Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead (English) Paperback Book

Description: Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead Shipsteads irresistible social satire, set on an exclusive New England island over a wedding weekend in June, provides a deliciously biting glimpse into the lives of the well-bred and ill-behaved. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • The irresistible story of a summer New England wedding weekend gone awry—a deliciously biting satirical glimpse into the lives of the well-bred and ill-behaved, from the New York Times bestselling author of Great Circle.The Van Meters have gathered at their family retreat on the island of Waskeke to celebrate the marriage of daughter Daphne—seven months pregnant—to the impeccably appropriate Greyson Duff. The weekend is full of champagne, salt air and practiced bonhomie, but long-buried discontent and simmering lust stir beneath the surface. Winn Van Meter, father of the bride, is not having a good time. Barred from the exclusive social club hes been eyeing since birth, hes also tormented by an inappropriate crush on Daphnes beguiling bridesmaid, Agatha, and the fear that his daughter, Livia—recently heartbroken by the son of his greatest rival—is a too-ready target for the wiles of Greysons best man. When old resentments, a beached whale and an escaped lobster are added to the mix, the wedding that should have gone off with military precision threatens to become a spectacle of misbehavior. Author Biography MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her most recent novel is Astonish Me. Review A San Francisco Chronicle and Daily Candy Best Book of the YearWinner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize "Beneath the surface of this summery romp lie animosities, well-paced sexual suspense and a clash between appearances and authenticity. . . . Waltzlike." —The New York Times Book Review"The novel Ive been recommending this summer to anyone, female or male, whos looking for the trifecta—a good story thats beautifully written and both hilarious and humane." —Maureen Corrigan, NPR "This gorgeous, wise, funny, sprawling novel about family, fidelity, and social class, is the best book Ive read in ages." —J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine "Shipsteads weave of wit and observation continually delights. I wouldnt be surprised if someday she trades her Lilly Pulitzer for something from Joseph Pulitzer." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Seating Arrangements delightfully and poignantly upends the WASP idyll….Sparkles while it slays." —USA Today"Maggie Shipstead is an outrageously gifted writer, and her assured first novel, Seating Arrangements, is by turns hilarious and deeply moving." —Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic "Shipstead doesnt just follow in [John Updike and Jane Smileys] footsteps; she beats a distinctive and dazzling path of her own. The world has found a remarkable, humane new voice to explain us to ourselves" —Allison Pearson, author of I Dont Know How She Does It "Whipsmart and engaging." —O, The Oprah Magazine"A wickedly clever tragicomedy of manners that unfolds with the plotting of a juicy mystery and the sharp eye of someone only too aware of the subtle, seemingly pointless class distinctions within the one percent." —Slate "Shipstead seems at home in the Waspy milieu of private schools and their preening, privileged attendees. . . . A keen-eyed rendering of Americas self-invented caste." —The New Yorker"This is one of those rare debut novels that neither forsakes plot for language nor language for plot. It is gratifying on every scale." —The Boston Globe "Precise, skilled, quick-witted, and warm-hearted." —The Millions "Dead-on delightful. . . . A champagne-fueled, saltwater-scented comedy of upper-crust New England manners and mores." —National Geographic Traveler"A wise, sophisticated and funny novel about family, fidelity, class and crisis."—Marie Claire "A pitch-perfect debut from a master storyteller, Seating Arrangements is a rich and deep work: a smart, consuming novel that manages also to be delightfully funny. A romp of a book, with whales and weddings and wealth, it is, at its heart, a warning against the empty seductions of status and exclusivity." —Justin Torres, author of We the Animals"Elegant, delightful. . . . Shipsteads sentences simmer and crackle on the page." —San Francisco Chronicle"[A] mordant, ferociously clever comedy of manners." —The Guardian (London) "Delightful. . . . Seating Arrangements brims with sharp observations about love, lust, family, and the real meaning of marital bliss." —Entertainment Weekly"[A] spicy debut." —Real Simple"Funny and dark and poignant—sometimes all at once. Shisptead is a gifted storyteller whose richly realized characters and sweetly flowing prose coalesce into a tale that is by parts sweet and sharp, humorous and heartbreaking. Its an auspicious debut by an undeniably talented writer."—The Maine Edge "Wonderfully juicy, frothy and delightful." —Cape Cod Times"A delicious comedy of manners . . . that has fun with all things rich, all things wedding and all things inappropriate." —Asbury Park Press "Zestful yet acerbic. . . . For all its madcap quirkiness, Shipsteads adroit escapade artfully delivers a poignant reflection on the enduring if frustrating nature of love, hope, and family."—Booklist "[Shipsteads] book places a magnifying glass over classic New England upper-crust culture. . . . Whether reading Seating Arrangements is like looking into a mirror or peeking through the window, the gin-soaked escapades are difficult to turn away from." —The Phoenix (Portland, ME) Review Quote "Maggie Shipstead is an outrageously gifted writer, and her assured first novel, Seating Arrangements , is by turns hilarious and deeply moving." -Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic " Seating Arrangements is bursting with perfectly observed characters and unforgettable scenes. This gorgeous, wise, funny, sprawling novel about family, fidelity, and social class, is the best book Ive read in ages." -Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine "A pitch-perfect debut from a master storyteller, Seating Arrangements is a rich and deep work: a smart, consuming novel that manages also to be delightfully funny. A romp of a book, with whales and weddings and wealth, it is, at its heart, a warning against the empty seductions of status and exclusivity." -Justin Torres, author of We the Animals "Smart and frothy…Beneath the surface of this summery romp lie animosities, well-paced sexual suspense and a clash between appearances and authenticity…waltzlike." - New York Times Book Review "A sophisticated summer romp...Shipsteads weave of wit and observation continually delights. I wouldnt be surprised if someday she trades her Lilly Pulitzer for something from Joseph Pulitzer." - Washington Post "Whipsmart and engaging...the best kind of smart beach read." - O Magazine "Dead-on delightful…a champagne-fueled, saltwater-scented comedy of upper-crust New England manners and mores." - National Geographic Traveler "Irresistible [and] joyously good." - Daily Mail (UK) "Elegant, delightful…Shipsteads sentences simmer and crackle on the page." - San Francisco Chronicle "This is one of those rare debut novels that neither forsakes plot for language nor language for plot. It is gratifying on every scale…The novel is teeming with the sort of casual philosophizing that encourages passage-underlining and earnest recommendation." - The Boston Globe "Funny and dark and poignant-sometimes all at once. Shisptead is a gifted storyteller whose richly realized characters and sweetly flowing prose coalesce into a tale that is by parts sweet and sharp, humorous and heartbreaking. Its an auspicious debut by an undeniably talented writer." - The Maine Edge "Zestful yet acerbic…for all its madcap quirkiness, Shipsteads adroit escapade artfully delivers a poignant reflection on the enduring if frustrating nature of love, hope, and family." - Booklist "Vibrant prose and moments of keen insight." - Publishers Weekly "By turns poignant and laugh-out-loud funny (thanks to Shipsteads gimlet eye and terrific comic timing), Seating Arrangements is a tremendous debut." - Everydayebook "A wedding held at a family retreat off the New England coast explodes into a weekend of deliciously scandalous behavior." - Parade 2012 Summer Reading Guide "Told from the wry perspective of the father of the (very pregnant) bride, this spicy debut tracks the goings-on at a Cape Cod wedding where endless drama unfolds." - Real Simple , Addictive Summer Novels Description for Reading Group Guide The questions below are intended for use in facilitating discussions of Maggie Shipsteads novel Seating Arrangements in which a romantic three-day wedding weekend on an idyllic New England island erupts in a summer blaze of adulterous longing and salacious misbehavior as the bride and groom find themselves presiding over a spectacle of marital failure, familial strife, and monumental loss of faith in the rituals of American life. Discussion Question for Reading Group Guide 1. "The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, / Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends / Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed. / And their friends, the loitering heirs of City directors; / Departed, have left no addresses." This is the novels epigraph, from "The Wasteland," T. S. Eliots epic poem of ruin and desolation. How does this verse relate to Seating Arrangements ? Why has the author elected to place it at the front of her novel? 2. Winn is obsessed with status, with matters of appearance and pedigree and joining all the right clubs. What do you think the author thinks of Winn? What did you think of him? Is he sympathetic? Does your view of him change over the course of the novel? Do you think Winn himself changes or grows over the course of the novel? 3. How is Daphne different from her father? Is her world view different or is it the same? How do Daphnes and Livias values differ? 4. Discuss Dominiques role in Seating Arrangements . How is she different from the other characters in the novel, and how does this alter the readers perspective? 5. Discuss the scene where the whale explodes. What do you think the whale symbolizes for the author? What do you think the explosion is meant to dramatize or represent? 6. On page 164, Biddy draws herself a bath and spends a quiet moment reflecting on her predicament and her marital expectations after Winns inescapably obvious attentions to Agatha following her fall from the deck. "The obviousness was what she could not tolerate. She had known what she was when she married him, had expected to be the kind of wife who looked the other way from time to time, but she had also expected him to be discreet. And he had been. She assumed there had been other women, but she had never come across any evidence of them, which was all she asked. A simple request, she had thought: cheap repayment for her forbearance, her realism, her tolerance. At times his discretion had been so complete she had allowed herself to believe maybe there hadnt been others, but she didnt like to risk being foolish enough to believe in something as unlikely as her husbands fidelity." What is Biddys view of marriage? Does the author share this view? Do you? Is fidelity essential to a good marriage? What exactly is a good marriage, in your view? In Shipsteads? 7. Aunt Celeste brings levity, acerbic wit, and a rather dark personal history to a host of subjects that are often treated sanctimoniously, among them, romantic love and the possibility of living happily ever after. What is Celestes contribution to the Van Meter family, and to the novel as a whole? What is your opinion of her? The authors? 8. In what way does the Duff family differ from the Van Meter family? How are they aware of their differences, whether social, financial, or historical? Do you think the author is pointing out their differences primarily, or their similarities? 9. On page 170, Winn recollects a story he was told one night at the Vespasian, while still a young man, about his grandfathers inheritance. How is this story significant, and how has it informed the truths and myths of his family history? 10. In chapter eleven, Livia and Francis have a fascinating conversation in which the author provides several nuanced reflections on varieties of love: maternal, filial, familial, romantic. How do these ruminations embody--or shape--our perception of love and its obligations, in the world of Seating Arrangements and in the world at large? 11. Following the aforementioned conversation, Francis says to Livia, "Another reason I like you is that I think we have similar roles in our families. Were the critical ones. We represent a threat to their way of life, a new order." What does he mean? How, in particular, might Livia be perceived as a threat to her familys way of life? Is she more or less of an iconoclast than her aunt Celeste? 12. Discuss the debacle of Winns bridal toast in which he equates marriage with death. Do you think the author intends the reader to perceive this as farcical or tragic? 13. Look at the end of chapter seventeen, which closes with Livia listening to her parents in their bedroom and the line, "Their door shut behind them, and she heard the murmur of their voices, the unknowable language they spoke only to each other." How does this recast our sense of Winn and Biddys marriage? 14. Discuss the epilogue and, in particular, the final image of Daphne and Winn dancing. What note does the author strike at the novels conclusion? How has the novel, and the family, recovered from its various catastrophes and regained its balance after the tawdriness of the events that preceded it and the spectacularly deflating effect of the patriarchs wedding toast? Is this a happy ending? Do you think the author intends it to be so? 15. Is it surprising, given the novels themes and its central voice--an older, patrician male--to discover that its author is a twenty-eight-year-old woman? Why or why not? Excerpt from Book One * The Castle of the Maidens By Sunday the wedding would be over, and for that Winn Van Meter was grateful. It was Thursday. He woke early, alone in his Connecticut house, a few late stars still burning above the treetops. His wife and two daughters were already on Waskeke, in the island house, and as he came swimming up out of sleep, he thought of them in their beds there: Biddy keeping to her side, his daughters hair fanned over their pillows. But first he thought of a different girl (or barely thought of her-- Details ISBN0307743950 Author Maggie Shipstead Short Title SEATING ARRANGEMENTS Language English ISBN-10 0307743950 ISBN-13 9780307743954 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Imprint Vintage Books Year 2013 Publication Date 2013-05-07 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2013-05-07 NZ Release Date 2013-05-07 US Release Date 2013-05-07 UK Release Date 2013-05-07 Pages 320 Publisher Random House USA Inc Series Vintage Contemporaries Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:141688459;

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