Though the title of Close's novel nods at The Sound of Music, the white dresses she's talking about are those worn down the aisle. So is this just another fluffy piece of chick lit about 20-somethings finally finding love? Not with Close's wry wit and deadpan delivery, which make this debut a treat to read.
The brides and bridesmaids, all recent college grads in Manhattan, are trying to make their way through the labyrinth of business and romance, pets and take-out, that modern life offers. This is not Our Hearts Were Young and Gay; it's is an original confection with echoes of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing and a dollop of Sex and the City.
Isabella, Mary and Lauren are the centerpieces of these 17 interrelated stories, with friends on the periphery, who include Ellen, who "dates ugly boys," and Abby, who has hippie parents who embarrass her.
Lauren, after long internal debates about sleeping with her sleazy bartender boss, meets Mark, who "never" wants to live with another person. Isabella has a penchant for picking losers, until she meets Harrison, who is definitely a keeper (their moving story, "Until the Worm Turns," is the funniest of all). Studious Mary is a lawyer who marries and quickly produces two children, but must cope with a horror of a mother-in-law named "Button," because her daddy thought she was cute as a button. What more do you need to know?
There is much alcohol consumed in these stories; many, many tears over men, weddings, showers, white dresses, bosses, pets, jobs and downsizing. In fact, just about any occasion calls for booze and tears--or both. Through it all, you just know that somehow these thoroughly modern Millies are going to come out right where they want to be. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.