The Wedding

Rating:
Summary: Serious Subject--Great Reading
Review: "The Wedding" is a wonderful, heart-warming story that also happens to be about serious subjects like prejudice. It also informs about aspects of American history that most readers who haven't taken an African-American history course would never otherwise learn. This is the kind of writing you can expect:

"She tried to stir her tea, but her hand could not hold the spoon on its course. With both hands, she lifted the cup to her lips, unable to wait for it to cool. She took a deep steadying sip, and the rising steam invaded her eyes, her nasal passages....She felt an agitation in her chest like bubbles in a butter churn. Her breath came in little gasps."

I loved it. I hope you will, too!

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place" --This text refers to the Paperback edition

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story!
Review: "The Wedding" took me back to my childhood days at home on the islands. Life was lonely for a little black girl with fair skin who didn't have the right kind of hair or enough money. The dark-skinned children felt that I'd think myself better than they and for the "near whites", I wasn't pretty enough nor spent my vacations in some foreign land. But as I read "The Wedding", the memories came rushing back and I had cause to smile. "The Wedding" is an accurate depiction of our legacy!....the off-spring of colonization is confusion and madness no matter the bodies of water that separate us! The prejudices that prevailed then and even today, continue to fester, destroying communities, countries, and nations! I wept for little Tina, the little innocent who only wanted love, for Isaac who could only understand that his role was to care for the weak. I felt anger for Lute who was relentless in his pursuit of what he felt was his not caring who was destroyed in the process. In effect he only acted as a white slave owner would've acted. And most of all, I felt a deep sadness for all the "colored" folks who were so confused they didn't know what to think and the "whites" who were too tunnel-visioned to see us all as human beings. It is a story too, that young black people should read and learn from (as I needed a reminder).....that the riches and freedom that we enjoy today came about through the sweat and blood of our ancestors!

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful "Wedding"
Review: A great final performance by one of the most imortant voices of the Harlem Renaissance, this is a quiet, beautiful little book full of a great deal of wisdom. I like how the book weaves in and out of generations of history, and it seems a far more mature work to me than "The Living." The writing is better, too -- far more fluid and graceful (though I do have to agree a bit that the dialogue is somewhat stilted). The book is also perhaps a tad formulaic, due to her subject matter, which concerns black and white integration. Still, this is a wonderful, unusual and uplifting book -- not just a find, but very likely also a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Now, this is a great book!!
Review: Don't let the title decieve you, this book is about what happens surrrounding a wedding. The wedding of Shelby Cole, a pale skin, blonde hair, blue eyed African-American woman (yes, they really do exist) and her impending marriage to a white jazz musician in the late 50s. The book tells the story of her family. Going back as far as her great, great grand parents, both paternal and maternal. It is a feat that is accomplished in a small 240 page book. Rich with details. Told in a fashion that is so lyrical, so sweet that you are bound to become utterly enthralled in it. Dorothy West is an author for the ages. A masterpiece just waiting to be recognized.

Rating:
Summary: Pretentious but intricately designed by a masterful writer.
Review: Dorothy West has a command of the English language that mere mortals can only dream of immitating. In just a few hundred pages, she is able to take the often tiring format of jumping between past and present to weave a story full of interesting characters. The title of the book sounded suspiciously like a "girl read" but I was captivated by West's novel from the opening chapter. She has a Fitzgerald-like ability to capture a moment of the past so that later generations can almost experience it for themselves. The Martha's Vineyard setting for this story of ethnic identity was unusual and refreshing. The black characters that she used on that affluent island were easy to identify with, even for a reader who previously knew nothing of their world (culturally, socially nor economically). The book spoke volumes for the success of black families who have risen to positions of prominence in the US over the past hundred years. I have never read any book other than The Wedding that has addressed this topic, which also contributed to my immediate interest in and fondness for this book.

Rating:
Summary: Decisions, Decisions
Review: Dorothy West offers wonderful insight on stereotypes, blood ties, and finding ones identity. Her novel, The Wedding, leaves an impacting viewpoint for the reader from those inside of the "blue-veined society" and those outside, the "pure". In other words, all races gain a greater understanding of who they are and from whence they came. I believe that West tried to reach the conflict indirectly by sharing the main character's ancestral stories. West creates this continuing saga of decisions the men and women of the family must make. Every link on the family tree represented a dilemma. These people had to choose a mate for life, but was it ever for true love? Instead these marriages represented racial differences and social and class rankings. In the book the main character, "had been forced to admit that identity was not inherent." It is now her turn to be her own person and make some very important decisions in creating a new generation link in her family tree. The reader has to dig deep to find these inner messages that West offers. I thought that the quote from the novel, "The rest of your life would be so much easier if you'd only stop picking the scab of the sore" captures one of West's main ideas. One character in this novel is a catalyst to the problem. She dwellsa on the past, bringing other family members into the story. If she were only to let go of her stubbornness, and let old wounds heal,she may be able to accept the choices her own blood relatives are making. Shelby, the main character, has an important decision to make in this book. Will she marry for love or to please the other members of her family? I suggest you read this book so that you too can gain the thoughtful insight and deep meaning in, The Wedding.

Rating:
Summary: A True Trailblazer
Review: Dorothy West shines in this novel about the African American middle class. Because so much of our history has been downplayed or dismissed, this book provides a breathtaking glimpse into a world that many African Americans never even knew existed. THE WEDDING is the story of Shelby Cole, beloved daughter of the prominent Coles family. But more than that, it is the story of black culture, that part that both embraced and rejected itself. It is the story of love outside of the color-divide and it is the story of how no matter how hard we try and how hard we try to dismiss it---color is, and will always be an issue. It's not a white issue or a black issue but a human issue. Dorothy West presents it in a way that is upfront and honest. She doesn't try to "whitewash" the history of color-struckness that continues to plague many in the African American community. Through the story of the Coles family, she began to hack away, even if only a little, at the very core of what continues to divide and in some cases conquer the African American community's ability to move on from our shackled past.

Rating:
Summary: Is love based on race or emotion?
Review: Dorthy West is a wonderful writer. I have enjoyed reading "The Wedding." Her writing style is very unique and pleasing to the soul. She writes with tonz of emotion and really knows how to get her readers hooked. She puts many descriptive similies throughout her story such as, "He withdrew in this awkward manner not because it was his wont but because he found he could not tear his eyes from Gram's, gripped as he was by the implacable irony in them that seemed to strip him and pin him to the wall like a bug in a case." This book protrays many interesting issues. Some are slavery, class, race, and gender distinctions within family, gender, and marriage.

I really enjoyed this book. I don't like reading long books so this 240 page book was a perfect length for me. I liked it for many reasons. It brought up many issues and situations that happened during the time when slavery was being abolished. It not only gave a strong description of the story, but of the true life blacks had to live by. It opened my eyes to new ideas about inter-race relationships and gave me a better understanding of what marriage is. At the end of the book Dorthy West states that, "Color was a false distinction; love was not." It also gave me a new meaning of what love is and that it's what is in the inside that counts.

I would recomend this book to anyone who is wanting a quick and easy read. It is a enjoyable and relaxing book. It might not all make sence in the beginning, but it all comes together in the end. I know that it has changed my prospectives on some issues and mabey it will change yours too.

Rating:
Summary: Is love based on race or emotion?
Review: Dorthy West is a wonderful writer. I have enjoyed reading "The Wedding." Her writing style is very unique and pleasing to the soul. She writes with tonz of emotion and really knows how to get her readers hooked. She puts many descriptive similies throughout her story such as, "He withdrew in this awkward manner not because it was his wont but because he found he could not tear his eyes from Gram's, gripped as he was by the implacable irony in them that seemed to strip him and pin him to the wall like a bug in a case." This book protrays many interesting issues. Some are slavery, class, race, and gender distinctions within family, gender, and marriage.

I really enjoyed this book. I don't like reading long books so this 240 page book was a perfect length for me. I liked it for many reasons. It brought up many issues and situations that happened during the time when slavery was being abolished. It not only gave a strong description of the story, but of the true life blacks had to live by. It opened my eyes to new ideas about inter-race relationships and gave me a better understanding of what marriage is. At the end of the book Dorthy West states that, "Color was a false distinction; love was not." It also gave me a new meaning of what love is and that it's what is in the inside that counts.

I would recomend this book to anyone who is wanting a quick and easy read. It is a enjoyable and relaxing book. It might not all make sence in the beginning, but it all comes together in the end. I know that it has changed my prospectives on some issues and mabey it will change yours too.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I did not enjoy this book. It kept jumping back and forth. I thought it dealt too much with the past. It was written well, but the title should have been The Coleses.