Seating Arrangements
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- €5.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times bestselling author of Great Circle
‘Joyously good’ DAILY MAIL
‘A ferociously clever comedy of manners’ GUARDIAN
‘A wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis’ MARIE CLAIRE
‘A well-observed, hilarious, yet moving novel’ WOMAN & HOME
New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2012 Dylan Thomas Prize and 2012 L.A. Times First Novel Prize
The Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the New England island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne to an impeccably appropriate young man. The weekend is full of lobster and champagne, salt air and practiced bonhomie, but long-buried discontent and simmering lust seep through the cracks in the revelry.
Winn Van Meter, father-of-the-bride, has spent his life following the rules of the east coast upper crust, but now, just shy of his sixtieth birthday, he must finally confront his failings, his desires, and his own humanity…
‘Maggie Shipstead is a hugely talented young writer – definitely one to watch’ GRAZIA
‘Distinctive and dazzling … The world has found a remarkable, humane new voice to explain us to ourselves’ Allison Pearson
Reviews
‘Joyously good’ Daily Mail
‘A ferociously clever comedy of manners’ Guardian
‘Shipstead’s sophisticated and summery debut more than lives up to the hype’ Independent
‘Distinctive and dazzling … The world has found a remarkable, humane new voice to explain us to ourselves’ Allison Pearson, Telegraph
‘A wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis’ Marie Claire
About the author
Maggie Shipstead graduated from Harvard in 2005 and earned an M.F.A at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Currently, she is a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Seating Arrangements is her first novel.
facebook.com/maggieshipsteadauthor
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Vibrant prose and moments of keen insight lighten an otherwise lackluster debut in this comedy of manners set during the days preceding a wedding. Daphne Van Meter is getting married at her family's New England summerhouse, her advanced pregnancy a blight on the festivities for the older WASP set. Her father, Winn, feeling increasingly irrelevant at work and in the eyes of his family, toys with the idea of adultery, though his real passion is gaining admittance to Waskeke island's exclusive golf club. Daphne's younger sister Livia, unable to recover from her recent abortion and breakup, makes halfhearted attempts to find a rebound interest as the weekend progresses. Also on the scene is Biddy, Winn's solid if unspectacular wife (she falls asleep during sex and only wants Winn to be discreet if he cheats). The characters are either bland or unsympathetic, and with little plot, the book lacks energy. Readers looking for a thoughtful beach read may find moments of distraction in Shipstead's linguistic dexterity, but the glacial pace and dull characters will likely put them to sleep.
