Thoughts

I was between audiobooks and before moving onto something more significant, I picked up this short and sweet book that covers a wedding over a long weekend. I wasn't aware of the author or the book, and just dived in randomly.

The story here is very slight - we're really zoomed in and focused on this one weekend, building up to the wedding of Gail's daughter and the relationships that evolve even over such a short period of time. Gail has to deal with the return of her ex whilst also trying to save the wedding but that's really giving it more drama than it actually is.

The blurb says Gail's day begins with losing her job, which sounds pretty stressful, but she takes it in her stride, almost just with a shrug and a 'time to move on' anyway. The joy of this book isn't in the situation so much as the characters, particularly when Max turns up. There's clearly a deep relationship between them, and the author brings you right into it - they banter together, they have a history, and potentially, they have a future as well. The observations of a marriage are perfect:

“Maybe I should just give up on teaching and sell asparagus instead."

"You jest," he told me, "but it's true the pay might be better.”

The length of this book means you're really not committing to too much by giving it a go, but it's not lacking in any way. It's stripped back and therefore focused and gives you time to get to know the characters even across so few pages. I didn't know Anne Tyler before reading this one, and I think it's a great way of introducing yourself to her. I'll definitely be searching for more of her work.

I loved it, and it gets the top score because when a couple on the page feel real to me, I end up invested in what happens to them.

Rating: 5 / 5