This is one of the books I picked up when the Borders in Cool Springs had all of their books for 99 cents! AND if you bought 4 you got 4 free. I think the reason I picked it up is because apparently it was a movie…it had Anna Paquin and Katie Holmes on the cover.
So here’s the layout of the land here…
Laura and Lila were college roommates. They then formed a tight knit group of friends with a few others and they have drifted in and out of contact over the years. Fast forward from college graduation 10 years…and Lila is marrying Laura’s former boyfriend. Not to mention that out of the group of friends, Laura is the only one not paired up (and coincidentally everyone else is paired with someone from the group of friends). This news of the wedding of course stirs up feelings of her old flame and their relationship, and events then occur that point to the fact that the groom himself might be thinking of something other than the altar.
The group of friends is comprised of people of different backgrounds and walks of life, yet they have this bond that they cannot (and seemingly will not at times) deny. Laura describes herself as “part WASP, part Jewish”, while Lila is the epitome of WASP white upper class society. Therefore this is a meticulously planned out, traditional, old money family wedding. Laura more and more finds herself feeling out of place there, and even just among her friends. Tom, Laura’s former boyfriend and Lila’s fateful groom, and Lila herself both come from this upper crust time of family and even he begins to feel about of place.
The wedding is all pomp and circumstance and seems almost like a ritual to the family and Lila…they are more concerned about what others will think and how other people’s weddings were than with what Lila or Tom themselves would want. Laura notices Tom and the way he’s acting and feels like even he is just putting on an act.
I surely related to this group of friends and the fact that they try as hard as they can to keep it together and act as though nothing has changed since their time in college 10 years ago. I think we all have done this once before…see someone you haven’t seen in awhile and try to pick up where you left off. It feels fun and new for a minute but then you kind of realize how sad it is. The same thing happens here. Things slowly start happening that show them that they are not really as close as they once were.
I will now take a moment to rant….as you may or may not know, I have a sister who is special needs. Now, even if I didn’t, I think I would feel the same as I do about this particular subject. The word retarded is NEVER necessary in books, movies, conversations, songs, NOTHING. The phrase “Don’t be retarded” is used twice within a few pages of each other in the book. It stood out and even seems completely ridiculous when reading it. I did not see the movie (and frankly I don’t think I ever heard of it) but I would hope that this word has been striken from the script.
Back to the book…
During college, the group would frequently change dating partners within the group. As the rehearsal after party ends and they continue their own party with copious amounts of alcohol, Tom (the groom-to-be) disappears. They then split off in pairs and try to find him. Along the way, more alcohol and even some drugs bring everyone’s insecurities and criticisms of themselves and the others to the forefront. They start to slip back in to that carefree nonchalant way of their college years. Even though none of them are anywhere near the same as they were back then.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read.
My next post will be the discussion questions for the book and as always I will warn that it will most likely involve spoilers.
Melodiesintune 