So Happy for You
A Novel
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3.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
*A PureWow Best Beach Read of Summer 2022*
*A Washington Post Best Book of June*
*An Entertainment Weekly Best Book for Summer*?
*A Glamour Best New Book to Get Your Summer Started*
*A Vogue Queer Book to Read This Summer*
A wedding weekend spirals out of control in this bold, electrifying, hilarious novel about the complexities of female friendship
Robin and Ellie have been best friends since childhood. When Robin came out, Ellie was there for her. When Ellie's father died, Robin had her back. But when Ellie asks Robin to be her maid of honor, she is reluctant. A queer academic, Robin is dubious of the elaborate wedding rituals now sweeping the nation, which go far beyond champagne toasts and a bouquet toss. But loyalty wins out, and Robin accepts.
Yet, as the wedding weekend approaches, a series of ominous occurrences lead Robin to second-guess her decision. It seems that everyone in the bridal party is out to get her. Perhaps even Ellie herself.
Manically entertaining, viciously funny and eerily campy, So Happy for You is the ultimate send-up to our collective obsession with the wedding industrial complex and a riveting, unexpectedly poignant depiction of friendship in all its messy glory.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Laskey (Under the Rainbow) sends up the wedding industrial complex in this enjoyable and darkly comic outing. Robin Hawkins, a lesbian and self-described "rabid feminist," loathes weddings, pumpkin spice lattes, and everything suburban and heteronormative. She is comfortably ensconced in her "liberal-queer bubble" when her estranged high school best friend Ellie announces her engagement and asks Robin to be her maid of honor. The novel is set in a slightly different version of reality in which the American government aggressively incentivizes young people to wed, and where single women are labeled "leftovers" at 27 and "rotten" at 35 on social media. Also, the high divorce rate has created a cottage industry of "wedding charm" rituals meant to ensure the success rate of each union; some are as benign as carrying bouquets of garlic and sage to "ward off evil marriage-ruining spirits," while others, like at Ellie's wedding, involve blood sacrifice. Robin continues to ignore her better judgment as ominous events befall the bridal party, among them a near drowning, and Ellie's behavior grows increasingly unhinged. Though a few outlandish events stretch the bounds of believability, the story has plenty of verve, and the social satire is accurate if not especially profound. There's nothing exceptional about this, but it nails what it sets out to do.
