Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Singles by Meredith Goldstein

4 Star

Bee wanted the perfect wedding; she got the “Singles.”

Back in her single days—before she met the man of her dreams—Beth “Bee” Evans hated being forced to attend weddings solo. Determined to spare her friends the same humiliation, she invites everyone on her list with a guest. Much to her chagrin, however, Hannah, Vicki, Rob, Joe, and Nancy insist upon attending Bee’s lavish Chesapeake Bay nuptials alone. The frustrated bride dubs them the “Minus-Ones” and their collective decision wreaks unintended havoc on her otherwise perfectly planned wedding weekend.

Lydia - 4 Star

I enjoyed this lighthearted tale of singles converging at a mutual friend’s wedding.  Having been in this position more than once during my lifetime, I could relate to how difficult the position can be. In the promotional material received with this novel, The Singles was likened to the movie Bridesmaids, but I couldn’t see that much of a connection really.  It wasn’t nearly as funny, so I might have been a bit disappointed in that respect after reading this comparison.  Overall, though, I really liked all the complicated and confused characters but unfortunately I felt we didn’t get to see enough of them.
 
I really wished this novel was longer.  It took over 100 pages to be introduced to each character as it was told from their individual perspectives and much of that was back story about how they all met or knew each other or grew apart before they actually arrived at the wedding.  I knew as soon as I hit this point that The Singles would be too short as there were only 140 pages left for something monumental to actually happen. Because there were so many people and so few pages devoted to each that I didn’t feel like the novel captured enough of each character and I found myself wanting more from each of them. I wanted to get to know them better and see more interactions and events to occur between them than actually did.
 
I loved that the singles were a variety of ages which gave different perspectives and stories. The characters weren’t caricatures either.  They were each unique with unusual, quirky issues and interactions and I liked how the wedding gave them all perspective about their lives and the impetus to move on or in a new direction.
 
Regardless of its short and sweet nature, The Singles is still a fun read and is a novel that everyone who has ever sat solo at a wedding should be able to relate to. And even those who haven’t. There are coupledom antics and those wedding clichéd folks we all know and loathe – the overzealous bridesmaid, the overbearing mother of the bride, the drunken dancers, the long winded speech maker – I could go on, but dancing around the quirky cast of main characters, there are enough amusing wedding antics and characters that anyone who has ever attended a wedding can relate to.
 
If you’re looking for a light-hearted read with a wedding theme, pick up The Singles.

Thank you to Plume for our review copy!

Connect with Meredith Goldstein here:
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