The Member of the Wedding Book

As my reading tastes expand, I attempt to read books by women authors from across the globe, both contemporary and classic. My reading journey until now had never included the work of Carson McCullers, even though my mother has been urging me to read her books for years. When a few friends from the reading for pleasure group said that they were doing a buddy read of McCullers' Member of a Wedding, I was pushed to join them. While not as highly regarded as her definitive work The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Member of a Wedding is McCullers' tale of coming of age in the south in the 1940s, a story of a misfit girl in need of guidance to navigate the world. This touching story has generated many discussions in our buddy read and one that I am grateful to have joined.

Frankie Addams is twelve years old and has grown up in an unnamed rural community in Georgia. She reminds me of an older Scout Finch, yet less informed before her father is for the most part absent from her life. Like Scout, Frankie comes from a family where her mother died in childbirth, leaving her father a widower who never remarries. It is up to the family's colored housekeeper Berenice to guide Frankie through her childhood, and, while Berenice is always around to provide hugs and cookies, she has left Frankie largely unaware of the world at large. At the cusp of puberty, Frankie remains naïve to the changes about to happen to her and still runs wild with her younger cousin John Henry West. Having no female friends or family members to teach her about the birds and the bees, Frankie is perfectly cast as the town's misfit, while Berenice prays that a girl best friend enters her life sooner than later.

It is in this context that we meet twelve year old Frankie in the August of her brother's wedding as she plots to leave her home and join her brother on a worldwide adventure through life. She tells her father and Berenice and anyone who will listen that when the family goes to the wedding in Winter Hill, that she will not be coming back. Naturally because her brother's name is Jarvis and his bride to be is named Janice, Frankie decides to call herself Jasmine, making her a natural member of the JA club. She believes that Jarvis and Janice will adopt her and take her with them wherever they go, making her a member of their wedding. This plotting leads Frankie to buy a lewd dress for the occasion that John Henry dubs a Christmas tree and has her gallivanting through town on adventures as she is restless and has no adult guidance in her life. While Berenice teases her for her choice of gown, she does little to stop Frankie from exploring her community, even when she is on the verge of grave danger. The father just nods when Frankie says she is not coming back, because either he does not believe this to be true, or he is so removed from his daughter's life that he does not know what goes on at his home on a daily basis. With the home life being what it was, I almost wanted Frankie to leave town, even though I knew that this was not a feasible possibility.

McCullers can flat out write. Her style is simple and soothing that has the reader reeled in from the opening paragraphs. Yet, the writing is also insightful as she creates multi layered characters and creates a place for them in the world at large. In many meaningful exchanges between Frankie and Berenice, McCullers has Frankie asking her housekeeper if the reason why she does not have many opportunities available before her is due to her skin color. This is wise beyond a twelve year old's years and also ahead of her time for the south during the Jim Crow era. McCullers lived some of her adult life in New York and may have been influenced by northern life. As a result, she has inserted forward thinking characters into a largely backward thinking southern town. While the two do not entirely mesh, McCullers has spun a soothing, southern tale that takes readers back to simpler times.

My friends in this buddy read listened to an audio version narrated by Susan Sarandon. While I did not have the audio on hand, I envisioned how Sarandon would speak various portions of the novel, adding an extra layer to the beauty of this book. Although I still have not read McCullers' definitive work, I thoroughly enjoyed The Member of the Wedding. This novel allowed me to end my reading year on a positive note as I enjoyed my time with this classic southern author and made for compelling discussions in our small buddy read group. While McCullers' other novels do not feature Frankie Addams, I am looking forward to spending more time with this gifted novelist in the years to come.

4.5 stars