The bridesmaids union A novel

Jonathan Vatner

Book - 2022

"From the author of Carnegie Hill, comes Jonathan Vatner's The Bridesmaids Union, a captivating novel of family, Facebook groups, and bridesmaids gone rogue. Iris Hagarty has just about had it with weddings. After witnessing one too many meltdowns over flower arrangements, she takes to the internet to vent about the trials and tribulations of being a bridesmaid to her usually reasonable friends-turned-bridezillas. She finds she is not alone, and soon becomes the moderator of a Facebook group full of other bridesmaids, eager to share their own horror stories. Enter Iris's own estranged sister Jasmine, the golden child and their parents' obvious favorite, who reemerges after several years, newly engaged and wanting none ot...her than Iris to be her maid of honor. Knowing full well that Jasmine doesn't need a wedding to bring out her spoiled side, Iris buckles in for a bumpy ride. At least now she has an outlet-one full of new online friends hungry for juicy details. But as the Bridesmaids Union grows, Iris finds it harder to keep under control. And she even has some doubts about whether there will be a wedding after all. While Jasmine's fiancé, David, seems smitten with his bride-to-be, Iris is less sure about her social-climber sister's intentions. Though that could just be because Iris is having trouble keeping her eyes off of the groom herself. Brimming with family drama, and set in the ever-encroaching world of Instagram DM's and Facebook comments, The Bridesmaids Union shows the power and limits of alliances we form on social media, and how to make the most of the ones we're born into"--

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Subjects
Genres
Romance fiction
Domestic fiction
Published
New York : St. Martin's Press 2022.
Language
English
Main Author
Jonathan Vatner (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
328 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
ISBN
9781250762399
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Part sparkling satire, part cautionary tale, Vatner's (Carnegie Hill, 2019) frothy latest casts an affectionately critical eye on social-media influencers and the contemporary wedding industry. Single mom Iris, a compliance officer at a New York hospital, is sick and tired of the emotional and financial tolls of being a bridesmaid--particularly those tolls imposed by her upwardly mobile sister, bride-to-be Jasmine--so she starts a private Facebook group to vent. The success of the group leads to problems of its own, and soon Iris' identity and opinions are outed, to the detriment of her personal relationships. While the novel's tone sometimes precipitously shifts from light to oddly serious, and Vatner tries to cram in more characters and plots than one fluffy novel can successfully contain, he juggles them mostly successfully, and even makes the reader understand the perspective of even the most initially unlikeable characters. At its best, the novel offers plenty of wedding-inspired laughs and a few useful warnings.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this sharply satiric take on nuptials and social media from Vatner (Carnegie Hill), Iris Hagarty loves weddings, but hates brides. Iris, a 30-year-old single mother, can't find a boyfriend and is sick of all the demanding brides she has accommodated as a bridesmaid over the years. To cope, she creates a secret Facebook account called the Bridesmaids Union, a support group where unhappy bridesmaids can vent about their worst wedding experiences. Then, Iris's spoiled younger sister, Jasmine, who designs dog booties, announces her engagement to a tech entrepreneur worth $50 million. Iris tries to get into the spirit of things as entitled Jasmine holds a quiz to see who her maid of honor should be, and Iris almost goes broke planning her sister's destination bachelorette party weekend. To complicate matters, Iris finds herself attracted to Jasmine's fiancé. Then, the content of Bridesmaid Union, including Iris's complaints about Jasmine's wedding, is made public, and all hell breaks loose. Vatner digs beneath the story's shiny rom-com surface to unearth some hard truths about weddings and family ties. Iris makes for a punchy heroine and Jasmine a worthy foil, and their story is entertaining and, in the end, quite moving. Reading this spiky tale is like catching a beautiful bridal bouquet with thorns. Agent: James Fitzgerald, James Fitzgerald Agency. (June)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Vatner follows up his debut novel Carnegie Hill with a not-so-lighthearted look at bridezillas and the bridesmaids who serve them. Staunch Democrat Iris has been estranged from her non-voting sister Jasmine and evangelical Trump-voting parents since the 2016 election, so she's pleasantly surprised when Jasmine asks her to be a bridesmaid. But before long, Iris, needing to vent about her sister the bridezilla, starts a secret Facebook group for bridesmaids. It soon has a few hundred members sharing bridal horror stories, including Ryan, a popular style influencer whom Iris makes an admin when he helps her out. When spoiled Jasmine does something particularly egregious, Ryan decides to call her out and makes the bridesmaids group public. Iris gets in trouble and there are a lot of hurt feelings before the surprise ending. VERDICT Family drama, politics, and religion are interesting fodder but may turn off some readers. Should appeal to fans of Jonathan Tropper.--Stacy Alesi

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Combine a family torn apart by Trump-era politics, anonymous Facebook profiles, and bride-and-groom alpacas to get a mostly entertaining tale of bridesmaid woes. Iris Hagarty, a single mother in her late 20s, is the living embodiment of "always a bridesmaid, never a bride," with the unfortunate addition of having been abandoned at the altar. Burned out by her frequent experiences as a bridesmaid, coupled with her insistence that her hard work is never acknowledged (she made beautiful last-minute centerpieces, and her BFF the bride didn't even thank her!), Iris decides to create an anonymous Facebook support group for beleaguered bridesmaids: "The twenty thousand dollars she'd spent on bridesmaiding had piled up so much credit card debt, she couldn't bear to think about it. As much as she loved weddings--the comforting formality, the beauty, the joy of the betrothed--being a bridesmaid was sucking her dry. Sure, she didn't have to accept every invitation, but it never seemed OK to turn them down." Thus the Bridesmaids Union is born, and Iris' life becomes a little more complicated as she navigates the trials of her day-to-day life as a single mother, her growing duties as her sister's maid of honor, and her increasing internet fame. While Iris' self-righteousness and seemingly terrible decision-making wear a little thin (seriously, when has it been a good idea to secretly blog about your friends and family?) and the book leans too heavily on clichés--bridezillas, demanding mothers, and Instagram influencers peddling canine outerwear abound--Vatner nonetheless manages to create characters with surprising emotional resonance as well as to tap into the tumultuous world of online community-building. An amusing story with a host of intriguing personalities. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.