Otherwise Engaged : a Novel
Otherwise Engaged by Suzanne Finnamore, published by Knopf on April 20, 1999, is a first edition novel that explores the complexities of modern marriage through a humorous lens. Spanning 224 pages, this book delves into the whirlwind of emotions and pressures that accompany engagement and wedding planning, capturing the initial excitement and the subsequent chaos that ensues as reality sets in.
Readers will find a witty narrative that follows Eve as she navigates the challenges of preparing for her wedding to Michael. From her encounters with bridal magazines to the stress of setting a date and dealing with the expectations of those around her, the story highlights the often-overlooked trials of engagement. With a focus on man-woman relationships and the cultural backdrop of San Francisco, Otherwise Engaged presents a candid and entertaining look at the rituals surrounding marriage and the transformation that occurs in the lead-up to the big day.
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“What nobody tells you about getting engaged is he asks you and you’re delirious for about two days and then it tapers. He asks you and you’re running around telling grocery clerks and ordering subscriptions to bride magazines and discussing prong settings versus suspension settings, and then after two days this ebullience passes. It is no longer conceptual; you have the whole wedding to plan and from that moment on the pressure builds.
“The ebullience comes back, two days before the wedding. The boomerang effect. Something else no one tells you about.
“They should parachute this information into the major cities.”
For every woman who has ever dreamed of getting married or survived the pre-wedding hell of planning the big day; for every man who has ever watched in horror as the woman he loves mutates into a bride-to-be–a wickedly funny first novel about the excruciating ritual otherwise known as modern marriage.
Michael has finally asked Eve to marry him. It is tempting to believe that everything is going according to plan. But from her first anxiety-producing en- counter with Modern Bride magazine to setting a date (“My impression is that if you don’t set a date, they stone you”), finding a dress, ordering invitations (“I don’t want the plain envelopes. I want the white go-go boots. Everyone else has them”), and the unrelenting chaos of life in the world beyond the wedding, from the fights and resentment (“For eighteen months I rubbed his back and made him soup and performed really sincere fellatio and now I’m tired”) to the disconcerting realization that lately when she looks at her fiance she hears the striking of a Chinese gong and the words FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE echoing through her head, Eve discovers that planning a wedding is fraught with unexpected perils, and it’s a long walk to the altar.
Otherwise Engaged is a wry, deliciously caustic ride through the outsized rituals of an American wedding, and a hilarious portrait of what happens to an otherwise rational, intelligent woman when she begins to plan one.
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