THE ROMANTICS

      "Laura and Lila were once as close as could be – college roommates at the center of a tight-knit group of friends. But the friendship has wilted a bit. Now, six years after college, the friends – and the boyfriend they shared – have reunited for Lila’s wedding at her family’s seaside estate in Maine.

        Laura is reserved, single, and the only Jew in the group, while the bride, Lila, is a WASPy, moneyed golden girl. And the groom, Tom, a swim-team star from a working class Catholic background, is a perfect paradox of confidence and confusion. As the wedding draws near and the wine flows faster, the disappointments and desires of the reuniting friends come quickly to the surface. A drunken game on the estate’s dock goes awry when the revelers are puled out to see by the current. When they swim back to shore, they are short by one – the groom. The search throws the group’s shifting allegiances into relief and results in new betrayals as well as confessions.

        With Lila’s family’s picture-perfect Maine summer house as the backdrop, Laura not only sees her old friends in a new light but reassesses herself as well: Is he the only one of the group destined to be unmarried into her thirties? Was it always this obvious that she was the only Jew in a pride of WASPs? Struggling with the traditionally thankless role of maid of honor – not to mention contending with Lila’s formidable mother, Augusta – Laura also realizes she can’t stop thinking about her complicated, long and intense relationship with the groom. But isn’t that relationship far in the past?"

 from front flap

You may remember a posting about the movie that is based on this book. Since the movie looked pretty good, I thought I would try the book first. It was so good! I read some of the reviews on Amazon and it seemed to be split, you either love it or you hate it. Although the author is very descriptive (i would venture to say even more so than Stephen King), the plot was so interesting. It all takes place in one night, but there are a lot of descriptions of the characters and we see what it was like for them back in college and how it has changed to the present. The only complaint I have about this book is that it was too short! I had to rush to finish it so I could return it to the library so that might have something to do with it, but I felt like she sort of just finished writing. Of course, I love the way it ends, but still I think there is a lot of the story that could have been told.

The way the chapters are written is one of my favorite parts of the novel. When the group splits up into search parties, you get everyone's background and their thoughts on the whole situation. This keeps it interesting and you really get involved with the characters. There were a couple of times that I was so excited for one and then another when I was annoyed by someone else. I'm just a huge fan of books with multiple character's perspectives. 

I would recommend this book to anyone. It was a super quick and interesting read that anyone would enjoy!