This was a nice change from the recent fictional thrillers I have been reading. This is a family saga, sort of, over a three day wedding weekend, one in which we get to know all the members of the family, especially the father, whose eyes we see the weekend through, but we also get to know his wife, daughters and the assorted family of the groom. The novel is set on an island off of the coast of Massachusetts, toney and privileged.
Winn Van Meter (great name), as the book begins, is heading to the island of Waskeke, his family's summer home since his boyhood. His pregnant daughter, Daphne, is about to marry Greyson Duff, a friend from college. Winn's wife, Biddy, has done all the planning for the wedding and as the story begins, she is putting the finishing touches on the rehearsal dinner on Saturday, the Friday night dinner at a local restaurant. Needless to say, the house is over run with the groom's friends, his brothers, and, of course, the bridesmaids. One of the bridesmaids, the sexy Agatha, as we see, has always been a favorite of Winn's, and she creates many of the problems that fill the weekend, not only a result of Winn's lechery, but also her promiscuity with whomever happens to be around. And to make it a perfect weekend, Winn's youngest daughter Livia, has recently had an abortion. To make matters worst, she has just been dumped by Winn's neighborhood antagonist's son, Teddy Fenn. Teddy's father belongs to the exclusive Pequod golf club, which Winn has been trying to join, to no avail.
This sets the scene for a weekend of one mishap after another, from Winn's silly attempts to find out why he has been blackballed from the club, to his being run over by a golf cart and taken to the hospital the day before the wedding. We are let into his head, to his angst, his late middle age fears of getting old, which leads to his feeble attempt to screw Agatha, his daughter's best friend. She's willing but he's not able, either because of guilt or fear. His daughter, Livia, spends the weekend mourning the loss of her boy friend, attempts to forget him by sleeping with the groom's older brother, only to find out the next day that he also slept with Agatha, who seems to sleep with almost any one. Some how Biddy, Winn's long suffering wife, takes Winn to the hospital, overlooks his lechery because of the wedding, soothes her younger daughter's hurt feelings, and makes sure the wedding eventually goes well. By the way, Winn manages to fall off the roof of his antagonist's house, the night before the wedding, thus limping down the aisle. But all's well that ends well. Daphne and Greyson get married, seem to be well matched; Livia ends up talking with her ex boy friend, Teddy, who has joined the army. And Winn realizes, finally, how his life has been governed by trying to live up to his father, to be something that he's not, to join clubs that ultimately are meaningless. And through it all, he realizes, his life has been pretty good, two wonderful daughters, a loving wife. Life is not so bad if you look at it with gratitude, enjoy what you have, ignore what you want.
This is not usually my kind of book but I liked it enough even though I never cottoned to Winn. I would guess you are not supposed to...his lack of consciousness makes for the humor in the book. I have just started Shipstead's next book, ASTONISH ME and like it so far.
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