Maggie Shipstead
Fiction
This was another book that I liked but I didn’t like. I feel like I read more of those kind than ones that I just love. Which is sad because I would definitely prefer to read books I love.
Seating Arrangements is the story of one weekend on a New England island. Family and friends father for the wedding of Daphne Van Meter, including her father, mother, sister, aunt, best friends, and many others. We get a lot of different POVs, but we hear from Winn (the father) and Livia (the sister) more than most.
Unfortunately, Winn is a bit of a tool. Even though all the characters were pretty unlikeable, if I had to choose, Livia was probably my favorite. When she wasn't pissing me off, that is. I’m still confused as to why the book is called Seating Arrangements when the seating arrangements don’t have any significant contribution to any part of the story. Someone totally missed the boat on the title (hopefully not the author).
Ms. Shipstead is a good writer and certain bits of dialogue would catch me off guard and I’d find myself smiling or laughing. I just wish there was more dialogue because Winn was especially internal and I found myself skimming his sections a lot due to all the really long paragraphs of descriptions.
But my complaints are relatively minor and besides the anti-climactic ending, I did enjoy most of the book. I would recommend it for a beach or pool read.
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