Wedding stories to welcome the season

Posted 5/31/15

'Beautiful Day'

by Elin Hilderbrand

Every girl dreams of a picture-perfect wedding day, as does Jenna Carmichael, the bride in Elin Hilderbrand's most recent novel "Beautiful Day." The sad fact is that Jenna's beloved but …

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Wedding stories to welcome the season

Posted

'Beautiful Day'

by Elin Hilderbrand

Every girl dreams of a picture-perfect wedding day, as does Jenna Carmichael, the bride in Elin Hilderbrand's most recent novel "Beautiful Day." The sad fact is that Jenna's beloved but deceased mother Beth is not there to share it with her. Having anticipated this special event during her illness, Beth kept a "Notebook," a sort of primer of suggestions regarding the ceremony, flowers, guest list, music, dress (her own), attendants, location, etc as a way of sharing this moment with her daughter after Beth was gone. Nantucket is the setting since the Carmichael family has spent every summer there. It is obvious that the author is very familiar with the island where she herself has lived for twenty years. References to well-known haunts abound, such as The White Elephant Hotel, where the wedding guests stay; the Nantucket Yacht Club where the rehearsal dinner is held; the Brant Point Lighthouse where Jenna flees when she has second thoughts about the upcoming nuptials; Madakat Beach where Jenna's sister Margot searches for Jenna when she disappears unexpectedly. Despite Beth Carmichael's "Notebook," with everything perfectly planned, all does not go smoothly. Jenna does not react well when told of a previous, but brief engagement of her fiance to a former girlfriend. To make matters worse, the wedding weekend exacerbates her father's deep loss of the love of his life, Beth with whom he shared a wonderfully satisfying life in this idyllic place. Although he has married again, he realizes that he has never really loved this second wife, Pauline, in the same way that he did Beth. Moreover, in a fit of jealous rage, Pauline steals the "Notebook" and, after reading what was intended only for Jenna, flings it into the flames.  There are interwoven subplots involving other members of the Carmichael family. The sister Margot, recently divorced, is assessing her life and her past choices, wondering where she is headed and whether she is a good mother to her three children. She is tortured with guilt having had an affair with her father's law partner who influenced her to unethically promote his nephew to a position marked for someone more entitled and deserving. Another issue is the relationship between her brother and his gay partner, as well as another brother who is carrying on with a married bridesmaid, a Nantucket friend since childhood. Members of the groom's family have problems of their own, too many to detail here. Suffice it to say, weddings are never simple affairs since they evoke subconscious memories as well as deeply strong emotions. In this case, given the Carmichael family dynamics, those memories and emotions will surface acutely despite the best intentions to submerge and control them.

'The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time'

Edited by David H. Lowenherz

From the Australian writer Katherine Mansfield's (1885-1923)  passionate and  highly sensual declaration of love to the more mundane and succinct "I'm sure crazy to see you" Harry Truman (1884-1972) to his adored wife Bess, this book is a collection of some of the most highly charged and emotional personal expressions of romantic love expressed by smitten individuals through the centuries. These epistolary  compositions are not only impressive in the depth and degree of ardor they convey, but also provide us with a glimpse into the personality of the writer himself/herself. Some lines border on high poetry, as in Oscar Wilde's letter to his wife Constance: "My soul and body are mingled in some exquisite ecstasy with yours," while others profess a transcendent love that knows no earthly bounds, as in  Civil War General George Custer's (1839-1876) letter to his wife Elizabeth: "With thoughts of my darling my last prayer will be for her, my last breath will speak her name." In fact, Custer risked everything he had worked so hard to achieve when he made an unauthorized visit to Elizabeth at a nearby fort during a frontier mission against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. As a result he was court-martialed and suspended for a year. Her devotion to him was legendary, following him everywhere he was stationed, sacrificing her own comfort and security to accompany him. One interesting inclusion was a letter to Elvis Presley from an admiring fan Marjorie Fossa after seeing him in concert in 1972; it is less poetic than the others but certainly no less sincere. She tells him she has worked three jobs throughout her school years in order to purchase "all of his music and ANYTHING else" that she could get her hands on. She declares that seeing him on stage was "the most exciting day of my life ("more so than my wedding day")! She was actually fired from her job after she took the day off for the concert, but she adds in the letter, "I am now on cloud 9,000... it was worth losing fifty jobs." From Abigail Adams to Honore de Balzac to Frieda Kahlo to Dylan Thomas to Virginia Woolf's "It is incredible how essential to me you have become," all express the same sentiments albeit in the different phrasing of each individual: that the object of their affection is the dearest, most precious, most treasured person in their lives upon whom their happiness depends. It will restore your belief in the possibility and existence of true love.

'Love the One You're With'

by Emily Giffin

A complicated romantic relationship is the focus of Emily Giffin's novel, "Love the One You're With." Behind the seemingly perfect marriage of Ellen and Andy Graham lies some unfinished business concerning Ellen's former boyfriend Leo, a journalist, who stirred so deep a passion that it has remained an unsettling presence throughout her one year marriage to Andy. Following Ellen's devastating break-up with Leo, she was introduced to Andy by his sister Margot, Ellen's college roommate and best friend. Despite her attachment to Margot and the Graham family who have always welcomed her and embraced her with sincere affection, she has always felt inferior by comparison. They are wealthy and cultured Southerners while she comes from a blue-collar background, and she is always in awe of their "perfect" family and affluent surroundings. However, the problem is hers, not theirs; and Andy, as well as his parents, do not find her lacking in any way.  At first the newlyweds live in New York City where Ellen enjoys her work as a photographer; but when Andy suggests moving back to Atlanta to be closer to family, Ellen is not as enthusiastic, but concedes. There she becomes bored and resentful, missing the satisfaction derived from her work, disliking the manner in which both their lives seem to be ever influenced by his family, his mother even choosing to decorate their home. In this mood, she begins to find Andy wanting—he is almost too content, complacent, oblivious of her feelings. In addition, she dislikes his cadre of old friends with whom they socialize and begins to feel like the only outsider. Her dissatisfaction is further exacerbated when, one day, she accidentally runs into her old flame Leo in New York City. As before, she is drawn to him by some magnetic power which she is unable to resist. She is very aware that she is now a married woman with a very good husband, but one who does not arouse in her the wild passion she once had with Leo. When she accepts a work assignment that puts them in close proximity—he as the writer and she as the photographer—this relationship is rekindled and she must make an agonizing choice.

Much of the remainder of the book focuses on whether Ellen will allow herself to be influenced by this strong sexual attraction to Leo, who once left her heart-broken and disappointed , or remain faithful to her marriage vows to the uncomplicated and steadfast Andy. The reader is kept guessing until the very end.

Donna DeLeo Bruno is a native Bristolian nd a retired teacher of writing and literature. She now splits her time between Bristol and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where she gives book reviews at the local library as well as at book clubs and women's clubs. Some of her most enjoyable and relaxing hours are spent reading a book beneath the shade of a tree at the foot of Walley Street with the sun sparkling its reflection on the water.

Donna DeLeo Bruno

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