• Home

Still A Dreamer

Life, art, animals, writing, children's books, dreaming …

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Enchanted
Re-Finding Ourselves »

A Wedding in December – Anita Shreve

July 28, 2011 by still a dreamer

I have read a number of Anita Shreve’s novels – some I have liked quite a bit, and a couple, really not so much. But I found this one, A Wedding in December, to be one of the most enjoyable. I honestly cannot tell if it’s because it’s so very fresh in my mind, or has just grabbed me with its very 3-dimensional characters and a slowly unwinding mystery, but it’s been a fast, entertaining, and absorbing read.

The characters are truly well drawn, but it is the way Shreve has ever-so-subtly introduced a secret, an event, that will weave throughout the book almost revealing itself in a shadow here, a whisper there, until it becomes a riveting focus towards the end of the book that also engaged me. Our characters, Harrison, Nora, Bill, Bridget, Jerry, Rob and Agnes all come with some regrets, their nature revealed gradually at what is both a reunion of friends from a school attended long ago and the wedding of two high-school sweethearts, Bill and Bridget.  She, who is also now fighting cancer,  and Bill met again, having once loved each other and been apart 27 years.

Agnes comes with a long-held secret of her own; Harrison, with regrets and longings. Nora, married to a brilliant poet, created her new life – the conversion of their home in the Berkshires to an inn – after his death, but she, too, has memories of the past and what never was. As the guests arrive and interact, their tales are slowly and quite skillfully told, at the same time dancing around the edge of the subject of their mutual friend – Stephen’s – death so many years ago. When they all become snowbound over the wedding weekend, and with some having too much to drink, many revelations come about.

Within the story of the characters at this event is a second story that Agnes is writing about the Halifax Harbor blast in 1917, killing 2,000 people during WW I. At times, jumping into the life of Innes Finch was disconcerting, and I found myself wanting to get back to the reunion/wedding. At other times, I was more involved with the secondary storyline, with Innes, his feelings for Hazel, and her sister, Louise. Agnes writing this story is also a vehicle for her to help resolve some of her own emotional issues.

A Wedding in December may not be the book that examines the deepest souls of its characters, but it does look quite clearly into how people deal with – or choose not to deal with – regrets and the longings for what might have been. What I liked about this book is that Shreve created characters that I really cared about as well as how things resolved for them. So important in a novel.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Authors, Books, Good Reads, Novels, Writing | Tagged Anita Shreve |

  • My 1st Picture Book!

  • What I’m Reading Now

  • What I’m Also Reading …

  • Like what you see? Sign up and get an e-mail when I've posted something new.

  • Recent Posts

    • Missing Writing
    • The Season
    • Unexpected
    • Happy Halloween!
    • Where We’re Going
    • Creative Life
    • Drawing Angels
    • Win A Signed Copy of Butterflies!
    • Time Passes ….
    • My Dad
  • I write about ...

    Animals Art Authors Books Cats Children's Books Creativity food French Bulldogs Good Reads Helping Out Holidays Home Stuff Illustration Inspiration Just Fun Life Metaphysical Nature Novels Photography Reflections Society Spiritual Writing

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Still A Dreamer
    • Join 151 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Still A Dreamer
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: