BOOK REVIEW: Taking The Plunge by Stacie Lewis

Taking The Plunge is an antidote to those happy, fluffy, "isn't planning a wedding a wonderful dream" type books that so often grace chick lit shelves. Not that there's anything wrong with those books per se, but they are escapism, aren't they? As anyone planning a wedding (and about five people I know currently are) will tell you, it's a stressful experience at the best of times.

And Stacie Lewis's debut novel certainly does not describe the best of times...

A touching and jaw-dropping account of one woman's pre-wedding calamities (that makes a great case for elopement!) this is the story of Bernie, an American in London who gets engaged to her British boyfriend and is deliriously happy about it - until she tells all four (yes) of her parents, and they start to make her life a misery...

And I really mean a misery: because both her parents are divorced and re-married, arguments and power struggles ensue about everything from who pays for what to the wording of the invitations. And because Bernie is in London, she doesn't have as much control over her big day as she'd like - is the venue really okay? Surely she doesn't have to have the cheapest dress available? And she can choose her own rabbi to perform the service, right? Everything becomes a struggle, and more than once Bernie and Sam think about eloping.

At times, all this tension is funny but as it becomes more dramatic it's just horribly sad that something supposed to be a happy event is hijacked by the selfish attitudes of the bride's parents, who are old enough to know better. What's really sad is that this is based heavily on Stacie Lewis's own experience (how she managed to forgive her mother for something that happens later on in the book, I don't know, although I do admire her for it).

The structure of the book is a little odd, as "Wedding Truths" are included at the beginning of each chapter. These good, although very cynical observations are made by the author (and this is where it's made clear that the events of the book really happened). I think I'd have preferred the whole book to have kept one narrative voice - or it would also have worked brilliantly (better?) as a memoir.

Saying that, I found this a compulsive and enjoyable read - a fast, easy read made even more intriguing by the fact that a lot of it is based on the author's real experiences, although if I wanted to get married, I'd think two or three (hundred) times about having a big wedding after reading Taking the Plunge. And I won't be passing it on to my stepsister or my engaged friends until after they've tied the knot!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Like this? Try Wedding Belles by Zoe Barnes. [-- That comp, though, is now closed - sorry!]

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