Other People's Weddings

this book is definitely worth reading! The author does an absolutely amazing job using the feminine voice and perspective. I was very impressed! The dialogue and mental chatter that the main character Laurie has is just so raw and real. It is not at all chick lit or fluff - which is what you would probably expect given the cover design. Laurie is a jaded wedding photographer. Having suffered her own heartbreaks in life, she spends her time capturing the wedded bliss of others. She wonders what becomes of all the happy couples that she takes pictures of and she sets out to get answers. She does follow up work on her clients -- sees if they are still married 10 years later. She interviews adulterers, wife beaters, widowers, battered women, etc.. Reading this book was a look at the private pain others have endured. Sometimes life isn't happily ever after and this book sets out to show that. It's not all doom and gloom though. This book deals with finding love in hard world. Letting go of fears and continuing to believe in love; not a fairy tale love, but a real, true love that transcends the self. Highly recommended.

Despite the beautiful cover and engaging title, this book isn't romantic. At first, I thought the writer was a female, and I was pleased to find that a male did such a good job writing from the female perspective. The book is about failing romances. A wedding photographer - Laurie - lets us into her life and we follow her as she captures photos not only of weddings, but also of people who have broken up, divorcees, widowers, stalkers, etc. The book was about love and the many forms it can take - from syrupy to obsessive. The story also includes chapters about Laurie's own parents and their dysfunctional love story. Those chapters were quite disturbing at times, as were some of the speeches her photography subjects gave. I think the disturbing nature of the scenes is because a lot of what was happening in this book happens to people regularly; they were feelings you could easily identify with. I did find the writing slightly `choppy' - the sentences were rather short and non descriptive.. the book was a `state it like it is' type of writing style and reflected the main character and her harshness. Laurie isn't all that likeable at first, but towards the end I was hoping she would find her own happiness too. She was well-written and very complex. This book was hard to stick with, but worth it if you keep going and can appreciate some of the layers in the story.

I ordered this book after our local paper did a review of books for summer reading. The title intrigued me as well as the plot. I found it most interesting that the author was a male writing in the viewpoint of a female. Laurie has photographed over 1,000 weddings - but what happened to them? Was it happily ever after? Laurie starts her quest to find out. We also get to peek into her life. Bits and pieces come out about her family and relationships. And then there's the mysterious man at the weddings; could this be true love at last?