Review by Booklist Review
Chrissy Durang is expecting her only son, Barnett, to come home to Louisiana and take over the family farm, which houses a motley crew of forgotten animals. Instead, Barnett comes home with his roommate, Ezra, who is actually his fiancé. Then Ezra's wealthy New York parents arrive, and his twin sister, and suddenly, Barnett and Ezra are getting married on the farm. Chrissy has reservations, mainly due to her Catholic beliefs, championed by the local priest and her late husband, whose ghost she swears she can see from afar. Her father-in-law, Barnett's Paw Paw, though, is fully on board with the ceremony, even as the plans--involving drag queens and shirtless waiters and rainbows everywhere--get out of hand. Lane's latest (after A Star Is Bored, 2020) is even more chaotic than his debut--in a good way--with a multitude of wild yet fully fleshed out characters and a plot that never lets up. Hilarious moments blend perfectly with genuine emotional arcs, especially that of Chrissy and her journey to fully understand what unconditional love means.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lane (A Star Is Bored) channels rom-com zaniness in his frothy if uneven latest. Chrissy Durang, recently widowed, hopes her 24-year-old son, Barnett, will leave his MRI technician job in Los Angeles to move back and take over her animal rescue farm in rural Louisiana. Instead, Barnett reveals he's engaged to the flamboyant and woo-woo Ezra Tanner. Though Chrissy has long known Barnett is gay, she balks at the news and is hostile when Ezra arrives to meet her. Her emotions ramp up even more when Ezra's parents, domineering socialite Victoria and taciturn Winston, invite themselves to the farm. Egged on by Ezra's flighty twin sister, who has ambitious ideas for a farm wedding, the men make hasty preparations. They have fun brainstorming for a while, until their presence sparks outrage and hateful vandalism from locals. Then Chrissy, in an underdeveloped turn, shucks off her Catholic-influenced hesitancy and goes full bore into the planning. Lane's broad humor moves fast, with occasional winning lines, but most of the players read like caricatures and the more serious moments fall flat. While diverting, this feels a bit aimless. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In rural Louisiana, a conservative Christian mom tries to get her mind around hosting the fabulous nuptials required by her son's marriage. It's a long way from New Orleans to the Polite Society Ranch, where Chrissy Durang is getting through one more school bus full of little field trippers as she awaits the arrival of her adored son, Barnett, who's returning, she's sure, to take the reins of the old homestead. But to her unhappy surprise, Barnett is not coming to assume responsibility for the blind chicken, the alpaca with alopecia, and the beloved dying goat, Elaine (who will be buried near her late compadres, Seinfeld, Kramer, and George). Instead, he's coming to announce that he's getting married, and he has fiance Ezra on his arm. The story spirals from there in two directions. In the hilarious one, Ezra's mother, Victoria, "the alcoholic's alcoholic, the silver-tongued complainer who only flies first-class," and event-planner sister, Nichole, show up to organize the blessed event, planning to transform the farm into "a modern gay wonderland" with a gazebo, a brigade of fireflies, rainbow-sashed valet parkers, and more--though no separate chef for the animals, Nichole pouts, "because that guy turned out to be a fictional character from a New Yorker article I misread." In a more serious aspect of the plot, highlighted by chapter headings that give the "Countdown to Damnation," rigid Chrissy is unable to accept her son's sexuality, his partner, or his plans--until finally, the virulent homophobia of her neighbors awakens a protective response. Actually, the opening of Chrissy's mind begins when she eats several foil-wrapped packages of chocolate she finds in Ezra's luggage that turn out to be infused with magic mushrooms. Lane's sophomore effort is over-the-top in so many clashing ways--like Schitt's Creek meets The Laramie Project--but simpatico readers will likely throw reservations to the wind and go all in. Come for the Applebee's-sponsored rehearsal dinner and stay for the extended journey of a goat into the next life. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
