By It’s a whodunnit! I haven’t read one of these in some time, and it was fun to read. Thanks @wolfechelsea for the swap! The set up of the book is very enjoyable– the chapters are broken up into the characters with interspersed chapters that were written in third person based on The Wedding Night, which is the premise of the story. On a deserted island in Ireland, a British couple (the bride is half Irish– her estranged father is Irish and ‘part of her reason’ for choosing the location, though he makes quite a speech at the wedding- wow) has a lavish private event, since the groom is a ‘celebrity.’ He definitely thinks he’s one.
There’s a lot of history, secrets, jealousies and other gossip-like details that keep the reader engaged. There is a murder on the island during the wedding– no spoilers!
The way the book is set up you are moving through the wedding weekend in a nonlinear fashion, making each chapter a kind of stand alone perspective that builds. The chapters are all pretty short, too, which made it easy for me to breeze through in just a few days.
If you’re looking to give your brain a break from reality, this book will take you to a spooky old Irish place with people doing weird stuff behind each other’s backs. For example, the bride has a tendency to smash things in a way to release her anger. After an argument with her father on the day of the wedding, she goes back to her room and smashes a vase against the wall, then cleans it up. Explains that she’s been doing this for years but has tried to keep it under control. There’s a lot of interesting character traits that I’m still percolating on early Saturday morning.
Thanks again to Chelsea for giving me a book I would have otherwise never read- I really enjoyed this deviation from my stack!
I forgot I have Jim Carrey’s book, which seems another great opportunity to escape the here & now, and embrace the last week of summer reading.
Open Arts Spring 2024 
B, I just this morning heard a quote from Tom Clancy: the difference between reality and fiction is that fiction makes sense. Doesn’t fit experimental fiction, but I take his point.
LikeLiked by 2 people
On the back of Jim Carrey’s book it only says “None of this is real and all of it is true.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t read a mystery in a long time. My mother loved them, and passed her enthusiasm on to me. So much is open-ended these days. The fun of a murder mystery for me is that I know that in a traditional mystery there will be resolution at the end of the story, and I can try to find the clues along the way to solve the case. A well crafted mystery is an entertaining challenge.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I went to a birthday party in January this year where the guest of honor, her 70th, asked visitors to take things from her home– art, books, other things. She is an artist and quite prolific. I got a bunch of cat mysteries that I sent to Brian as well as a line drawing of her sitting with her cat. Whenever I think of mysteries, I think of her.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a rousing good time, borkali. Thanks for sharing. : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
I read mysteries all summer and was still blown away with this one!! Incredible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you enjoyed it! We just finished moving and I can’t wait to pick up the book you sent! You were right, it looks intimidating, but it also sounds interesting so I can’t wait!
LikeLike
I recently finished The Guest LIst. It was hard for me to sympathize with any of the characters so they all were possible suspects to the very end. It was quite a wedding!
LikeLike