Book Review: The UnWedding by Ally Condie
There is something wonderfully unexpected about discovering your next favorite read not in a cozy independent bookshop or a sprawling Barnes & Noble but wedged between discounted throw pillows and other tchotchkes at TJ Maxx. That is exactly where I stumbled upon The Unwedding by Ally Condie, and it gave me yet another reason to love a store I already adored for its bargain finds. If you have ever wandered the aisles looking for a deal on kitchenware and walked out with a book tucked under your arm, you understand the particular joy of it. Even the cashier who checked me out did not know that books were part of the store’s inventory. TJ Maxx selling books feels like a small but meaningful signal that stories are finding their way into every corner of our retail lives, meeting readers wherever they happen to be shopping. And honestly, more power to that.
The premise of The Unwedding pulled me in immediately. Ellery, our protagonist, has planned a luxurious getaway with her husband to a stunning resort in Big Sur, California, to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. It sounds like a dream. But it quickly turns into a nightmare when, weeks before they are supposed to leave, her husband drops a bomb: he wants a divorce. Wounded and reeling, Ellery makes the bold, quietly defiant decision to take the trip anyway, alone. She is encouraged by her friend Abby, who convinces her that she deserves Big Sur: the ocean, the cliffs, and the good wine. What she does not expect is to arrive and find a wedding taking place at the resort. As if the universe is determined to rub salt into her raw wounds.
Then things get genuinely dark. The groom turns up dead, and murder seems the most likely explanation. And just when you think the situation could not get any more claustrophobic, a rainstorm-induced mudslide wipes out the only road in or out of the resort, stranding every single guest, the staff, including, somewhere among them, a killer.
I am a sucker for a good whodunit, and this one had all the right ingredients: a stunning and isolated setting, a cast of strangers forced together by circumstance, secrets simmering beneath the surface, and a protagonist navigating her own emotional wreckage while trying to make sense of the chaos unfolding around her. It is part cozy mystery, part emotional reckoning, and the combination works beautifully to tell a compelling story.
Get Jola Naibi’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Ally Condie’s writing is one of the novel’s genuine strengths. She has a gift for atmosphere, and Big Sur practically breathes on the page, the fog rolling in off the Pacific, the precariousness of the cliffs, the way the resort feels both luxurious and menacing once the road washes out. Her characters, too, are drawn with enough dimension that you care about them or at least find them intriguing enough to watch closely. Ellery is a protagonist worth rooting for: flawed, hurting, but perceptive in ways that make her a compelling amateur sleuth.
One of the parents at Maddie’s back-to-school night had come to talk to Ellery while their daughters were chatting. Ostensibly, it was to make sure Ellery was doing okay post-divorce, but there was that peculiar, particular light in the woman’s eyes, the one some people get when they are in the presence of another’s misfortune.
“How are you?” the woman had asked, and Ellery for the first time in her adult life, had simply stared straight forward and walked past someone she knew was trying to speak to her.
You don’t even know me, she’d thought. I owe you nothing.
That said, the book is not without its frustrations. Certain portions of the story feel noticeably drawn out, and some stretches become something of a slog to push through. There were portions of the book where the pacing lost some of the tension that makes the setup so gripping. There were moments when I found myself skimming, willing the narrative to pick up its pace. What kept me turning pages through those slower patches, however, was Condie’s skill with her characters. She uses them purposefully, allowing their relationships, revelations, and conflicts to carry the story forward toward its natural conclusion even when the plot itself feels like it is treading water.
All in all, The Unwedding is a satisfying read for anyone who loves a mystery wrapped in emotional depth and a gorgeous setting. It is not a perfect book, but it is an absorbing one, and I am glad a random TJ Maxx shelf put it in my hands. Sometimes the best discoveries are the ones you never set out to find.
