Other People's Weddings [Hardcover]

Noah Hawley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

Laurie is a wedding photographer who has photograph more than a thousand weddings over the last ten years. One morning, when wakes up and wonders what happened to all those couples. She starts making calls. Some of them are still together. Others have split up. She begins a photography project to document what happens to love after the wedding. She photographs widowers and divorcees, homewreckers and stalkers.

She is still photographing weddings, and at one of them she meets a man who has sneaked into the proceedings. A crasher. They share a spark, a few moments of powerful chemistry, and then he's gone. Later, at home, she finds pictures of him at eleven other weddings she's photographed and wonders if his propensity to crash weddings is sweet or creepy. She starts looking for him at every wedding she photographs. When she finally sees him again, a romance begins between them.

Through her courtship, glimpses of her past emerge-her own first marriage and divorce, the things she is trying to get over, to get past, that threaten her new relationship. Her past makes her a ghost at all the weddings she photographs. Before the book is over, she has to tear down all the walls she has built.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Other People's Weddings isn't the lighthearted romantic comedy the title suggests. Yes, it does have romance. And yes, it does have snappy one-liners. But it also has a dark side that exposes our fears about love, trust and commitment. I loved this novel, but buyer beware: You'll ache for the heroine, even as you'll applaud her wit and indomitable spirit." -Jane Heller, author of Lucky Stars and The Secret Ingredient

"Better than a fly on the wall, Noah Hawley is a high-speed, wide-angle lens--and the portrait of American marriage he creates in OTHER PEOPLE'S WEDDINGS is sharper, darker, and infinitely more fun than anything in any leather-bound album."-Nicholas Weinstock, author of As Long As She Needs Me

With "Other People's Weddings," Noah Hawley answers the question "Can a male
writer get inside the head of an über-contemporary female protagonist?" with
a resounding yes. The forces that fueled Hawley's Paris Review story "In the
Air"--namely his attention to the intricacies and complications of modern
relationships--are at work in this charming novel.-Vandela Vida

"Oh how much cheap ink has been spilled complaining how hard it is to find the right man! As if he was an elusive pair of trendy pink heels, out of stock everywhere you shop. Finally, here's a novel about dating that doesn't pretend love is an island paradise, and recognizes that chill in the air is leaking from a shattered past we thought we'd sealed off."-Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do With My Life?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Noah Hawley is a screenwriter, filmaker and photographer. He has directed two short films for the Fox Searchlab new director development program. His first novel, A Conspiracy of Tall Men, was optioned by Paramount. Noah Hawley adapted the screenplay. He has published stories in The Paris Review. He lives in San Fransisco.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 5558624485
• ISBN-13: 978-5558624489
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,004,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sharper and tougher than the usual romantic fluff, April 15, 2009

By 

Alan A. Elsner "Alan Elsner, author" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Other People's Weddings (Paperback)

In the genre of "chick lit" usually characterized by poor writing, poor plots, no characters and predictable happy endings, this book definitely ranks higher than most. The premise is all too familiar. Laurie is a 30-something wedding photographer who attends countless "happy" occasions but always as an outsider, never as a participant. As the book goes on, she broadens her perspectives, tracking down couples whose weddings she photographed years ago to see what happened to them, taking pictures in divorce court, a marriage counselor's office, and finally in one preposterous scene, hanging out with a stalker.
Laurie's love interest is the stupidly-named Gilligan Ford, whose name the author mistakenly chose perhaps to suggest that "no man is an island." Both he and Laurie are damaged, lonely, unhappy people, scarred by tragedy. Can they, will they find happiness together? Can there be any doubt?
On the way to the predictable ending, various complications ensue as they must, and we discover the source of our heroine's unhappiness. Despite its faults, I did feel that this book contained a tough center where usually nothing but mush resides. The author, while an ardent advocate of married bliss, recognizes that it takes work to achieve and he also has some tart observations about the nature of our instant gratification society that lifted his story above average.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dearly Beloved..., February 22, 2005

By 

Antimony3 (Budd Lake, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Other People's Weddings (Hardcover)

this book is definitely worth reading! The author does an absolutely amazing job using the feminine voice and perspective. I was very impressed! The dialogue and mental chatter that the main character Laurie has is just so raw and real. It is not at all chick lit or fluff - which is what you would probably expect given the cover design. Laurie is a jaded wedding photographer. Having suffered her own heartbreaks in life, she spends her time capturing the wedded bliss of others. She wonders what becomes of all the happy couples that she takes pictures of and she sets out to get answers. She does follow up work on her clients -- sees if they are still married 10 years later. She interviews adulterers, wife beaters, widowers, battered women, etc.. Reading this book was a look at the private pain others have endured. Sometimes life isn't happily ever after and this book sets out to show that. It's not all doom and gloom though. This book deals with finding love in hard world. Letting go of fears and continuing to believe in love; not a fairy tale love, but a real, true love that transcends the self. Highly recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly what the title would suggest, June 19, 2010

By 

Vermeer fan (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Other People's Weddings (Hardcover)

From the jacket cover, you would suspect that this is just another chick lit, rainy afternoon read. Instead of the usual mental popcorn, you instead get some questions to ponder: What is the nature of love? Do you lose the essential you when you love someone else? How do you let your barriers down to let someone in-especially when you have more baggage than a Delsey factory?

We met 37yr. old photographer Laurie in the midst of a wedding, posing the bride and groom for the best possible effect. We follow her as she begins to wonder on how the couples she has photographed over the years have fared and starts to follow up on their status. Using the medium of photography to address her inner questions, she begins not only to photograph her original clients but widowers, the "other woman", domestic abuse victims and even stackers. Along with a on again, off again romance with a wedding crasher she meets during her gigs, you watch her begin to throw off the isolation she's built around herself and re-engage with the world at large.

A lovely surprise...