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A Wedding In December

3.01 of 5 stars 3.01 · rating details · 12,134 ratings · 1,092 reviews

At an inn in the Berkshire Mountain of western Massachusetts, seven former schoolmates gather to a wedding.

Bridget, the mother of a fifteen-year-old boy is marrying Bill --- who was her lover at Kidd Academy years ago --- after a chance encounter has brought them together again. Nora, the owner of the inn, has agreed to host this reunion of her old friends, a group that wa...more

325 pages

Published (first published 2005)

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Oct 20, 2008 Marika Gillis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This novel brings seven former schoolmates together after more than 20 years to attend a wedding at an inn in the Berkshire Mountains. The tight bond held by this group of friends was shattered years earlier when one of their own died unexpectedly. The blossoming relationships and potential of each of these central characters jackknifed with the death of this friend, and the wedding reunion gives the characters an opportunity to seek out a resolution for the paths they did not follow.

This is the...more This novel brings seven former schoolmates together after more than 20 years to attend a wedding at an inn in the Berkshire Mountains. The tight bond held by this group of friends was shattered years earlier when one of their own died unexpectedly. The blossoming relationships and potential of each of these central characters jackknifed with the death of this friend, and the wedding reunion gives the characters an opportunity to seek out a resolution for the paths they did not follow.

This is the second book I have read recently in which the others who have read it with me have been dissatisfied. This book was chosen as our December read for my book club. Many, if not all, of the other book club members were turned off by the unhappy marriages and questionable moral behavior that plays out in the novel. (But, then again, this is a church book club!) I, however, was struck by this book. While I did not completely understand the motivation of the characters, I was moved by their strong inner turmoil and their struggles to overcome weakness and temptation.

Despite the setting (which is very appealing to the imagination), the book, like the other Anita Shreve novels I have read (The Pilot's Wife and The Weight of Water), is shrouded in sadness and regret. The characters are consumed with unhappiness and a feeling of general unease. A member of my book club shared that she felt the characters in this novel were underdeveloped. I believe Anita Shreve intentionally writes her characters to be vague. Like real people, they are complicated and troubled. The reader must infer understanding of the characters through their obscure thoughts and behavior.

The most interesting part of this novel for me was the story within a story. In the book, the character Agnes, a lonely classmate pining for a former teacher, is writing an historical fiction short story about the Halifax disaster. The explosion that occurred in the city of Halifax in Novia Scotia during the winter of 1917 parallels the tragedy of 9/11 in this book- the characters in the novel are reuniting merely two months after 9/11. The story of Innes and Hazel (as written by Agnes in the novel) is told during and after the Halifax disaster and their relationship mirrors the others in the novel in it's tempting impossibility set against a recent tragedy. Prior to reading this novel, I had never heard of the Halifax explosion and I was saddened to learn of the deaths and injuries that occurred during that significant historical event.

This book is not a good one to pick up if you are looking for a lighthearted read. While the novel is easy to follow and won't take long to finish, a melancholy feeling permeates every word and may linger for awhile after you put the book down.
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Aug 02, 2007 Destinee Sutton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: chicks

Shelves: romance, grown-up-books

I've read two Shreve novels now and I think what I've learned from her is this: Before agreeing to marry a man, one should ask him if he's actually deeply in love with someone else. If he's honest he may reveal that he's just marrying you because he thinks it'll never work out with another woman. As Shreve illustrates so well in her novels, it sucks to find out ten or twenty years into a marriage that you were actually the runner-up.

I'm pretty tired of books about domestic funk. Why do I keep r...more

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Jun 01, 2007 sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh my god, this book was boring and pretentious, for at least the fifty or so pages that I got through, and I almost never put down a book in the middle. I think I've somehow managed to read almost every book by Anita Shreve and I've only liked about half of them, so I believe I give up now.

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Nov 19, 2008 Christine H rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Shreve fanatics

So, I began this book in May just before I went to grad school and was actually intrigued by the plot synopsis. I found the first few pages dry, but I knew better than to give up on a book before the quarter marker. When I picked it up again this month, I re-read the few pages I had already read and continued for another 20 or so more, but I just couldn't get hooked into it anymore. I thought the narrative was needing spice in numerous areas and even the foundation of the plot began to seem unap...more

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Sep 12, 2007 Christina Kirby rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Obviously, I went through an Anita Shreve phase. This was one of those books that was hard to get into and hard to finish. I actually quit reading it for a while, read a few other books, and came back to it when I had nothing else to read. I guess it was just boring...nothing really happens to any of the characters, they rarely leave the house where the wedding is taking place, and most of the book is spent reminiscing uninteresting memories from the characters' high school/college days. Skip th...more

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May 28, 2008 Becky rated it 1 of 5 stars

The basic message of this book is that adultery can be justified, which I firmly disagree. At first I thought this book was ok - it has an interesting plot concept: reunion of a group of friends from high school after 27 years. It also had a story within a story (which the transitions were confusing, but I started looking forward to reading more of the second story) and was an easy read. But by the end (and time I realized the main message), I was disappointed that I wasted my time.

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Apr 21, 2007 Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

As with all of her books, the storyline has promise, but falls short (for many reasons). I am not a fan of her abrupt/erratic writing style (she seems to jump from topic to topic with her characters). With this book, I didn't like how she had so many characters that seemed under-developed. The book is about seven former classmates, but there are a few that just seem to be thrown into the storyline. The best part of the book was the mini Halifax story within the story.

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Oct 05, 2007 Caroline Rietz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first Anita Shreve book. It was enjoyable, but disappointed where it ended. It was almost as if there was to be a continuation. The one female character who was having an affair with an old teacher, her story seemed abruptly cut off. Why was she having trouble w/ her vision? I almost feel I need to read this again in case I missed something the first time around. I never felt there was enough back ground to each character.

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Nov 30, 2008 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: forget it

I did not really care about the characters. It was a straight character study about people who really bored me to death. We compared it to the big chill (that was more entertaining) The book ends kind of like it started it just was and it was nothing I wanted to read.

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Apr 23, 2009 Jacki rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well I bought this thinking it would be my tie-breaker for Anita Shreve. I've read two book by her that I enjoyed and two that I flat out hated. I won't be reading Anita Shreve anymore.

After the first 100 pages or so, I started just skimming the 'story-within-a-story' parts of the book. For me, this made it much, much better. I didn't really get the point of including this story.

The other thing that I hated was the whole, overall message. She should have included one couple who was at least sem...more

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Oct 14, 2008 Karen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book started out with so much possibility. A group of old high school friends gathering for a wedding between two of the friends who had found each other again.
It was very interesting to see where each of their lives had taken them. It was interesting to learn of their relationships in high school. There was even a wonderful second story taking place because one of the characters was writing a novel and it was being revealed as she wrote it.
However, the book ended UGLY. It revealed some...more

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Sep 17, 2008 Kellie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2005-reads, 2006-reads, bookclub-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This wasn’t bad. It is a story of a small reunion of highschool friends. One of the girls, Bridget and one of the guys, Bill are getting married at the Inn owned by one of their friends. This is definitely similar to “The Big Chill”. I liked that about it. The Inn is in the Berkshires. There are, of course, demons that are hidden in the back of each of the friends mind. Specifically, the death of their friend, Stephen who drowned in the ocean when they were seniors. The truth comes out in the st...more

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Mar 30, 2008 Ali rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is possibly one of my least favourite of the Anita Shreve novels I have read (there are about 3 I haven't read yet - 1 TBR) I didn't find there was the depth that exists in some of her earlier work, like Fortune's Rocks, or The Weight of Water. The actual story of The wedding - is pretty bland, predictable , and not very compelling, although Anita Shreve's writing is always hugely readable. However within the novel, there is a story within a story, which irritaed me at first but then hooked...more

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Nov 23, 2007 Marigold rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read quite a few of Shreve's books & they're a guilty pleasure - she's not the greatest writer in the world, but she tells an interesting story, usually with some historical background, & they're often a quick read. I liked this one less than some of her others, but give it four stars on the strength of the story-within-story - a technique that I always LOVE! The main story is about a group of old high school friends who reunite over 20 years later, for the wedding of the separated-...more I've read quite a few of Shreve's books & they're a guilty pleasure - she's not the greatest writer in the world, but she tells an interesting story, usually with some historical background, & they're often a quick read. I liked this one less than some of her others, but give it four stars on the strength of the story-within-story - a technique that I always LOVE! The main story is about a group of old high school friends who reunite over 20 years later, for the wedding of the separated-but-now-reunited sweethearts. There's a quasi-mystery about the death of one of their group, which is probably the most interesting part of the modern-day story. Other than that I didn't much care for, or about, any of the modern-day characters. The story-within-story is about the explosion of the munitions ship Mont Blanc in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1917, & how it affected a young doctor & the family he'd been staying with. I didn't realize this had actually happened, so on finding the story so interesting I looked up more details. The explosion was the largest human-created explosion that had ever taken place in the world, & held that record until the first nuclear bomb test explosions in 1945. Everything within a mile of the Halifax blast site was obliterated. 325 acres of the town were destroyed. The explosion took place in a harbor & caused a tsunami that resulted in additional deaths besides those caused directly by the blast. Some victims were carried miles from where they'd been at the time. Many people had gone to the windows to look at the ship on fire in the harbor, & there were a huge amount of injuries as a result of people being hit, often in the eyes, by flying glass. 2,000 people were killed. Shreve ties the historical Halifax story to the "modern-day" story which takes place not long after 9/11/2001, but 9/11 is just background. It might have been more interesting, if harrowing, if Shreve had written parallel stories of people whose lives really were affected by each of these events. Still, it's a good book, well written, & worth spending the time particularly for the Halifax story.
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Jun 16, 2008 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 01, 2009 Nenette rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just too dragging for me. I read The Pilot's Wife before and I liked it, so I thought I'd buy another one of her books....but I got disappointed.

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Oct 17, 2007 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

I didn't like Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve. So I've not really sought out her others. But, when you are on the road travelling and you need a new book because you've exhausted the three you brought with you, you'll pretty much take anything that isn't utter crap.

Boy, was I suprised. It was AWESOME! One of the best books I have read in a really really long time. I savored every word. I loved every word.

Enjoy!

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Jan 02, 2009 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing

After having been disappointed by a few of Anita Shreve's later books, I again decided to go ahead and try again when I found this book while combing the thrift stores in upstate South Carolina.

A tale of high school friends, who all shared a common tragedy, now come together for a wedding celebration. Each character is carefully drawn-- some sympathetic, some you want to smack and say "grow up". Shreve successfully peels back the layers of personality and shows that things may not always be exac...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: friendship, anita-shreve, forgiveness, massachusetts, emotion, illness, weddings, a-wedding-in-december

At an inn in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, seven former schoolmates gather for a wedding. Two of the friends, Bill and Bridget, are to be married at last after being high school sweethearts who eventually drifted apart. They met again at the twenty-fifth high school reunion and it is Bill’s greatest wish to reassemble the group and marry Bridget, in spite of the possible illness which lies install for her. Bill and Bridget arrive at the inn with Bridget’s fifteen year old son...more At an inn in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, seven former schoolmates gather for a wedding. Two of the friends, Bill and Bridget, are to be married at last after being high school sweethearts who eventually drifted apart. They met again at the twenty-fifth high school reunion and it is Bill’s greatest wish to reassemble the group and marry Bridget, in spite of the possible illness which lies install for her. Bill and Bridget arrive at the inn with Bridget’s fifteen year old son, Matt, who will give his mother away at the wedding.

Nora owns the inn and over the past two years has re-invented herself following the death of her controlling, emotionally violent and cruel husband, the famous poet, Carl Laski. She has remodelled the inn and taken it to new heights of luxury, friendliness and popularity. She will host the wedding and her schoolmates for the weekend and is particularly excited that Harrison has agreed to join them for the weekend.

Harrison is still haunted by memories of a terrible event at Kidd Academy twenty-six years ago when they were all friends there. He has since moved to Canada and has made a success of his life. He lives with his wife and two sons in Toronto and this is the first time he has seen many of the group for over twenty years.

Rob is now a celebrated concert pianist and arrives with his partner, Josh. He used to be a baseball pitcher on the high school team but when his family realised his talent for the piano, he was no longer allowed to play. These days he travels the world playing concerts far and wide.

Jerry is a New York financier and causes a stir when he arrives in a stretch limo with his wife the beautiful and very successful, Julie, who is somewhat over shadowed by the loud and rude Jerry.

Agnes makes up the group. She is now a history teacher at Kidd Academy and though she is still single she has been living a double life for almost three decades. She and Nora stayed in touch from schooldays and Agnes was a regular visitor to the inn when Nora’s husband, Carl, was still alive, but even Nora doesn't know what Agnes has been keeping to herself all that time.

An important eighth member of this group of friends is conspicuous by his absence. The popular, charming, talented, sporty, Stephen, toast of the debating society and avid baseball player as well as the life and soul of the party was unknowingly haunted by alcohol induced depression and self-doubt. Stephen never made it to adulthood and it is his tale as well as their own that binds this group of friends together.

This is a story of friendship, revelation, forgiveness and love. Anita Shreve is masterful at building the tension within the group dynamic whilst at the same time rounding out the characters and their stories. We also get to know more about the cruel Carl Laski and one of the old teachers and now colleague of Agnes, Jim Mitchell. She weaves them all together in events so terrible that as I was reading I began to wonder how they all came out relatively unscathed. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear to see just how affected each of these people have been by past events and in spite of everything, how they are still bound by an enduring friendship.

This is a really great book full of emotion which is handled with great perception by Anita Shreve. I loved the characterisation and how believable each of the cast became. The prose and conversation is easy to follow and flows very naturally. I also liked that Agnes filled her empty life by writing a work of fiction about the Halifax disaster and a young eye surgeon, Innes Finch, who tended the wounded after the terrible explosion in Halifax Harbour almost a hundred and fifty years before. The serious topics of loss, guilt, loneliness, illness, cruelty and keeping secrets are handled expertly.

As this is the first book I have read of Anita Shreve’s I will absolutely look for more of her work and very likely read this one again.
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Apr 02, 2013 Kathleen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Really terribly written, needs editing desperately.

So often I found myself puzzling over the stupidness of the storyline. A group of friends from high school, who generally haven't seen each other for 27 years, come together for the wedding of two of them. Why would these be the only guest at the wedding? A woman keeps a (asinine) secret for 27 years and blurts it out at the wedding dinner. Why then? When thinking about the events of 9/11 every character imagines the people who jumped from the...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Book Concierge rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.5***

Twenty-seven years after they graduated from high school, seven former schoolmates meet at an inn in the Berkshires to celebrate a long-overdue wedding. During this reunion some astonishing revelations will be made. Past sins revealed, and possibly forgiven. What-ifs and Might-have-beens are examined and might lead to new choices.

I like character-driven novels that explore human emotions and motives. Shreve does a good job with her four narrators – Nora, Harrison, Agnes and Bridget. Each...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Jena rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I suspect most people will not like this book. Not a lot happens. Not a lot is resolved by the end. I loved it. Fantastic character studies. Good themes and insights. Multi-layered. Issues to ponder and form opinions about. It was a good think. I see in reviews that many women do NOT like it. They don't like the themes, they find it boring (the whole book encompasses 3 days), they don't like that things are not resolved, no happy ending. As one reviewer, Heather Ramsey, said: "Highly recommended...more I suspect most people will not like this book. Not a lot happens. Not a lot is resolved by the end. I loved it. Fantastic character studies. Good themes and insights. Multi-layered. Issues to ponder and form opinions about. It was a good think. I see in reviews that many women do NOT like it. They don't like the themes, they find it boring (the whole book encompasses 3 days), they don't like that things are not resolved, no happy ending. As one reviewer, Heather Ramsey, said: "Highly recommended if you can handle what may cause some to squirm." http://www.amazon.com/A-Wedding-Decem...

There are reviews written that are better than what I can write. http://www.powells.com/review/2006_01...

http://www.amazon.com/A-Wedding-Decem... Shreve's characters ponder a question that is more relevant than ever in this age of terror and uncertainly: Should we selfishly seek to make ourselves happy, even if we hurt others in the process? Or should we try to be content with a "good enough" life that may not be as exciting and fulfilling as we might wish? "A Wedding in December" is a heartfelt and moving novel about the ties that bind us and keep us apart.

An understated and graceful exploration of the choices that people make in their day-to-day interactions and their consequences, Wedding is an excellent piece of American literature to add to any library.–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA http://www.amazon.com/A-Wedding-Decem...

Me again...Here's an example of an insight that I found profound...Below is a phrase said by the woman who was the mistress and then wife of a celebrated poet.

"When a man leaves his wife and children for another woman, there's a burden on that woman. She has to be worth the sacrifice.... No one is worth that kind of sacrifice."
"In Carl's case, it was even worse. To be worth the sacrifice, every word had to be incandescent."

...and in the marriage it turns out to be Nora who suffers, as Carl turns out to not be at all concerned with her happiness. She says something along the lines of....some men need a woman to complete them.

"A twenty-two year marriage is a long story, " Nora said. "It's ...it's a continuum with moments of drama, periods of stupefying boredom. Passages of tremendous hope. Passages of resignation. Once can never tell the story of a marriage. There's no narrative that encompasses it. Even a daily diary wouldn't tell you what you wanted to know. Who thought what when. Who had what dreams. At the very least, a marriage is two intersecting stories, one of which we will never know."

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Aug 25, 2012 Charlynn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's amazing to contemplate how little actually happens in Shreve's A Wedding in December, yet, at the same time, that which does is so very monumental – changing nothing but impacting everything, though there is a sense that readers just get to experience a moment of what has been building for decades and will continue to build for years. Perhaps this is because of the issue of time and how the author approaches it. Three days – no, actually, it's more like two days and the fleeting morning of...more It's amazing to contemplate how little actually happens in Shreve's A Wedding in December, yet, at the same time, that which does is so very monumental – changing nothing but impacting everything, though there is a sense that readers just get to experience a moment of what has been building for decades and will continue to build for years. Perhaps this is because of the issue of time and how the author approaches it. Three days – no, actually, it's more like two days and the fleeting morning of a third – pass the characters by in this novel, but through recollections and shared conversations, readers come to feel as if they have known these people, these former friends now reunited at an inn for a wedding, for forever – the turbulent dramas of their lives – infidelity, loneliness, cancer, an unhappy marriage, impending blindness, a life unfulfilled – more guests than the individuals who own the tragedies. Plus, woven into the folds of the book is a story within a story – one of the former friends supplementing her own unhappiness with the decisions of another. The result is a delicious, intense character study which allows readers to feel as though they have been a part of this group since high school – their recent introduction to the various players reminiscent of the gap in time which separated the friends, sometimes rivals, but always connected individuals between their high school graduation and the wedding which reunited them all.

A Wedding in December isn't perfect. There were a couple of continuance issues – for example, while one character noted another's French twist, another referred to the hairstyle as a bun, and parts of the narrative were missing – opinions, insights, secrets left unshared by players whom the author did not give a voice. Yet, these faults will fade in the mind of readers, blending into the background as, years after first finishing the novel, they will remember its rich insight into the human mind and heart rather than a bumbled description or a curiosity as to what Jerry, or Bill, or Rob, or Nora might have been thinking. However, the ending – in its beauty and its maddening abruptness – will be recalled as well, for Shreve's leaves off her book with an unanswered question; will he, or won't he? As a writer, I relish in the ambiguity, savoring its potential for what's to come after the last page is turned, but, as a reader, I loath the unknown – needing, wanting closure but also knowing that such a gift will never be given to me, my opportunity to be a voyeur into these characters' lives now snatched away. Nevertheless... or perhaps because of its ending, A Wedding in December is a work that will not only make you feel but also think, a study of life perpetually in the gray. It is also a joy to read.(less)

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Jul 31, 2012 Inês rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: emprestados, lido-em-2012, favorites

Esta é a história de 7 colegas de escola que ao fim de 27 anos se encontram na estalagem de Nora em Massachusetts, reunem-se lá para o casamento de Bill e Bridget. Bridget que tem um cancro da mama a que o mais provável é não sobreviver. E Bill que deixou a mulher e a filha para ficar com Bridget.
Durante o casamento são revelados segredos que afetam todos os presentes: Agnes que anda com um homem casado que foi professor deles no liceu, Nora que conta a Harrison que o seu marido, Carl, a traía,...more Esta é a história de 7 colegas de escola que ao fim de 27 anos se encontram na estalagem de Nora em Massachusetts, reunem-se lá para o casamento de Bill e Bridget. Bridget que tem um cancro da mama a que o mais provável é não sobreviver. E Bill que deixou a mulher e a filha para ficar com Bridget.
Durante o casamento são revelados segredos que afetam todos os presentes: Agnes que anda com um homem casado que foi professor deles no liceu, Nora que conta a Harrison que o seu marido, Carl, a traía, Harrison que confessa a Nora que sempre foi apaixonado por ela, Bill confessa a Bridget que tem um pavor inacreditável que ela morra. Enfim, todos os segredos são revelados nestes 3 dias que os ex-colegas passam juntos.

O que dizer sobre este livro? Gostei ! Como este ano terminei uma fase da minha vida em que conheci muitas pessoas, entre elas as minhas melhores amigas, este livro fez-me acreditar que só perdemos o contacto com as pessoas que gostamos e com quem convivermos se quisermos, pois o reencontro é sempre possível.

Gostei da forma como a autora preservou as memórias e o amor de Harrison durante 27 anos, e como proporciounou a Nora uma vida melhor depois de o seu marido ter falecido. Gostei do facto de Agnes estar a escrever uma história que achava ser ficção e, no entanto, era a história de Nora e Harrison.

Apaixonei-me pelo amor de Bill por Bridget que mesmo sabendo que ela poderia morrer brevemente quis casar com ela para sagrar o seu amor...

Fiquei intrigada acerca da razão de Julie, esposa de Jerry, lhe ter chamado hipócrita à mesa de jantar; este acontecimento não foi explicado e eu gostaria que tivesse sido mais desenvolvido, é o único ponto negativo que aponto a este livro.

Quanto ao final gosto de acreditar que Harrison ficou lá com Nora e que ia visitar os filhos pontualmente ao Canadá, mas que não desistia do amor que tinha por Nora desde os tempos do liceu.

Aconselho a leitura, sem reservas algumas! E, desde já, obrigado à minha irmã por me ter emprestado este maravilhoso livro.

http://oprazerdaleitura94.blogspot.pt...(less)

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Aug 28, 2011 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction, contemporary-fiction, fiction, reviewed-for-slj, young-adult-fiction

From November 2005 School Library Journal:
A Wedding in December carries many of Shreve’s hallmarks: simple and elegant prose; characters who are entirely convincing in their portrayals of human fallibility; and a plot buildup with a twist toward the end that packs a wallop.
Set in New England several months after the September 11 attacks, this is the story of seven former classmates who have not seen each other in twenty-seven years, but who have come together for a wedding. Bill and Bridget, who...more From November 2005 School Library Journal:
A Wedding in December carries many of Shreve’s hallmarks: simple and elegant prose; characters who are entirely convincing in their portrayals of human fallibility; and a plot buildup with a twist toward the end that packs a wallop.
Set in New England several months after the September 11 attacks, this is the story of seven former classmates who have not seen each other in twenty-seven years, but who have come together for a wedding. Bill and Bridget, who dated during high school and then went their separate ways, have reunited and are getting married in the face of Bridget’s advanced breast cancer. Nora, who owns the inn where the wedding will be held, is trying to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. Harrison believes himself to be content with the life he has made in Toronto with his wife and two sons… until he sees Nora again. Agnes, Nora’s old roommate, has a secret she is desperate to share with the others. Jerry gives every appearance of outward success, but is helpless to prevent the façade from crumbling over the weekend. And over all of them hangs the specter of Stephen, Harrison’s old roommate whose charismatic life and tragic death they all allude to but seem unable to address head-on.
Paralleling the story of these friends, Agnes is writing a novel about the Halifax explosion of 1917, a little-known disaster that resulted in the deaths of almost 2000 citizens of the Nova Scotia community when two ships collided in the harbor. This story-within-a-story not only provides an eye-opening account of a piece of World War I history, but allows Agnes to address some of her own issues through her characters.
Shreve’s novels are consistently understated and graceful explorations of the choices we make in our day to day interactions with each other and the consequences of those choices. A Wedding in December is an excellent piece of American literature to add to any high school library.

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Aug 25, 2011 Barbara Mitchell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just proved that my reading taste has changed for the better. Many years ago I tried to read an Anita Shreve novel and couldn't finish it. Even though it's been so long ago that I don't remember which book it was, I do recall thinking it was awful because nothing happened. The protagonist just thought and thought and thought, and I was totally bored with her thoughts.

Other bloggers whose opinions I trust have been posting good reviews of Shreve lately though, and I decided I should try her ag...more I just proved that my reading taste has changed for the better. Many years ago I tried to read an Anita Shreve novel and couldn't finish it. Even though it's been so long ago that I don't remember which book it was, I do recall thinking it was awful because nothing happened. The protagonist just thought and thought and thought, and I was totally bored with her thoughts.

Other bloggers whose opinions I trust have been posting good reviews of Shreve lately though, and I decided I should try her again. I must be missing something. Sure enough, I was missing something. Now that I'm more mature (read old), I'm more patient with character development and books like A Wedding in December where nearly all the action takes place in people's memories of the past.

Several people are reunited after 27 years for the wedding of two friends. They had all been classmates at a private prep school and one of the group of friends had died not long before graduation. He was sort of the catalyst around which all the others had melded into a solid group and without him, they all went their separate ways after graduation. There is a mystery about the boy's death that haunts them all and it creates an underlying tension throughout the wedding celebration.

The bride, it turns out, has cancer which appears to be terminal. She is marrying the man she had loved in school. He had broken up with her then and they had both married someone else. Now they are together again and want to celebrate that fact with their friends from long ago.

One of the friends is writing a novel based on a real tragedy that happened in Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War I. Since I had known about this event from a vacation there, this was an interesting side story for me. She, it turns out, also has something she has been hiding, but is bursting to disclose.

This book was published in 2005 but it is a timeless story of love, loss, guilt, and people's expectations of their friends. In short, I have become an Anita Shreve fan. I did enjoy her writing, the plotlines, and her characters. I recommend her for others who may not have realized she had something to tell them before. (less)

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Jun 25, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit

A group of friends from high school meet up like 30 years later for a wedding of two of their friends who dated way back in high school and the women is now dying of cancer. They tried to intertwine some sort mystery regarding one of their friends who died back in high school as well and it wasn't like a "who killed him" but it ends up being more of a "someone could have prevented it but didn't" situation and the way it comes out was kind of lame. The characters were okay. Takes a while to work...more

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Apr 15, 2011 Yvann S rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the second “reunion” book I’ve read this year (the other written by a dear family friend and thus specifically not reviewed here, although she is enjoying commercial success in her native Australia) and I love the concept. This time it is a wedding between two high school sweethearts who should have married at 21, and married other people instead. A 25-year-reunion brings them together again and destiny is set straight – and so the high school friends return for the wedding.

There is the...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this. I was home sick from work and read it almost in entirety, in the one day, which is quite unusual for me. I feel this fits comfortably somewhere in between Literature and Fluff, which is often just what I want. Not difficult to read, but gives you some issues to ponder. Also, usually with multi-character stories I find myself constantly flipping back and forth to remind myself of who did and said what, but I didn't have this problem with this book. I thought the characters were fles...more

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Jan 27, 2011 LindyLouMac rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read in December 2006.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4...
Journal Entry 4 by LindyLouMac from Viterbo, Lazio Italy on Sunday, December 03, 2006

This is very odd! This a.m.I typed a long review for this title! Have come back online this evening, as now have an address so wanted to do release notes, only to find NO REVIEW!
Have I got the inclination to do this again? Oh well here goes again....
Basically although I enjoyed this I did not find it as compelling as the two previous titles(The Pilot...more Read in December 2006.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4...
Journal Entry 4 by LindyLouMac from Viterbo, Lazio Italy on Sunday, December 03, 2006

This is very odd! This a.m.I typed a long review for this title! Have come back online this evening, as now have an address so wanted to do release notes, only to find NO REVIEW!
Have I got the inclination to do this again? Oh well here goes again....
Basically although I enjoyed this I did not find it as compelling as the two previous titles(The Pilots Wife and Light on Snow)that I have read by Anita Shreve. The idea of compacting the storyline into the 48hr reunion somehow did not work for me. I could not understand why the parallel storyline was introduced, or did I completely miss the point? It helped me understand the character Agnes a little more but that was all. The story does actually make one think about the actions that one takes, or does not as the case may be and the devastating consequences they can have on one's life.
I have also taken the liberty of copying Amazon.co.uk's Synopsis below as it gives a good outline of the story!
Synopsis
At an inn in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, seven former schoolmates gather for a wedding. Nora, the owner of the inn, has recently had to reinvent her life following the death of her husband. Avery, who still hears echoes from a horrific event at Kidd Academy twenty-six years ago, has made a life for himself in Toronto with his wife and two sons. Agnes, now a history teacher at Kidd is a woman who longs to tell a secret she cannot reveal to the others, a secret that would stun them all. Bridget, the mother of a fifteen-year-old boy, has agreed to marry Bill, an old high school lover whom she has recently remet, despite uncertainties about her health and future. Indeed, it is Bill who passionately wants this wedding and who has brought everyone together for an astonishing weekend of revelation and recrimination, forgiveness and redemption. This is Anita Shreve's most ambitious and moving novel to date, probing into human motivation with extraordinary grace and skill.(less)

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About Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences include having read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton when she was a junior in high school (a short novel she still claims as one of her favorites) and everything Eugene O'Neill ever wrote while she was a senior (to which she attributes a somewhat dark streak in her own work). A...more Anita Shreve grew up in Dedham, Massachusetts (just outside Boston), the eldest of three daughters. Early literary influences include having read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton when she was a junior in high school (a short novel she still claims as one of her favorites) and everything Eugene O'Neill ever wrote while she was a senior (to which she attributes a somewhat dark streak in her own work). After graduating from Tufts University, she taught high school for a number of years in and around Boston. In the middle of her last year, she quit (something that, as a parent, she finds appalling now) to start writing. "I had this panicky sensation that it was now or never."

Joking that she could wallpaper her bathroom with rejections from magazines for her short stories ("I really could have," she says), she published her early work in literary journals. One of these stories, "Past the Island, Drifting," won an O. Henry prize. Despite this accolade, she quickly learned that one couldn't make a living writing short fiction. Switching to journalism, Shreve traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, where she lived for three years, working as a journalist for an African magazine. One of her novels, The Last Time They Met, contains bits and pieces from her time in Africa.

Returning to the United States, Shreve was a writer and editor for a number of magazines in New York. Later, when she began her family, she turned to freelancing, publishing in the New York Times Magazine, New York magazine and dozens of others. In 1989, she published her first novel, Eden Close. Since then she has written 12 other novels, among them The Weight of Water, The Pilot's Wife, The Last Time They Met, A Wedding in December, and Body Surfing.

In 1998, Shreve received the PEN/L. L. Winship Award and the New England Book Award for fiction. In 1999, she received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey, and The Pilot's Wife became the 25th selection of Oprah's Book Club and an international bestseller. In April 2002, CBS aired the film version of The Pilot's Wife, starring Christine Lahti, and in fall 2002, The Weight of Water, starring Elizabeth Hurley and Sean Penn, was released in movie theaters.

Still in love with the novel form, Shreve writes only in that genre. "The best analogy I can give to describe writing for me is daydreaming," she says. "A certain amount of craft is brought to bear, but the experience feels very dreamlike."

Shreve is married to a man she met when she was 13. She has two children and three stepchildren, and in the last eight years has made tuition payments to seven colleges and universities.(less)

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