Tuesday, July 11, 2006
A Wedding in December
by Anita Shreve
review by J. Nuzzo
In Anita Shreve’s latest, seven once-close high school friends gather for a weekend reunion in the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts after having their lives dramatically altered by tragedy twenty-seven years earlier. The occasion, the wedding of once-sweethearts Bill and Bridget, collides with the collective accumulation of personal disappointment and loss, set in relief against a post-September 11th backdrop, treacherously asking, “What if?”
Bridget’s illness creates a sense of urgency for the wedding that “should have been” years earlier, had it not been for a young Bill’s seemingly unforgivable transgression.
Harrison, still haunted by the tragedy at Kidd Academy, is forced to reflect on his own life and current feelings for Nora.
Nora, in turn, has begun a new life as a widow, running the inn where the friends gather, emancipated from marriage to a renowned poet.
Agnes privately bears the burden of her choice to remain in a relationship with a married man, finding solace in her personal writing of the tale of the Halifax explosion during World War I, a story interwoven with Shreve’s narrative, whose devastation parallels the events of September 11th.
Rob, a world-renowned concert pianist, surprises all by arriving with his lover, Josh.
Jerry, a successful Wall Street banker, turns the screws, forcing everyone on edge with his overbearing scrutiny.
In a weekend where friends stand on the precipice of catastrophe, regret, hope, forgiveness, and the perilous allure of second chance, a poignant story of personal loss and consequent gain is re-contextualized in an altered new world.
review by J. Nuzzo
In Anita Shreve’s latest, seven once-close high school friends gather for a weekend reunion in the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts after having their lives dramatically altered by tragedy twenty-seven years earlier. The occasion, the wedding of once-sweethearts Bill and Bridget, collides with the collective accumulation of personal disappointment and loss, set in relief against a post-September 11th backdrop, treacherously asking, “What if?”
Bridget’s illness creates a sense of urgency for the wedding that “should have been” years earlier, had it not been for a young Bill’s seemingly unforgivable transgression.
Harrison, still haunted by the tragedy at Kidd Academy, is forced to reflect on his own life and current feelings for Nora.
Nora, in turn, has begun a new life as a widow, running the inn where the friends gather, emancipated from marriage to a renowned poet.
Agnes privately bears the burden of her choice to remain in a relationship with a married man, finding solace in her personal writing of the tale of the Halifax explosion during World War I, a story interwoven with Shreve’s narrative, whose devastation parallels the events of September 11th.
Rob, a world-renowned concert pianist, surprises all by arriving with his lover, Josh.
Jerry, a successful Wall Street banker, turns the screws, forcing everyone on edge with his overbearing scrutiny.
In a weekend where friends stand on the precipice of catastrophe, regret, hope, forgiveness, and the perilous allure of second chance, a poignant story of personal loss and consequent gain is re-contextualized in an altered new world.
