A Catered Affair

July 4, 2011
The latest in Margolis's Brit-chick-lit cadre (after last year's Perfect Blend) finds lawyer Tallulah Roth jilt-ed at the altar by a nice Jewish doctor with a history of commitment problems. Tallulah gets help licking her wounds from two men: old flame Hugh Marshall, a serious sort whose career ambitions got in the way of lasting love, and Kenny, the handsome caterer of her embarrassment. Though sparks are evident between Tallulah and Kenny, class differences and Tallulah's snobbery get in the way of romance. Add to this a hard-luck friend whose desperate stab at literary fame actually pays off; an 84-year-old Jewish grandmother who remembers the war; and an Iranian activist facing deportation and you have a breezy effort not afraid to take on weighty subjects like WWII and Judaism (though the deportation plot feels tangential at best). Will Tallulah finally reconcile her attractions with her prejudices? You bet, and it's a pity that her arc turns on contrivances built upon aphorisms that are all but weightless. Margolis finds recurring humor in a character with Tourette's who blurts out catchphrases from popular cartoons, a fa-miliar bit of levity that nonetheless actively punctuates all the leaden exposition.

July 1, 2011
Tallulah's fianc' is a Jewish doctor, so her Nana Ida is kvelling and insists on paying for a grand wedding. If only Tallulah's free-spirited mother could feel the same way. Tallulah has never really connected with her mother, and now deeply feels the loss of her father as she is about to marry a man she knows her late father would have loved. But he would have changed his mind when she is jilted at the altar. Her grandmother believes the money she spent is cursed because it came from German reparations. Her lesbian sister tells her that she didn't like her fianc' because he is too earnest. Tallulah wallows in misery, self-doubt, and an alcohol haze. Kenny, her caterer, comes to the rescue, launching a friendship based on how their former partners did them wrong. Everyone thinks that Kenny is perfect for her, except Tallulah. Can she fall for a man who did not go to university and doesn't take life seriously? A romping-good English chick-lit tale that will keep the reader in stitches.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)