latest read: A Wedding In December

This is a story about a group of close friends in high school namely Harrison, Nora, Agnes, Jerry, Rob, Bill and Bridget, finally meeting again after 22 years.

Harrison
Harrison married Evelyn, a girl he met at college and has a daughter.
Harrison is in love with Nora since he was 17 but Nora was Stephen’s girlfriend. Stephen was best friend to Harrison and a star baseball player but died at 17 where he drowned at sea due to being so drunk.
At the reunion, Harrison slept with Nora.

Nora
Nora married Carl Laski who was a famous writer but was a bully, had an affair and impregnated a young girl while still married to Nora. Carl however died of cancer. Nora owns the inn central to the story.

Agnes
Agnes is in love with a teacher since she was 17 and is still having secret affairs with that teacher though he has married and has two children. She is and aspiring writer.

Jerry
Jerry married Julie and has a child who is autistic. By their interaction with each other and how they speak to each other, it is very apparent that they do not have a happy marriage and do not get along well.

Rob
Rob is gay and brought with him his partner, Josh. Everyone did not know during high school in 1974 that Rob was gay but Rob himself knew but could not very well announce it then during a time where such things would chastise a person.

Bill & Bridget
The reunion was to celebrate the marriage of Bill and Bridget who is one year junior to everyone else. Bill and Bridget were high school sweethearts but upon leaving high school, Bill wrote to Bridget that he had fallen in love with a girl called Jill and had decided to marry the other girl. He has a daughter called Melissa. Bridget was crushed but eventually moved on and married another but the marriage did not last. She has a son called Matt. Bridget has cancer and is estimated to live, at most, 3 years.


To me, it is a story looking into the lives of each and every one of these close friends after 22 years, on how they became broken, corrupted and scary. At 17, everyone had pretty much a clean slate and though coming from the same class in high school, each revolved and progressed into different outcomes.



Some insights after reading this book:

It is surprising how a person is willing to compromise his previous ethics for love.

Nothing makes a person more selfish that being in love.

Did a woman who had been fully loved mind the lost of her youth less than a woman who has not?

If there is one thing a person learned about private lives, it was that anyone looking in from the outside could never know the reality.

Confessing a thing makes the thing more real.