Social Engagement

A Novel

By: Avery Carpenter Forrey

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

"If you’re looking for a page-turner with some bite, this one’s for you."—theSkimm

"Millennial wedding culture gets a much-needed skewering in this alternately light and biting novel."—Vogue

A razor-sharp and darkly humorous debut novel exploring millennial wedding culture, class, and relationships, all filtered through the ever-present lens of social media.

In an opulent honeymoon suite in Watch Hill, Rhode Island’s most desirable wedding venue, 29-year-old Callie Holt is spending her wedding night lying in a bathtub shoveling down a pizza; her expensive white dress now splattered with sauce and her groom passed out in the next room. With her seven-hour-old marriage already imploded, Callie turns to the place of record–her phone–sifting through the photographic evidence of the past year to pinpoint where it all went wrong.

Could it have started when Callie moved in with her best friend, Virginia Murphy, in the swanky Upper East Side pied-à-terre for which Virginia’s parents foot the bill? Or when Virginia’s irritatingly attractive cousin (and Callie’s secret ex) Ollie returned from pursuing his photography career abroad, throwing a wrench in Callie’s relationship with her kind (if a bit dim) finance bro boyfriend, Whit? Or was the true turning point when Callie stumbled upon a dark secret lurking in the Murphys’ well-heeled past, one with the potential to upend everything Callie knows about the people she considers her second family?

Over the course of one wedding-filled year, all these long-simmering secrets and resentments will come bubbling to the surface, leading to a reckoning that will strip Callie and everyone around her down to their most gruesomely real, filter-free selves. As Callie attends wedding after wedding, getting tagged in post after post, she begins to contemplate—and actualize through her own art—the gulf between the true selves of the people around her and the selves they present on their screens.

©2023 Avery Carpenter Forrey (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Not my cup of tea

Very religious! Not theology, bible based blinders on one view (and only one) of religion!

Not my favorite

Trigger warning needed: Bulimia through entire story. Flesh/organ/inside out obsessed main character. Plot was still pointless in the end.

Pointless

No idea where the story was going. The jumping back and forth in time was a little confusing.

Where is this plot going?

I thought I was getting a lite hearted beach read. Instead it was bulimia, LSD trips, jealousy of one’s friends, insecurities and a lot of whining from someone that needs a good kick in her butt. Hated it.

Not what I was expecting

The books never really went anywhere and couldn’t figure out the point. Lots of talk about ED. Personally not a fan of the female lead.

Eating disorder warning needed

I wish there had been some sort of warning or something in the book description to show how central the main character’s bulimia was to the story. I was hoping for a light beach read and ended up in the very triggering mind of someone with an eating disorder and lots of insecurity about their body. Honestly not very enjoyable having to live through that experience with a character.

Unexpected - but in a good way!

This story was complex and interesting, it kept me listening and intrigued the whole time. On a separate note: There should be an ED trigger warning.

Agreed with others

Pointless, hard to follow, and triggering for those who have battled eating disorders in the past.

Don’t recommend.

Not entertaining at all

I could not finish this book. It drags on and on, but never actually gets to anything good.

Just wanted this to end

And then it wasn’t satisfying anyway. I hated the wallowing, self-hating main character and her stupid obsession with her friend’s cousin.