"Life Happens!"
Charlene Dugan begins THE WEDDING PARTY by having the bad
hair day from Hell. First her daughter tells her that she
doesn't "want to end up like her", then the grocery calls
to tell her that her mother is there and is lost.
Charlene doubts that her mother could be lost and
confused, but when she sees her sitting so forlorn in the
manager's office she knows that something is very wrong.
After settling her mom, she has a flat tire on the way
home. Of course, since this is a BAD day it is her ex-
husband Jake who stops to help her. After all of this she arrives home to find long-
time "perfect" love Dennis waiting with dinner and tells
him that it is time to get married. From this inauspicious beginning Dennis and Charlene's
relationship goes downhill! Charlene is dealing with
getting a diagnosis for her mom and getting her settled
when she gets word that her mom's house has burned--
apparently Mom forgot something on the stove. Thanks to
her mom's neighbor she is safe and a temporary place for
Mom to stay is provided. Daughter Stephanie has her own problems as her live-in boy
friend moves out due to Stephanie's complete piggishness
and spoiled behavior. Watching Stephanie pull herself up
by the bootstraps for the first time in her life is one of
the many joys of this wonderful book. Jake the ex-husband is a conundrum. On the surface he is
irresponsible and fickle (5 marriages) but as the book
progresses his true depth and love for Charlene just shine
through and one wants to shake her for not seeing it. But
Charlene was damaged as a child by her father and has to
finally come to terms with her childhood before she can
move into the future. Meanwhile, the neglected Dennis is meeting with the wedding
planner and seeing lots more of her then he is of Charlene-
-this wedding made on a Hellacious day does not seem bound
for Heavenly happiness at all. In THE WEDDING PARTY, Ms. Carr has written a sensitive,
funny and thoughtful character-driven book that deals with
heavy subjects in hopeful ways. As a reader who's mother
has Alzheimer's, I cried over the portrayal of Charlene's
Mom--it was so accurate and so poignant that it was almost
cathartic. TWP is women's fiction in the very best sense
of the genre and manages to be both witty and meaty at the
same time, not an easy trick to pull off but Carr performs
it admirably. This book sent me hunting for Carr's backlist which is the
highest praise of all. Linda Hurst
Reviewed by Linda Hurst
Posted October 13, 2001
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