A catered affair

Format:

Book (regular print)

Title:

A catered affair

Author:

Margolis, Sue.

ISBN:

9780451233356

Publication Information:

New York : New American Library, 2011.

Physical Description:

369 pages ; 22 cm

Summary:

Tallulah's grandmother, Nana Ida, wants her granddaughter to have a big Jewish wedding although Tallulah and her fiancé would prefer a small wedding. After months of planning the groom doesn't show up. So Nana Ida gets busy with matchmaking and Tallulah discovers that happiness doesn't always come in the form of the perfect doctor and that real love doesn't require a catered affair.

Subject(s):

Jewish women -- Fiction.

Jewish families -- Fiction.

Man-woman relationships -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Monmouth Public Library	Fic Margolis, S. 2011	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A novel about a jilted bride who's about to discover that not marrying the wrong man can sometimes lead you to the right one.

When Tallulah gets jilted at the altar, she gets very drunk and starts making passes at the male wedding guests. She even propositions the caterer. But in the next few weeks, reality comes crashing down around her. Her difficult mother becomes more impossible than ever. Her lesbian sister starts trying to have a baby. Nana Ida gets busy matchmaking. What Tallulah is about to discover is that happiness doesn't always come in the form of the perfect doctor- and that sometimes real love doesn't require a catered affair.

Author Notes

Susan Linda Margolis was born on January 5, 1955. She studied politics at Nottingham University. She became a reporter on BBC Woman's Hour and an author. Her first novel, Neurotica, was published in 1998. She wrote 14 comic novels including Sisteria and Apocalipstick. She died of cancer on November 1, 2017 at the age of 62.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The latest in Margolis's Brit-chick-lit cadre (after last year's Perfect Blend) finds lawyer Tallulah Roth jilted at the altar by a nice Jewish doctor with a history of commitment problems. Tallulah gets help licking her wounds from two men: old flame Hugh Marshall, a serious sort whose career ambitions got in the way of lasting love, and Kenny, the handsome caterer of her embarrassment. Though sparks are evident between Tallulah and Kenny, class differences and Tallulah's snobbery get in the way of romance. Add to this a hard-luck friend whose desperate stab at literary fame actually pays off; an 84-year-old Jewish grandmother who remembers the war; and an Iranian activist facing deportation and you have a breezy effort not afraid to take on weighty subjects like WWII and Judaism (though the deportation plot feels tangential at best). Will Tallulah finally reconcile her attractions with her prejudices? You bet, and it's a pity that her arc turns on contrivances built upon aphorisms that are all but weightless. Margolis finds recurring humor in a character with Tourette's who blurts out catchphrases from popular cartoons, a familiar bit of levity that nonetheless actively punctuates all the leaden exposition. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Tallulah's fiance is a Jewish doctor, so her Nana Ida is kvelling and insists on paying for a grand wedding. If only Tallulah's free-spirited mother could feel the same way. Tallulah has never really connected with her mother, and now deeply feels the loss of her father as she is about to marry a man she knows her late father would have loved. But he would have changed his mind when she is jilted at the altar. Her grandmother believes the money she spent is cursed because it came from German reparations. Her lesbian sister tells her that she didn't like her fiance because he is too earnest. Tallulah wallows in misery, self-doubt, and an alcohol haze. Kenny, her caterer, comes to the rescue, launching a friendship based on how their former partners did them wrong. Everyone thinks that Kenny is perfect for her, except Tallulah. Can she fall for a man who did not go to university and doesn't take life seriously? A romping-good English chick-lit tale that will keep the reader in stitches.--Engelmann, Patt. Copyright 2010 Booklist