The mother of the family is Donna. Many years ago, she was married to a rich Frenchman named Henrique. Henrique found, stereotypically, a younger woman and moved on, divorcing Donna and leaving her with a daughter, Eloise. Eloise lives in London and is getting married, but thanks to her rich father, had a privileged, private school upbringing. Eloise's younger brother, Paul, in particular despises Eloise for being "better" than himself. Paul also hates his mother, Donna, for erasing his father after the man died. Little does he know. Missing from the story is Alice, Donna's second daughter.
The family has complicated relationships, to say the least. I can definitely relate because my family relationships are complicated as well. For instance, Alice. Alice once lived in Mexico City working for a film firm, and living an amazing life. Even when she got pregnant, her life seemed pretty good. But then she miscarried, and it created a hole in her life. She ended up moving home, and has filled that hole in a job she hates sleeping with her married boss. Then Paul. Paul is in a relationship with a man who, even from what we see from Paul's chapters, doesn't care. When we get to Paul's boyfriend, Mark's chapters... I wanted to punch him myself. Paul also hates his job, and that goes out with a bang. Paul doesn't want to go to Eloise's wedding, and refuses until he leaves his job. And Eloise. I actually really like Eloise. We don't meet her until about two thirds of the way through the book, once Alice, Donna, and Paul have made their way to London. Eloise has her own pains from her life, but she truly wants a closer relationship with her siblings and her mother.
The way the lives of everyone in this book come together and are changed by a wedding are amazing. They go into the wedding truly not liking or understanding each other, but by the time Eloise walks down the aisle, you can see the beginning of real healing starting. Paul learns a secret that was kept from him, and sees his mother in a different light. Donna's demons beaten when the truth comes out. Alice regains some self worth and makes positive changes in her life, and Eloise gets to start rebuilding bridges.
I'll admit that when I first started reading the book, I had trouble getting into it. But I'm mostly blaming the fact that for almost three weeks I could lay my head back and fall asleep. Once I really started reading, I was upset when I had to put the book down to do something like work. But to feed my book addiction, I do need to work. I can't wait to read this book again and find all the little pieces that I missed the first time around!
Grant Ginder lives, according to his Wikipedia page, in Laguna Beach, California, and I'm a little jealous. He's published two other novels, This is How it Starts, and Driver's Education, both of whih are now on my To Be Read list. (Is this where I admit that my To Be Read list is several thousand books long?) I definitely suggest reading this one, if only to find out how Paul loses his job. It's worth it for that scene alone. I laughed so hard. #thepeoplewehateatthewedding #grantginder #family #weddings #thecoverwasblueithink
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