The Wedding People

The Wedding People - Alison Espach

When Phoebe arrives at the grand Cornwall inn, she had her life plan in place and nothing was going to stop her. One night of bliss then on with her plan but fate doesn't work the way we want and when the bride of the wedding that has booked most of the Inn out takes Phoebe under her wing, they end up becoming the rock that holds each other up.

WOW. This book was WOW! It wasn't what I was expecting but it was exactly what I needed. The book has some beautiful teaching moments in it from some amazingly wonderful characters. I felt all the feels reading this book and I think this is the best book of the year so far for me.

It doesn't get much better than this. The narration was amazing and I didn't stop listening. It's listed as a dark comedy and it is definitely one of the best I've read. 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. Even with the story having a layer of a sensitive topic, you are able to read the book with a smile on your face. There were a handful of parts where this book made me laugh. With this book you receive a nice morale to the story. You get to see how the main character grows. My only critique to this book is that the ending felt a little rushed but it still appreciated it. This book was a pleasant surprise for me. I thought it was going to be super corny, but I didn’t get that vibe from this book. I definitely recommend this book.

This mines every single Hallmark, rom-com movie trope and throws it on the page. Daddy's little girl with the million dollar wedding that's on a bridezilla hair trigger, her bland, smiling fiancé still dealing with the death of his first wife, his surly tween daughter, the blue-collar best man hitting on anything that moves, along with the day drinking mother of the bride. The weeklong extravaganza collides head on into Phoebe Stone who is the sole guest at the posh Cornwall Inn that isn't part of the wedding and, if all goes to plan, won't be a part of the world either.

Phoebe's 12-year marriage has dissolved over Zoom. Her ex-husband has decided to shack up with Phoebe's work bestie which means she's forced to encounter them in her hastily fashioned office which also serves as the photocopier room and coffee station. Oh, and her cat has died. Determined to end her life, she instead finds new reserves of IDGAF, becomes Lila's maid of honour, and finally starts to say what she's thinking.

Now what if you take all of that seriously. (Let's not forget that Phoebe happens to be working on an academic paper that focuses on 19th century British novels concerning marriage) Here Espach imbues every single one of these characters, that could so easily be reduced to caricature and sneering pokes, with real human heart. They are fully realized people, a little ridiculous sure, but confused and hurt and just trying to catch up. I mean you can call Jane Eyre a romance too but it doesn't diminish the genius of Bronte's work a whit.

I loved the tension it created, and maybe it was just all in my head — but what does a more grounded story entail? Where does the author choose to end this particular type of book? How might this situation play out in the “real world” instead of within the constraints of a typical romance novel? What does a happy ending look like with clear eyed reasoning?

Maybe I'm overthinking it. The characters are a ton of fun, absolutely a blast to hang out with even as it all goes off the rails, and in the end I felt empathy for every one of them. A perfect summer read.

“I just mean, a story can be beautiful not because of the way it ends. But because of the way it's written.” and this was a beautifully written story. Every single person in the book evolves in ways that feel authentic and satisfying, like watching someone you know finally get their life together. By the end, you don't just feel for these characters—you feel like you are one of them, a reluctant but invested member of the wedding party. The humour is subtle yet effective, sprinkled throughout in ways that catch you off guard.

The words don't exist to properly praise Alison Espach enough, but I'll give it a go. She has mastered taking the heaviest topics and making them feel light. She treats them with the seriousness they deserve without taking them too seriously. This takes a book that could be depressing, and instead makes it fun.

Her dialogue feels so natural, yet so unique. A character will say the most subtly funny thing (that they may not even mean to be funny), and you're just left wondering how a brain would even come up with that thought. It keeps you on your toes and makes you want to keep turning the page. 

Her writing brings out her personality in a way that leaves me with zero doubt Alison isn't a wonderful person to be around. This  book is highly readable, definitely rereadable, and I expect will be cherished by many readers across the world. 

Hope and New Beginnings: Why You’ll Fall in Love with ”The Wedding People”

I knew absolutely nothing about “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach. I just liked the cover. Once I had started reading it, I didn’t want to stop—for anything or anyone. Now that I’ve finished it, I’m suffering from a severe bout of book hangover.

Phoebe Stone comes to the Cornwall Inn to kill herself. She just wants to splurge on herself one last time, dine nicely, enjoy the sunset and then overdose on… medicine. Before she can do pretty much anything of that, though, Phoebe finds herself amidst the chaos of the “wedding week” of the bride, Lila, the groom, Gary, and the eponymous “wedding people”.

Lila literally barges into Phoebe’s life and room, and sets Phoebe on a path that will drastically change her life.

»No. You definitely cannot kill yourself. This is my wedding week.«

This premise had me hooked very quickly. What really sealed the deal for me, though, was not the “loudness” of the wedding. It was the raw and honest conversations that quickly started between Lila, who is outwardly controlled, controlling, and almost excessively extroverted, and Phoebe, who starts out as Lila’s polar opposite. Their conversations change their respective perceptions of their lives and futures.

»Phoebe looks at Lila and Lila looks at Phoebe. The sadness of the story is so stark, her voice so monotone when she delivered it, they erupt into a laughter so intense it surprises Phoebe. Every time they are about to calm down, the bride says, “Herrbbbballl Essences!” and Phoebe starts laughing all over again. It makes her feel high.«

I deeply appreciated the sensitive and tender depiction of Phoebe’s state of mind that keeps organically and subtly changing throughout the novel. To me at least, Phoebe is immensely relatable.

»The bride doesn’t understand yet, what it means to be married. To share everything. To have one bank account. To pee with the door wide open while telling your husband a story about penguins at the zoo.«

Lila often comes across as abrasive, rash, sometimes rude, and always expressive, to say the least. She is loud and obnoxious among her wedding people. And, yet, in her conversations with Phoebe we get to see other sides of her: The deep-seated insecurity, her doubts and worries. Lila tries to drown all of it in her outward “loudness”, and by planning, executing, and controlling every little detail and leaving nothing to chance.

It is testament to Espach’s empathy with her characters that Lila, too, is shown as a complex character in spite of all that. Like Phoebe, she embarks on a metaphorical journey that leads her to completely unknown shores and gives her depth. Early on, just styled “the bride”, she grows into (De)lila(h), a first-class character.

Gary, the groom, is Lila’s opposite: He basically stands somewhere in her vicinity and, like a spectator, leaves everything to her. His and Lila’s wedding is his second wedding and he has almost resigned to it. Whereas Lila is loud and outgoing, Gary is often a silent witness of the havoc she wreaks. In his interactions with Phoebe, though, we get a glance at the Gary he has buried along with his first wife. Just like the novel in its entirety, it felt exhilarating, joyful, and kind of triumphant to see how Gary burrows himself out of the “grave” he put himself into; the undeserved guilt he feels, the feeling of being constantly overwhelmed by Lila, and the deeply felt love for his child, Mel(anie), who wants to be called “Juice”.

Phoebe and Gary grow towards each other over the course of the novel. Here, again, Espach intricately weaves a narrative web that not only entangles the both of them but the reader as well. It was simply impossible for me not to enjoy their conversations that are very rarely openly intimate but exude a feeling of intimacy that, at times, made me feel like a voyeur.

I could go on to describe my tender feelings for Juice, Jim, Patricia, Pauline the receptionist, Harry the cat, and many other side characters that are amazingly refined in their own rights and so unobtrusively shown in all their grief and overflowing joy of life (Juice), their restrained despair over what could have been (Jim), what should have been (Patricia), what strictly is in the present (Pauline), and what was (Harry). All of them formed an intrinsically plausible and irresistible world that felt real and life-like.

»“It’s not easy being angry at your own creation. It’s like being angry at yourself.”«

Espach’s writing style and language was superb and extremely accessible, yet neither simple or plain nor ornate. Espach writes just as openly and honestly as most of her characters are. It was an irresistible pleasure to devour her prose.

I especially liked the many shades of humour throughout the novel. From dry (and sometimes morbid) humour…

»“I know this is going to be the most beautiful fucking wedding, and if I wake up to your corpse being rolled into the lobby tomorrow morning, you should know I’ll never recover from something like that.”

“Neither will I,” Phoebe says.«

… to sometimes slapstick-like interludes (the first car made me laugh tears till I started choking) that I’ve not encountered before in decades of reading.

»“Well, I think it’s amazing,” Gary says. “How much work we’ll do just to feel something. I don’t think there is anything more human than that.”«

With the exception of maybe a few indulgent moments near the end of the novel, the pacing was excellent. A mixture of short and medium length chapters sometimes kept me reading from sunset to sunrise, losing sleep—the ultimate proof of a book’s enchantment. I quickly stopped caring about sleep, food, and other bodily functions.

If you’re looking for a novel that is both light and heavy, that spins an astounding tale of hope (at a certain point I was reminded of Emily Dickinson’s wonderful poem ““Hope” is the thing with feathers”), and new beginnings, this book is exactly what you need.

»To be alive, she must leave this hotel, despite the uncertainty of everything.«

Five exuberant stars out of five, and a place among my favourite books of all time.

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam

The main character Phoebe has a bit of a mental breakdown and mid-life crisis after her husband decides he wants a divorce, and also reveals he's been having an affair.

In an attempt to escape her problems, she rents out the penthouse suite of her dream hotel, and then accidentally ends up joining a week-long wedding celebration.

To complicate things, Phoebe gets along great with the groom, and it seems like the bridge and groom aren't the right fit for each other. As you would expect from a romance novel, the inevitable begins to ensue. Although no lines are crossed, it does feel like it dances on some emotional cheating, which feels a bit hmm considering Phoebe was cheated on herself.

I'd say compared to your run-of-the-mill romance novel, the plot and emotional depth to the story felt pretty good. However for winning the 2024 Goodreads choice award for "best fiction novel" it felt pretty mid.