Writing with the fluent narrative artistry and the acute grasp of human motivation that distinguish all of her bestselling novels, Anita Shreve tells the compelling story of seven former schoolmates who gather at an inn in the Berkshires to celebrate a wedding. Their reunion becomes the occasion of astonishing revelations, recrimination, and forgiveness as the friends collectively recall a long-ago night that forever marked each of their lives.

what happened to anita shreve? i used to love her -now it seems like they will publish anything she writes, so she's stopped trying. instead of telling one story well, she tells nine stories poorly. woven together are totally disconnected narratives (including a ww2 era tangent) that never fit together. i didn't care about these characters. the dialogue is just plain awful. the story is predictable and melodramatic.

A WEDDING IN DECEMBER by Anita Shreve
August 5, 2008

Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors, and I've enjoyed most of her books. A WEDDING IN DECEMBER was not one of my favorites, mainly because it took a while for me to warm up to the story. The story revolves around a group of middle aged adults who meet at an inn in the Berkshires for a wedding for one of their former classmates. It's been many years since they have all been together, and there are many stories to tell. This is one of those books that is more a character study than an actual story with a plot. There are secrets that are revealed, and more importantly they learn about each other as they spend a rather intimate weekend together, detailing their past lives after they had met the last time.

The reason for the gathering is the wedding of Bridget and Bill. It is a second marriage for both. They were sweethearts in school, but for some reason things didn't go the way everyone had expected, and they both married other people. Now, after many years apart, the two are together again. Bridget's health is in jeopardy, and before it is too late they want to make their union legal.

I don't know if this story would appeal to the average reader. Fans of Anita Shreve will definitely want to read it, and once I got into the story I did enjoy it. It just took a while for me to get into each character. There's a lot going on between all the former classmates, and it made for interesting reading, at least for me. Anita Shreve is a master at creating complex realistic characters and she shows it in this novel. Not one of her best but definitely recommended for her fans.

Did Anita Shreve promise her publisher to a book of so-many pages? Is that why the Halifax disaster novel of Agnes is included? Or, is it there as a clumsy attempt to mirror 9/11? Whichever, it is, it fails! I would have liked to learn more about the other characters, Jerry, etc.

I'm the type of reader who usually finishes a book, no matter how painful...and I finished this one. I had to, as I had just stopped at Day 5 in "Ten Days in the Hills." I couldn't fail on two consecutive reads.

If you haven't purchased this book, don't! If you have, save it for the beach.

I've been reading several class-reunion novels lately, and this one stands out. The delicacy, the unerring accuracy, of the portrayals of old friends who are changed yet unchanged, by a couple of decades apart is compelling. Successes and tragedies, trauma shared and unshared, personal definitions all are reinterpred, and in some cases, blown apart with Anita Shreve's sure hand. I especially liked Agnes, the spinster-teacher-secret lover of a professor they all knew and admired. She writes her alternate endings out in fiction, raising the inevitable question as to how much of this story might draw on the author's own life, real or wished-for.

I listened to this on CD in the car and believe me if I hadn't been on a long trip and needed something to listen to I would have stopped withing the first few chapters. There is only one or two characters worth liking and rooting for (the couple marrying) The rest are sniveling idiots and the story withing the story is so predictable. Ms Shreve also needs an editor for the inconsistencies within the story. A little more research please