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Book Review By Sandra Calhoune
The Wedding by Dorothy West

Shelby Cole is the youngest daughter of the prominent African American Cole family. The Cole family and their affluent friends are gathering for Shelby's summer wedding to a white jazz musician named Meade Wyler. The Cole family (and their friends) are shocked by the upcoming wedding because they are of the belief that Meade is beneath Shelby. In fact, they feel that Shelby could've married anyone she chose. Why, they ask themselves, has she settled for a poor musician? Shelby's parents are a bit relieved that she has chosen to hold her wedding in Martha's Vineyard where the Ovalites (a group of the black bourgeoisie who have ruled African American "society" for decades and of which the Coles are members) will be able to attend the festivities. The Ovalites had never gotten over the elopement of Shelby's older sister Liz.

As Shelby prepares for her wedding she is unprepared for the arrival of a new man in town, Lute McNeil. Lute is African American and the married father of three little girls. Lute is married to a white woman, who he is desperate to divorce. Lute is made even more desperate when he lays eyes on Shelby and vows to make her his wife, despite the fact that she is soon to be wed. Shelby grapples with her attraction to Lute and rethinks her upcoming wedding to Meade.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Kind of romance:
Ethnic/Regional/Religion
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes
Lover is

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
Island? Yes
Island: - on vacation - Atlantic Ocean Island

Writing Style
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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