Book Review | The People We Hate At The Wedding

From the beginning, you’re swept into the extravagance of the wedding hype as invitations go out. Alice and Paul seek to find out how much was spent on a piece of paper, setting the tone for the novel. Everyone is constantly comparing themselves to others and perceiving the world in a scathing way, one in which they feel they’ve lost their footing.

Between Alice, the middle sibling pushing her way through corporate life with pills and promiscuity, Paul, the man in a committed relationship with a man who micromanages and encourages them to see other people, and Donna, the mother of the bride who gets by on blunts and reminiscing on the old days, there’s a chaotic and self-destructive cast of characters than anyone could enjoy. Each character in the book has had a difficult journey and a desperate need for family, despite the fact that they won’t reach out to each other when they need to. All of this culminates around the wedding of Eloise, the eldest daughter from Donna’s first marriage.

I don’t often pick up literary fiction, but I found this delightful gem right after my own wedding (and the stresses that came with it), and I thought it might be just as exciting, frustrating, and fun. Granted, I didn’t get around to reading it right away, but after my wedding, I became infatuated with wedding stories, and this was no exception.

Throughout the book, you see how the character's relationships with their mother and deceased father shape their other relationships. Alice lashes out and seeks the unattainable. Paul finds himself with a man who wants to change him. Eloise desperately wants to be needed and liked, throwing herself into her work.

I greatly enjoyed the book, though I was constantly critiquing some of the characters for how they viewed each other. One character’s genuine generosity is perceived as a malicious act of boasting, yet at the same time, this perception is acknowledged to be inaccurate. If you want to watch characters grow and see your perceptions changed or challenged, you’ll enjoy reading The People We Hate At The Wedding.