Customer Reviews

A Marriage Made at Woodstock

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Loved this book, being of the Woodstock generation myself. I appreciated the intergenerational slant of this book and plan to read it again.
Bound to stand the test of time.

"A Marriage Made at Woodstock" explored a life-changing experience in middle age. It caused me to re-evaluate my direction and goals. A lesson is threaded intricately in the plot and you walk away with something you can hold on to. The character's conflicts emphasize what is valuable in life. A must read for diehard or newly won Pelletier fans.

Not sure what the previous reviewer missed, but it was a lot! I read reviews of this in San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times when it came out and it sounded great. But didn't get a copy in my hands to read until a few months ago when I found it in a bookstore in D.C. I stayed up all night laughing my you-know-what off as well as feeling the pain that comes with a failed relationship and approaching middle age. I say the author nailed it for us, as one reviewer says on the paperback. "She taught us about our generation." I agree.

I enjoyed this book. Parts of it are very funny, but it also has a serious side. The lesson learned by the main character was something all people can relate to. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about real people and real life (and also enjoy a little comedy!).

As I mentioned in my review of Pelletier's sixth novel, BEAMING SONNY HOME (Crown Publishers, 1996) , having read one of the author's books I was left hungry for more. No dissapointment here. This is a tale of two forty-somethings who first met in the mud of the epochal music fest and foundered in the ruts of yuppiedom. Pelletier's fifth novel is darn near as good as her sixth. BEAMING is a bit more subtlely wrought while WOODSTOCK is a little funnier, but both work well. Some of the author's observations about my Woodstock generation cut close enough to hurt, and many made me laugh at myself. Out loud. I am left curious about her fourth novel and anxious to find her seventh. Huzzah!

I am a big fan of Cathie Pelletier's work. I have read all of her novels and often find myself bursting out in laughter whenever I read her books. The same was true with A Marriage Made at Woodstock. There were very funny moments and the writing quality was superb, but I found that my eyes often glassed over, and I became quite bored reading on and on about Fred's musings over the loss of his wife. I just wanted to tell him to "get over it!".

I'm not a Baby Boomer but "Gen X" and I found this book to be one of the funniest I ever read, and also one of the most poignant. Accountant Frederick Stone (even the well-chosen name makes him sound stuffy) has the life that he takes for granted come tumbling down around him when his free-spirited wife walks out on him. Suddenly he's receiving his first traffic ticket, falling from a roof when he's trying to spy on his soon-to-be-ex wife, beating up an "intruder" who turns out to be a relative, and having his bare rump photographed by a private detective when a local rich woman throws herself on him. In between these capers, he's learning about himself and about growing older, about dreams that don't come true, about adjustments we all have to make as we get older, about many, many insightful and touching things. This is a wonderfully written book, a true pleasure, and I recommend it to readers of all ages.

I enjoyed The Funeral Makers, also by Cathie Pelletier so much that when I was recommended A Marriage Made At Woodstock, I ordered it.

I was enthralled from start to finish. It's hilarious, yes -- one of the things I enjoyed so much about the Funeral Makers -- but it's also poignant and endearing and philosophical, witty and wise. Just what I've come to expect from a writer of this calibre. The story of a marriage unwinding, of two people
finding themselves in different ways, of a brother whose life is also simultaneously changing -- is such a reflection, not just of the Woodstock generation, but of an entire way of life and a culture I as a reader from England find fascinating. I found so much to reflect on afterwards -- and yes, I did laugh out loud when Frederick climbs on the porch and peers in at the wrong window in the wrong house.

A wonderful book. Do read it!

I love her books, the Mattagash and the non-Mattagash. I'd like to live in Mattagash, Maine. And I wish I could meet MOST of her characters face to face. (Some of them are pretty funny but you wouldn't want to go to dinner with them! Take Chester Lee Gifford in The Funeral Makers...kind of guy you'd love for your worst enemy to fall in love with! But you yourself can love him from a distance. In this non-Mattagash book, the main character is an accountant. Who would have thought accountants could be funny? Read it.

As this is out of print, I was thrilled to find it. Funny, sad, full of interesting characters and emotion. A superb read.