Customer Reviews

Wedding Season

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

This should have been a much better book than it turned out to be. The premise - modern gal with live-in boyfriend and anti-marriage philosophy attends many weddings - seems intriguing enough. There's quite a lot of room there for social commentary on the nature of marriage and why we remain optimistic about it despite the cautionary statistics. Darcy Cosper fails to explore this premise, and her characters, fully.

The dialogue borders on painful: Cosper attempts to make her characters smart, witty, and over-educated. It ends up sounding... lame. The main character's boyfriend asks her to dance: "Foxtrot?" Joy's reply: "Gesundheit." And it's downhill from that opening gambit.

The poor dialogue would be forgiveable if not for the rest of the text. The torturous sentences drag on too long and wind back on themselves. This sort of storytelling is amusing when done in person. In print, it's a pain in the nether regions.

Throughout the 'summer of discontent' Joy manages to remain unsympathetic. The author reiterates Joy's anti-marriage stance early and often, but fails to explore the topic in any depth until the very end, when two characters magically explain its origin to her. But not to the reader: somehow Joy picks up the gist of what her best friend and brother have told her, though I couldn't reach the same conclusion based on those conversations.

The book ends on a rather baffling note. While I'm glad the end is more complex than "happily ever after", Joy's choices still hang suspended from extremely thin plot points.

In the end, I felt like the book needed to go back to the author a few more times for revisions.

The thing that struck me about this book as I finished it wasn't the character development (for I found most of the characters too closed off), or the 'gripping' plot (it isn't particularly chaotic despite the books premise)...but what I took away from it. I found as I read the story that it really gives you some perspective on the institutions and conventions in our society, particularly (and obviously) surrounding Marriage and Weddings. I was drawn into the ideas of why some people cherish 'til death do us part' and why others, such as the main character, are so opposed (or maybe not) to weddings.

The story has the general premise of Joy Silverman, a 29-going on-30 year old woman with a perfect live-in boyfriend, who is faced with the dilemma of attending 17 weddings in 6 months, including her 5 nearest and dearest pals, both of her parents, friends of friends and friends of the family...you might assume, judging by the cover (a big no no) and the intial outline of hte story on the back and the catch phrase at the beginning, that you will be catapaulted into detailed accounts of the most important of these weddings...

Instead, Cosper uses the events that take place at the weddings to bring her anti-marriage heroine Joy to question her morals and beliefs in terms of why she is so against marraige, when all of these other people in her life are committing to one another. I think the story concept is original in itself as you are reading about someone who goes against hte conventions of both what we expect in society (marriage!) and what we expect from a 'romantic comedy-bridget jones-esque' type book that dominates the market these days for women (this book is hardly a romantic comedy...whatsoever). The only thing I found discouraging about the story was that there was a large number of characters and sub-plots introduced that never really went anywhere or contributed to the main messages of the novel, and serve mainly as confusing backdrop storylines that don't contribute to a more cohesive and concise book.

Regardless of the criticisms and congratulations I have to offer to Miss Cosper, I have to say that this book, while not the most enthralling of the ones I have read lately, was definiately one of the most unique and promising in terms of what you have to gain from reading it. Single and married women alike should not go into this story and expect a super dramatic romance and climax and all that jazz that you find in most books on the market, but should rather read this book for the experience and the values you will pick up when you are done.

"Wedding Season" aspires to be the intellectual version of chick-lit, but comes across as pretentious and preachy. Name-dropping everyone from Julian Barnes to Anais Nin, Darcy Cosper's debut novel ends up an empty, bitter-tasting mess.

Joy is fiercely anti-marriage, but somehow has gotten roped into being a bridesmaid/guest at seventeen weddings in six months: A debutante wedding, two gay commitment ceremonies, a Web-based wedding for an open marriage, and weddings for her brother, mother, and father.

Then Joy's boyfriend Gabe drops a bombshell -- he wants to marry her. Without really thinking about it, she accepts. But she also has to deal with her lesbian friend Henry's possible breakup, her pal Joan's breakdown, and the possibility of her boyfriend cheating on her with a sexy, sly memoirist. Does Joy really want to get married after all?

It's easy to see "Wedding Season" as a novel about how some people are happiest when unmarried, and how singleness is not a disease. Sure, happiness can't be bought in a little velvet box. But dig a little deeper into the book's message. How independent can a woman be if her determination to remain unmarried is based in a bunch of childhood neuroses and fears? Not very inspiring.

Cosper's writing isn't anything to write home about. Her thin plot is worth about twenty pages, so she stretches it out with the seventeen weddings -- several of which are glossed over -- and a dozen subplots. But half the subplots lead nowhere, and the main plot itself putters to an unsatisfying halt.

Despite being called a "comedy of manners," there's nothing remotely witty or intelligent in this story. The author apparently harbors some bitterness towards marriage, and therefore trots out many arguments against it. So it's not witty, not intelligent -- it's merely a preachy tract, wrapped inside quirky anecdotes about chaotic weddings.

Joy herself is a wretched character -- stodgy, peevish, and neurotic. Worse, Cosper has her acknowledge her neuroses, but not overcome them -- at the end, she's as messed-up and fearful as ever, and has treated her long-suffering boyfriend like a doormat to boot. Other characters like the gay brother, the good girl, the neurotic mom and gorgeous boyfriend are merely cardboard cutouts. The only likable character is lesbian pal Henry; despite her over-the-top personality, she's the sanest person in the whole book.

The neurotic bitterness and preachiness of "Wedding Season" spoil what could have been a fun light romp. Despite the back-cover comparison to Jane Austen, there's no comedy and no manners in this flaccid piece of chick-lit.

I was pleasantly surprised by a lot of this book-- picked it up expecting the usual chick-lit clothes-boys froth-- instead got a frenetic, literate (I LOVE Joy's job!) witty play with some very fun characters (e.g., Henry, and the wonderful Charles) and some rather amusing subplots (e.g., the love-letter writing). It was also rather enjoyable to have a heroine who Doesn't want to get married.

However, there were a couple of major problems. First, Gabe. As presumably the second most important character in the book, one might expect him to be, well, a real guy. More than one-dimensional. All I could say about him (as opposed to Henry, who while somewhat stereotypical at least has a presence) at the book's end was that he has a cute butt, his parents are rich, and he's a nice guy. That's IT. Oh, and maybe he doesn't like marriage. Or maybe he does. Who knows? In particular, nothing was built up for his actions at the book's climax. He had no reason to act that way, but then, he had no reason to act any other way. I found myself asking, "Why'd he do that?" and not being able to find an answer.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, Joy's reasoning on the major marriage issue makes NO SENSE given her actions and her other beliefs. For example, she never breaks a promise. But she's worried about marriage because it's, like, a promise. Um, what? She's also afraid of marriage because she would start relying on it in a stupidly trusting way (by the way, splendid irony with the way other characters-- Ora, Joy's mom-- are shown to buy into the reliance on marriage in ways that directly contradict their own situations), and yet, it's pretty clear from the way she treats Gabe at various points in the book that making those promises would if anything make her MORE neurotic and distrustful, not less. And we're supposed to believe not only that she thinks these things, but that they are major epiphanies that other characters have about her. It's too bad, because some of the points Joy makes are worth thinking about, but her actions totally discourage the reader from pondering those points.

I could barely stomach getting through this book. The author is so worried about sounding intellectual that she made a barely readable book. Of course, the ending was unexpected, and would have been an interesting ending if there was really any revelation behind it. Okay, I get it, Joy doesn't like marriage, but they never really give any substantial or understandable reason for her belief. The characters were either over the top or had no personality, not to mention there were about a hundred too many with about seventeen different unresolved subplots. Stay away from this book- unless you want a headache.

I'm pretty surprised at all the vitriol posted here. Perhaps the cover led some readers to expect a different kind of book--more of a "beach" read, wrapped up with a neat bow. Instead, bless her, Darcy Cosper delivers Joy Silverman, a protagonist who runs the most amazing business (I'm jealous) and who insists on thinking for herself, even when the cost is high. And it is high indeed: Joy, whose friends are getting married at an astonishing rate, has a pretty delicious boyfriend herself--but does not believe in marriage. Ultimately, she has to choose--heartfelt principles or delicious boyfriend. (Could it be the fact that she chooses her principles that has some readers so upset?) Along the way we get dialogue that snaps like fresh celery and a novel that refuses to fit into the usual molds. I found it a true pleasure.

Is this novel perfect? No. But it's strong, involving and often funny--and it has at its heart a lovely notion. That not everyone should get married. That thought--and the book--are well worth considering

I feel like some of the reviewers on this board, misled by the book's cotton-candy packaging, might have bought Wedding Season expecting the typical chick-lit froth.

In fact, Darcy Cosper's book is a far more sophisticated enterprise. I'd describe it as great, pointed social satire, with more than a splash of wit and verve.

There's a lot of fine New York social portraiture, and vivid character sketches: one pal is described as "part hip-hip tomboy and part Hello Kitty kitch princess....She has a dozen little rhinestone barrettes holding her hair so that it sticks out in little tufts, and when she speaks, the tufts quiver like antennae."

It's true that Joy, the narrator, obviously thinks of herself as a bit cérèbrale; but so what? I got a kick out of all of her little bon mots and mordant asides.

Besides, Cosper doesn't seem to be holding Joy up as any sort of role model. She is obviously a flawed character, given to occasional bouts of stridency and self-centeredness. That's what makes her interesting.

This sounds like an English-teachery point, but Joy really does go through an (ahem) evolution over the course of the novel - from a pretention-prone flibbertigibbet, to an actual grownup, who is trying to move beyond her specious theorizing and live a purposeful life that actually means something.

I liked this book very much. I'm going to be recommending it to my book group, as I think it will spark some interesting debates on the social politics of marriage, the true nature of female friendship, etc.

Don't let the cover fool you - or, more specifically, let the cover fool you and then stay around for the prose. Those four dresses on the front promise a work that's fun and vapid, and while _Wedding Season_ is certainly fun, there's no vapidity: the prose is penetrating and Cosper's observations merciless. I found this book an unexpected delight for late summer.

After reading the first page of Wedding Season in a book store, I knew it would make me laugh. What I didn't expect was, by the end, to be moved as well. Cosper captures a specific time in life with such an astute (and charming) eye that I felt compelled to write a review here. While I think the book would be just as wondeful on a cold December night, if you're looking for a book for the upcoming summer, Wedding Season has got to be it.