THE BRIDESMAIDS UNION

Combine a family torn apart by Trump-era politics, anonymous Facebook profiles, and bride-and-groom alpacas to get a mostly entertaining tale of bridesmaid woes.

Iris Hagarty, a single mother in her late 20s, is the living embodiment of “always a bridesmaid, never a bride,” with the unfortunate addition of having been abandoned at the altar. Burned out by her frequent experiences as a bridesmaid, coupled with her insistence that her hard work is never acknowledged (she made beautiful last-minute centerpieces, and her BFF the bride didn’t even thank her!), Iris decides to create an anonymous Facebook support group for beleaguered bridesmaids: “The twenty thousand dollars she’d spent on bridesmaiding had piled up so much credit card debt, she couldn’t bear to think about it. As much as she loved weddings—the comforting formality, the beauty, the joy of the betrothed—being a bridesmaid was sucking her dry. Sure, she didn’t have to accept every invitation, but it never seemed OK to turn them down.” Thus the Bridesmaids Union is born, and Iris’ life becomes a little more complicated as she navigates the trials of her day-to-day life as a single mother, her growing duties as her sister’s maid of honor, and her increasing internet fame. While Iris’ self-righteousness and seemingly terrible decision-making wear a little thin (seriously, when has it been a good idea to secretly blog about your friends and family?) and the book leans too heavily on clichés—bridezillas, demanding mothers, and Instagram influencers peddling canine outerwear abound—Vatner nonetheless manages to create characters with surprising emotional resonance as well as to tap into the tumultuous world of online community-building.

An amusing story with a host of intriguing personalities.