Review of Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker

*Cassandra at the Wedding* by Dorothy Baker (2004). Published by NYRB Classics.

I had a copy of this book for several years, but because of the fact I am a master procrastinator, it took me forever to even consider getting to the point of reading it. This is an unfortunate reoccurring theme in my life: I always have books and movies I want to read, but then I end up procrastinating for so many years on them.

So you’re probably wondering about how I got to this point (or you simply don’t care—I get that. I totally do.). Well, I was in New York City with a friend, and because I was in my boss’s apartment, I couldn’t really do anything when I woke up at 6 AM without waking up the entire household.

What I did instead was pull out my laptop, and because I did not feel like doing any work on this trip in particular, I instead decided to go and see what books I could read on my computer. Cue me randomly choosing Cassandra at the Wedding simply because its title was simple and entertaining.

Sometimes it’s the little things that get us going. I found this to be a pretty easy read, and I flew through the pages. I also find Kindle books a lot quicker to read for some reason. Maybe it’s because it is a screen.

Anyways, here’s my review of the book.

Cassandra arrives for her sister’s wedding, but finds herself slowly combusting over the course of her time with her family.

Our main character in this novel is Cassandra, who lives and works in Berkeley as a graduate student. She doesn’t have the best mental health to begin with, and she’s gay. So when it’s time to go back to the Sierras in order to attend the wedding of her twin Judith, it’s going to spark something completely new.

Cassandra not only cannot understand why exactly her sister is getting married, but she has literally decided she is going to be the reason why the wedding will not happen at all. She’s going to sabotage the wedding no matter what happens. It doesn’t matter that her sister is getting married to a doctor.

Instead, Cassandra decides to make her opinions known when possible, whether it’s over wine and her father is drunk, or during some of the more mundane moments of this exciting moment of their lives.

We spend a good chunk of the book in Cassandra’s head, and I could kind of vibe with some of the thoughts she was having about herself and her own life. She doesn’t seem to have control over herself and what her future might entail, which I kind of saw as a reason as to why she ended up the way she is.

She also wants to be a writer, but also doesn’t because of the fact their mother was one, and she’s dead now. It would be completely and utterly taboo to have the same job as a beloved dead mother in this world. That’s one of her big problems in general: she sees the world solely through her perspective.

That’s why she cannot get over the fact her twin is getting married, and feel good for her. Cassandra feels a sense that she is the same person as her twin, thus not allowing her to move on without it being on her terms. Combined with the already poor mental health, it’s inevitable some of the events in this book.

The writing style in this one is good—honestly, it’s one of the biggest reasons I kept reading throughout this trainwreck. The novel itself is not a trainwreck, but Cassandra’s entire agenda is going to implode at some point, so we’re just waiting for the inciting incident to happen and the plot to move forward. That writing is just a beautiful vehicle for all of this to happen in slow motion.

Overall Thoughts

Despite the odd circumstances that led me to this book, I’m really glad I read it. Over the course of two hours, in which I waited for my friend to wake up, I finished this entire book.

Which means I read it pretty quickly, but I was also very invested in it. I have tried and failed to read Baker before, so I hope this brings me into a new leaf where I am finally able to read more of her work.

Pick this one up if it sounds interesting to you! You might not regret it.

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