the funny parts of this book to my husband, he commented: “So a little like a Wes Anderson movie then?” and he couldn’t be more right.
- Motley Crew of Characters: I enjoyed the entire ensemble of characters that make up the “Wedding People.” They run the spectrum from funny to tragic to obnoxious, just like a real wedding. I particularly enjoyed Phoebe and Jim, the groom’s brother-in-law.
- The Wedding Events: It’s been a long time since I planned my own wedding but I can appreciate the humor involved in all the classic traditions. The bachelorette party scene was my favorite.
- Oddly Hopeful: For a book that starts out as darkly as this one does, it ends on such a hopeful note. There is a reason it is categorized under “literary fiction” and not “romance” but it was still exceedingly satisfying. If you want more specifics, you should check out my Trigger Warnings at the very, very bottom of this post.
What I Didn’t Like
Every reader needs something different from a book. What I may not have preferred may be your favorite part so take this with a grain of salt.
I was not prepared for how dark the story is at the start. It ended up being fine for me, but I was under the impression this was more comedy and not dark at all. If I had tried reading this during a stressful season, it may have been a no-go but the book found me at just the right time and I really enjoyed it.
For my long-time book club members, this is not a book I’d ever pick for our book club. It has far too serious themes for our more lighthearted book lists.
I’m going to share some trigger warnings with mild spoilers so I can be more clear about what surprised me. I’m placing them at the very end of this post so you don’t accidentally run into them if you don’t want to see them.
How Spicy Is It?
🌶️🌶️🌶️: The Wedding People is one of the harder books to rate according to my spicy books rating scale. There are no specific spicy scenes but there is a lot of innuendo within the conversations happening among characters.
After some consideration, I’ll give it a 3-chili pepper rating because in addition to the innuendo, there is a bachelorette party scene that has some very frank discussions of intimacy as would befit such an occasion.
So while the book is actually not “spicy” at all, I wanted to add this note in case you were wondering about age appropriateness.
Overall Score
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I give The Wedding People 5 stars.
Even though it started more darkly than I imagined, the writing was engaging and the characters were full of surprises.
I enjoyed the insight into what it would be like to start over after such a cross roads in life and loved the commentary on wedding traditions, marriage and relationship compatibility, and parenting during different life stages.
This is a book that will keep me thinking for some time.
If this is your first time reading one of my reviews, you may want to check out how I score my reads with this scale guide here.
Similar Books You’d Enjoy
If you enjoyed The Wedding People, you might also like reading:
Trigger Warnings with Mild Spoilers
The book starts with a failed suicide and explores deep depression after fertility loss, an affair, and divorce.
A character is also struggling with the recent death of her parent.
The book does not shy away from the topic of grief but the story does end on a positive and hopeful note. The characters are changed for the better and grow through their experiences.
If you’re sensitive to these topics, you may want to shelve this book for now.
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