Seating Arrangements

Seating Arrangements (2012) by Maggie Shipstead. This is a light-hearted but piercing examination of a certain WASP family (the Van Meters) and the family they are about to unite with through marriage, the Duffs. As the novel begins, Winn Van Meter, the patriarch of the Van Meter clan, is on his way to the exclusive island summer home where his daughter, Daphne, is preparing for her marriage to the affable young scion Greyson Duff. Preparations for the wedding are mostly in the hands of Biddy, Winn's wife, and she is feeling somewhat overwhelmed. Complicating things is the lust that fifty-nine-year-old Winn feels for Agatha, an attractive young friend of Daphne. Also making things interesting is Winn's other daughter Livia, who is suffering from a recent breakup from a longtime beau. Winn Van Meter is a figure of both pathos and tragedy, as he aspires to a certain social status (membership in a golf club) which he just can't attain. At the same time, Agatha has made herself available to him, but he hesitates and when the crucial moment comes can't perform. The book is a delicious and nearly pitch-perfect examination of the foibles of people in a certain social stratum. It's definitely a good read, by turns amusing and sad. Grade: A-