While it may be difficult to attend a wedding alone, imagine the pressure of having to scrounge up a date when you've got nobody on the horizon. Enter The Singles, Meredith Goldstein's debut novel about the most fascinating people at the wedding--and they aren't the bride and groom. As Goldstein traces one day in the lives of five single people at a mutual friend's nuptials, what could have been a mishmash of concurrent stories ends up coming together seamlessly.
The best part of The Singles is the surprises. This debut novel doesn't follow the prescribed formula for romantic comedic fiction, and Goldstein--an advice columnist and society page journalist for the Boston Globe--doesn't trot out the tired concept that love was under their noses the whole time. The character of the bride is mostly ignored, which is a nice touch. After all, once you make it the altar (and until your husband begins his first affair or loses all your money on an online gambling addiction), your story has pretty much already been told. Actually, the novel's wedding is thoroughly upstaged by blitzed bridesmaids giving long-winded toasts and various guests gettin' jiggy in the honeymoon suite. The astonishing ending provides a satisfying crunch, too. The Singles crafts a tale about an wedding that will make anyone RSVP "yes, yes, yes." --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend