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    Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest
    Unavailable
    Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest
    Unavailable
    Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest
    Audiobook9 hours

    Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest

    Written by Jen Doll

    Narrated by Emily Durante

    2.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Weddings. They’re fun, festive, and joyful - they offer endless opportunities to reexamine love and what we want for ourselves, regardless of whether or not our aim is a walk down the aisle. In Save the Date, Jen Doll charts the course of her own perennial wedding guesthood, from the ceremony of distant family members when she was eight to the recent nuptials of a new boyfriend’s friends. Wedding experiences come in as varied an assortment as the gowns at any bridal shop, and Doll turns a keen eye to each, delivering a heartfelt exploration of contemporary relationships. Funny, honest, and affecting, Save the Date is a fresh and spirited look at the many ways in which we connect to one another.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateJun 10, 2014
    ISBN9781629237497
    Unavailable
    Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest

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    Reviews for Save the Date

    2.5/5

    37 ratings16 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Jen Doll has been to a lot of weddings. As a bit of a party girl willing to do anything for a story, her wedding-going antics have given her many wild stories to tell. She uses these stories to thoughtfully ponder what weddings mean to us and what she wants out of life, while relating many humorous anecdotes.

      This was more of a memoir than I expected, with short stories in loosely chronological order. Although each story connected to a wedding in some way, the wedding wasn’t always the main focus. Sometimes they were more about other big events in Jen’s life. Like most collections of short stories, some of the stories worked for me and some of them didn’t. I thought the author always did an admirable job not sounding bitter. She was occasionally cynical or resigned though and these were some of the bits I found funniest. I particularly enjoyed a story about one of the first weddings she remembers. Her eight-year-old self had some pretty funny ideas about weddings!

      I didn’t always enjoy her experiences as an adult. To an extent, I like that she included the sordid details of even her worst wedding decisions. Some of them were decisions I could empathize with and sharing our mistakes can make us more relatable. However, the author is clearly more of a party girl than I am. She might also have a bit of a drinking problem. Even at the end of the book, although she knows she should drink less at weddings, she’s still choosing to drink too much and do stupid, thoughtless things. In many of these cases, I empathized far more with people who had to put up with her at their weddings than I did with her! On the other hand, as someone who’s never had a one night stand, I found living through her experiences vicariously to be an interesting experiences. I also particularly enjoyed her more philosophical musings about the purpose of weddings and the baggage participants bring with them. I wasn’t wowed enough by this memoir to recommend it to everyone, but if you particularly like weddings or attend them often, you’ll probably find a lot to empathize with here.

      This review first published on Doing Dewey.
    • 2/5
      This started out as a fun read , but soon grew tired of the author's "antics" . Being the "drunken whore or bitch" at almost all of your friends' weddings just seems stupid and insulting to the brides and grooms that invited you . Could not relate to this woman . It was well written , but I didn't like it .
    • 2/5
      I was lucky enough to receive an uncorrected proof from Library Thing (thanks!). I was expecting something *really funny*; but this fell short for me (we all have different tastes, after all). I found very little hilarity and wit (repeatedly promised on the cover); more borderline brooding. I gave up after 20% (1st four and last chapters--so many books; so little time). I did enjoy the section discussing Ms. Doll's parents' meeting.
    • 4/5
      Doll has attended weddings. Lots of them. Tens of them. Lost friends over weddings. Got sick at weddings. Met up with old boyfriends at weddings. Lots of stories from all these weddings. And that's this book. Quite entertaining, really.
    • 4/5
      Weddings bring out the best and worst in people. The emotions that are brought to the fore front are really based on where you are in your life at that particular moment. Interesting, because as much as a wedding is supposed to be about the couple getting married, from each person's perspective, it's about them. This is one woman's reflective attendance of many many weddings. I thought the book got better as it went on. Maybe the attendance of a wedding as a child wasn't really something I could relate to or wasn't interested in, but the rest of the book was a very fun read.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed Jen Doll's memories of the various weddings she has attended in Save the Date, but I don't think that this book is something that would interest more than a few people. Doll writes lightly and with humor and she seems like she'd be a fun person to have a drink with. I'll be eager to see if she writes something more substantial next.
    • 2/5
      Jen Doll, the author, is a reporter and a blogger. This is her book about going to weddings, and how she feels about weddings, and marriage, and love, and relationships, and being single. There are some funny moments, but there are also some really sad moments (when she makes out with a guy at his bachelor party and has a drunken temper tantrum when she's asked to leave). I was hoping for a light-hearted, funny account of being a wedding guest, but it wasn't that. The funny moments are usually about drinking too much and hooking up with a wedding guest and it felt very juvenile. Interlaced with those moments was very serious introspection about what it means to be married and be successful in relationship and, to be honest, that's not what I was interested in. The writing was okay- definitely more blog style than memoir or novel. The audience for this book seems to be women in Jen's shoes- 20-30 somethings who are not married and all her friends have already found their "one".
    • 2/5
      In Save the Date the author Jen Doll discusses relationships within the context of the weddings she has attended. While marriage and love is the primary theme, the author also discusses friendships and the impact weddings has on those. There were times I enjoyed this book very much. Doll writes well, though there were moments I felt it was a bit too much influenced by Sex and the City (designer name dropping, lots of expensive cab rides). My favorite reflection of her's was discussing her parents marriage and what exactly marriage meant for her mom in particular. My gripe with the memoir is that I think a lot of what Doll discusses could be solved by not drinking so much. A lot of the problems and issues that come up would not have occurred if she hadn't had 7 glasses of wine. While she frequently admits this, it wasn't very relatable. Especially the second to last chapter about wedding tantrums. Maybe I'm just super lucky, but I've never witnessed such a thing. So I couldn't feel sympathy for the author when she had one after 7 glasses of wine. I just felt really bad for her date. Overall, I just can't really recommend this book. The few great essays are swallowed up by the clear fondness of booze by the author. Hopefully she'll write less alcohol soaked essays in the future.
    • 2/5
      Like I Was Told There'd Be Cake, I think this book was supposed to be funny, but I didn't really laugh at all. I enjoyed this one slightly better because, let's face it, most of us have a weird obsession with weddings. Doll does have some interesting stories and points to make about weddings, marriage, and relationships in general - some of the essays got me thinking about my own life and what might be applicable. However, the majority of the time, I just felt annoyed with Doll for getting drunk and making a fool of herself at literally every wedding she's ever been to. I actually started to think that maybe she has a drinking problem and this book is a thinly veiled cry for help - which is not what I think the author was going for. Ultimately, a big disappointment.I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
    • 4/5
      The basics: Save the Date, the debut memoir from Jen Doll, chronicles her life as a frequent wedding guest and bridesmaid.My thoughts: I've been a fan of Jen Doll for years as she's written for The Atlantic, New York, and The Village Voice (among many others.) I've always found her writing strong and insightful, yet given the title and cover, I expected this memoir to be filled with more humorous anecdotes than insight. I was pleasantly surprised, as Save the Date isn't the memoir I expected, but it's still one I enjoyed immensely.There is plenty of humor throughout Save the Date, but over all the tone was much more thoughtful, and it's often both:"You should give him a chance." "You think?" This was not the first time I'd been given this advice. There were plenty of paired-up couples in my life who seemed to see me as a hard-hearted ballbuster who never opened up, who refused to even consider anyone less than some idealized form of man. In truth, I knew that my heart, though deeply crusted on the outside with a protective layer of sarcasm and revenge schemes, was as welcomingly pliable as any of the hearts of the married twosomes I'd seen in wedlock." The memoir is largely chronological, but because the emphasis is on Doll's personal growth and ideas, particularly surrounding friendship and romance, more than the weddings themselves, the chronology matters less than the emotional timeline. As I read, I found myself growing closer to Doll and thinking of her as a friend. She writes with admirable candor, and at times I found myself simultaneously marveling and wincing at her honesty and actions. I found myself emotionally invested and wishing for a happy ending for Doll. When I turned the last page, I already missed her wry observations and humor. Favorite passage: "And there are times when you'll do anything so you can later say you did, because when all is said and done, the party favor you'll take home with you is the story."The verdict: Save the Date made me laugh and cry. Most importantly, however, it made me ponder so much about friendship, relationships, marriage and life. Doll is a bravely honest writer, and I loved how much she opens up in this pitch-perfect memoir.
    • 2/5
      Yet another book that I was excited to receive, and I desperately wanted to like. Sadly, that wasn't the case. As for the "praise" on the back cover? I feel like they sold me a bill of goods. I didn't find this book hilarious, nor did I find the author particularly witty. Perhaps it's because I am not the target demographic - which is apparently single, bitter, alcoholic 20-somethings. The anecdotes she choses to share are not flattering to the author. Am I supposed to find her brave for this sharing? It turned me off, frankly. And I'm not a prude. I've gotten drunk at weddings before. I've felt conflicted about weddings, the people in them and at them. But, oh my gosh, I couldn't read one more I-got-seriously,-out-of-my-head-wasted-at-yet-another-wedding story. Especially since I didn't find the retellings very humorous; more like rather sad, and vaguely depressing (even though they didn't happen to me). There is an idea here. A good one. But it didn't come to fruition for me. Maybe this book will speak to single 20-somethings and say something other than, "Aren't you glad you're not me?" I don't know. The author is clearly a talented writer. This is just one set of stories I think she will one day wish she hadn't told.
    • 2/5
      This book is described on its back cover as "hilarious," and Jen Doll is described as "witty." These are not really adjectives I would use for Save the Date. The book is well written and coherent; there are interesting insights; the book gives us a look at the post-boomer generation. Unfortunately, especially for Ms. Doll, it is not a very flattering book. If her publisher were a friend of hers, the advice Ms. Doll would have gotten would have been "you really don't want to publish this."The book starts off lightheartedly enough - some amusing anecdotes, some interesting observations, some pieces about her growing up (such as it might have been). After the first third of the book, however, things start to become a little testy, and the book ends up being almost depressing by the last couple of chapters.The book might have been intended as a comedy, but it is, all things considered, a tragedy. Since the book is on the order of a personal memoir, it is fair game for examining in terms of what it tells us about the author: Jen Doll seems to be, for all intents and purposes, an alcoholic - every chapter (if not every other page) is about drinking and how much of it she does, and apparently how much damage it has done to her personal relationships; she seems to portray herself as spoiled and arrogant - two things which become amplified when she is drinking; while she is willing to be insightful about her drinking and her arrogance, she seems less willing to take a look at the people around her, all of whom seem to provide her with ample examples of how to be a functional adult, to try to get a clue about what she seems to be doing wrong.It is frustrating to see her blow two potentially excellent relationships by indulging in drunken tantrums. It is frustrating to read her reflections on the search for the right person to marry when it becomes apparent that her conception of marriage seems to focus primarily on the most superficial part - the wedding. It is maddening when she fails to see the obvious messages people are sending her about her behavior and to realize that these messages only come when it is too late to say "I'm sorry."It may be tempting to read this as a missive about one's choice to remain single and to not marry; in Ms. Doll's case, however, I'm afraid it's not really a choice.
    • 3/5
      As usual I received this book for free in exchange for a review. This time it was from LibraryThing. Despite that kindness I give my candid opinions below.The nutshell view of this one is easy. This woman goes to a LOT of weddings, as I'm told women tend to do. While there she's made some insightful observations about the human condition. It should be noted this isn't a book full of witty wedding mishaps. This is no America's Funniest Weddings. It's a pointed and thoughtful look at how humans match up with each other.To the positive side, the author is obviously a wonderfully bright and introspective soul. I started this book expecting something rather vapid but instead got a very thoughtful view of weddings. These are the sorts of observations that I would quietly make to myself during such a ceremony and never tell anyone about. Jen Doll has chosen to tell the world.To the negative, as much as I appreciate the author's viewpoint, I just couldn't care enough about the her detailed observations of the human psyche to slog through the sometimes minute details of the her own personal experiences. By all means yes, let us converse about the factors that make people find each other in this mad and mixed up world but let's not talk in detail about what you had to drink last night, what you were wearing or how hungover you feel tonight.In summary, there's a bright light in this book but it is buried under a bushel of randomness. Lots of potential for a more focused treatise but it's not there yet.
    • 4/5
      Tremendous fun, surprisingly moving, a zippy, substantive read. Lotsa talk about dresses and boyfriends shouldn't dissuade you. Plenty in here for any fella who likes a good funny story.
    • 2/5
      Ultimately, an unfulfilling book. The stories were uncompelling and felt cobbled together in an unorganized way. It felt like there was too much to bother with for each story, but simultaneously not enough to get invested in it. Not a good read.
    • 3/5
      LIBRARYTHING review copy. I expected this book to be a humorous account of wedding mishaps. It quickly turned into something much more introspective. There were some really funny parts, but it is more of a look at what makes people pair up. I got a little tired of the minutia. Perhaps it is my age, but drinking myself blotto hasn’t got the appeal to a 65 year old woman. I’m giving it to a much younger woman, one who is closer to the age of the author. I have a feeling this is one of those books that the age of the reader makes a difference.