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Weddings and Dinosaurs
Jun. 19th, 2025 11:14 amA Wedding in December by Anita Shreve tells the story of seven high school friends who reunite in their 40s when two of their number decide to get married.
As I have come to expect from Anita Shreve, it's a very interior story about people reflecting on their lives and having complicated inter-relationships with one another. There's also a story-within-the-story as one of the characters is writing a piece of fiction, which we get long extracts from. I found that story a bit tedious and difficult to connect to (as well as being very grim in aspects), and this also extended to the long letters various of the characters write throughout the book, and the lengthy 'big reveal' monologues towards the end.
I appreciated the acknowledgement that the versions of people we hold in our heads are likely not the same as the real people in a lot of ways. I also liked the whole arc following the two people getting married and was very satisfied with the conclusion of that. A lot of the rest of it was pretty dreary, though, (which was pointed out by the characters themselves!) and I wasn't keen on the apparent theme of setting aside the dreams and expectations of youth to accept the disappointments and practicalities of middle age.
Overall, the writing was good and there was a lot of well-observed detail about all the characters. But it didn't go anywhere particularly interesting and was largely a bit of a downer.
Last night, I went to a Jurassic Park-themed cabaret event at The Clapham Grand, called Life Finds A Slay. I was a bit apprehensive going in, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Some of it was (a lot) better than others, shall we say... Stand-outs were the performer who did a parody song about the experience of the little boy in the first film, and the stunning burlesque performer who did a great act as a velociraptor. The host was really good and I also unexpectedly enjoyed the audience-participation costume competition. Overall, an enjoyable night out and I'm glad I went.
As I have come to expect from Anita Shreve, it's a very interior story about people reflecting on their lives and having complicated inter-relationships with one another. There's also a story-within-the-story as one of the characters is writing a piece of fiction, which we get long extracts from. I found that story a bit tedious and difficult to connect to (as well as being very grim in aspects), and this also extended to the long letters various of the characters write throughout the book, and the lengthy 'big reveal' monologues towards the end.
I appreciated the acknowledgement that the versions of people we hold in our heads are likely not the same as the real people in a lot of ways. I also liked the whole arc following the two people getting married and was very satisfied with the conclusion of that. A lot of the rest of it was pretty dreary, though, (which was pointed out by the characters themselves!) and I wasn't keen on the apparent theme of setting aside the dreams and expectations of youth to accept the disappointments and practicalities of middle age.
Overall, the writing was good and there was a lot of well-observed detail about all the characters. But it didn't go anywhere particularly interesting and was largely a bit of a downer.
Last night, I went to a Jurassic Park-themed cabaret event at The Clapham Grand, called Life Finds A Slay. I was a bit apprehensive going in, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Some of it was (a lot) better than others, shall we say... Stand-outs were the performer who did a parody song about the experience of the little boy in the first film, and the stunning burlesque performer who did a great act as a velociraptor. The host was really good and I also unexpectedly enjoyed the audience-participation costume competition. Overall, an enjoyable night out and I'm glad I went.
