Daria Salamon

There's something really nice about reading a book set in one's hometown. You know the streets and places referred to and you can picture them in your mind's eye. Some of the things Daria Salamon says in this book are the same things I've said. For instance, she mentions how small Winnipeg is despite having over half a million residents. One is bound to run into someone you know just when you least want to. For Anna Lasko this means when she is buying self-help books for leaving an abusive relationship she runs into a student that she teaches. Although she really is buying the books for herself she tells the student that she will be using them for an assignment.

Anna has been living with Adam since she was in university. Adam has a temper and anxiety problems. While he's not physically abusive he does belittle Anna and dictate her actions. Currently he is in Germany finally working (he's been in Fine Arts for years and living off Anna's income) but he thinks that he and Anna should continue their relationship. Anna knows she doesn't want the relationship to continue but she is having trouble sticking to her guns. Her friends, Julia, Sara and Renate, have an intervention to help her separate although they don't really know how to do an intervention. And it is hard for Sara, who is getting married, to divert her attention from the wedding details.

In addition to her friends, Anna also has a wonderful grandmother (or Baba) and quirky mother and father. In their own way her family helps Anna come to terms with her need to end the relationship with Adam. Even her sister, Nat, who is living in Iran as a second wife in a Muslim marriage helps Anna.

I really loved the Baba. Almost blind and eighty-three years old, Baba decides to raise chickens again on her farm. Anna helps her get the chicks from a Hutterite colony and then, on the day of the wedding rehearsal, helps Baba butcher them. The idea of Anna showing up at the rehearsal covered in chicken blood, feathers and other chicken bodily substances had me in stitches. Sara, of course, was not amused.

Nia Vardalos is quoted on the front cover as saying "The Prairie Bridesmaid is a witty, sardonic, and touching story of self-discovery leading to liberation." I concur.… (altro)

Last word first: A funny, sad, but ultimately uplifting novel. Read it!

Description: Just into her thirties, Anna Lasko is a frustrated high school teacher whose abusive boyfriend, Adam is away for four months. Thinking she's going to a bridal shower, Anna finds herself in the middle of an intervention by her friends, trying to convince her to break up with Adam. The Prairie Bridesmaid gives an in-depth look at Anna's life, from her relationship with her fiercely independent grandmother to her thoughts on the geeky kids in her writing group to her fights with her bridezilla of a friend, Sara.

My Thoughts: This book was different than I thought it would be. Based on the cover blurbs, I was expecting a slightly dark romantic comedy. The Prairie Bridesmaid has many laugh out loud moments, but it's not really a comedy, but rather a chronicle of Anna's attempts to break free of a poisonous relationship.

Like watching a car wreck, I was cringing but couldn't look away as I read about the beginnings of Anna's relationship with Adam, the first moments when she realizes something is wrong. Through the use of flashbacks, the author relates moments in time that show how Anna got to where she is, so tangled in a relationship that she can't get out, even though she doesn't even like the man she's supposed to love.

Despite the heavy subject matter, Bridesmaid is incredibly readable, largely due to the humorous and well-written extra characters. Anna's grandmother, a Ukranian immigrant who is obsessed with planning her funeral and refuses to leave her farm even though she is nearly blind, was my favorite. Anna has a group of interfering but supportive girlfriends who also deserve a mention. Anna herself is a delightfully quirky and flawed protagonist... you can't help but root for her. At least I couldn't, even when I was internally yelling at her to smarten up.

Great writing and fantastic characters make this story worth checking out. It's more than just chick lit!… (altro)

I just finished reading The Prairie Bridesmaid and I have to say that I sort of disagree with the assessment that this is chick lit. It is definitely fiction geared towards women - but it does not really have all the chick lit elements.
Having said that, I have to say that I LOVED this book. Everything from the cover - to our main character Anna who is, to say the least, going through a life crisis (which is mostly in her head - but then again, aren't they all?).

Anna is stuck in an endless loop - with a job she no longer cares about and a boyfriend she no longer wants - but for some reason can't seem to disengage herself from either. She is stuck in a dark void and while her conscious brain is yelling out to her to find a better way - her body and her heart seem incapable of following.

This storyline is riveting. I felt very strongly for Anna, who frankly, is not the warm and funny lovable character who will set the happy, happy tone of certain novels. She is dark, broody, at times annoying and always completely messed up. No matter - this made her all the more human to me - I have been where she is and I felt for her. Knowing something and actually doing something about it are two completely different things.

The author does a wonderful job of showing us that Anna's personality and traits were not created entirely by her own screwed up views - as we read on, we discover a little bit more about Anna's background - her family, her sister and her grandmother - and it becomes a little clearer to me how Anna could have turned out the way that she has.

Although one might believe that the focal point of this book is Anna and her problems with love - its really not - the focal point of this great read is a woman trying to find her way back after taking quite a few wrong detours - its really about finding her own center and being able to just 'be' with her own thoughts.

I thought this book was very well written - rich in hidden messages (and some not so hidden ones!) - there is a message here for all of us. Its tough being a woman today! and I felt supported and understood as I was reading this book.

I also really liked Anna's sessions with her doctor - these were always interesting and I thought a great opportunity to see Anna's inner thoughts (I also loved the description of the Dr's clothing). What did not really work for me was the relationship between Anna and her Grandmother. I just did not like the grandmother character very much.

Otherwise, this book is a gem. Yeah for this wonderful female Canadian writer.… (altro)