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Book Review
Mar. 10th, 2010 09:58 pmThe Wedding
by Dorothy West
This short novel covered an immense amount of ground without every feeling overstuffed or superficial. The Wedding is also absolutely American in subject matter and feel. It is a portrait of the Coles, a wealthy African-American family in the 1950s, as they vacation at their Martha's Vineyard summer home and prepare for the upcoming wedding of their younger daughter Shelby. West perfectly captures the warm, languid feel of a New England late summer of leisure as well as the loving comforts and frictions of familial bonds. West also does a lovely job of weaving together the present day with vignettes from the characters' pasts and the longer saga of the family's history. These stories provide a probing illustration of issues of race, complexion, class, and social status.
by Dorothy West
This short novel covered an immense amount of ground without every feeling overstuffed or superficial. The Wedding is also absolutely American in subject matter and feel. It is a portrait of the Coles, a wealthy African-American family in the 1950s, as they vacation at their Martha's Vineyard summer home and prepare for the upcoming wedding of their younger daughter Shelby. West perfectly captures the warm, languid feel of a New England late summer of leisure as well as the loving comforts and frictions of familial bonds. West also does a lovely job of weaving together the present day with vignettes from the characters' pasts and the longer saga of the family's history. These stories provide a probing illustration of issues of race, complexion, class, and social status.
