Reader Reflections: Wedding Cake Murder

Reader Reflections

My take on things that touch me during the reading of a novel

BOOK REFLECTING ON: Wedding Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

I started reading the Wedding Cake Murder and found myself really angry and triggered by a circumstance that main character, Hannah Swensen was faced with. I was like, "Wow, where did that emotion come from?" Because of that sudden emotion in myself, I decided to journal about it and that led to this new feature on my blog: Reader Reflections. I hope you like it. 

THE SITUATION: Hannah wanted a small wedding but her mother went behind her back and conspired with many other characters to force her to have a large wedding. 

I found myself really angry about how Hannah's mother Delores was trying to manipulate her by getting other people to give her a hard time about the wedding. Hannah wanted a small wedding but Delores wanted to be the center of attention in the town and a small affair just wouldn't do.  Delores even went so fast as to say the townspeople would think she [Hannah] was pregnant since she wanted to get married so quickly and with such a small wedding party. Someone even set up a pool to guess when Hannah's due date would be. I think people have too much time on their hands and think interfering in other people's lives is okay.  I tell you it is not. 

Why can't Hannah have it the way she wants it? I know that once again Hannah is going to cave to her mother's will and that is so sad. I just want Hannah to say no to her mother and let the gossip queen have a reality check for a change. 

Since I didn't read the book in series order, I don't know how Hannah came to fall for Ross instead of one of her other two suiters. I didn't do a very thorough review of the Blackberry Pie Murder and I almost want to re-read it so I can understand the character dynamics a bit better. 

I know this is just a book and I should let it go but I wanted to delve into why this was bothering me so much. 

I think it starts out with the fact that Hannah is being manipulated. Her power is taken away from her to appease the needs of others. And like I said above, that is not okay!

Hannah pretty much accepts her fate in the book and deals with her challenge by letting everyone else have their own way. I could not do that. I spend too much time at work subordinate to others who need to feed their puny egos by trying to put their thumb down on me. I don't need that to bleed over into my personal life. 

I have not finished the book yet so I don't know how it all pans out but I will look forward to Hannah taking back her power at some point, if even in a small way.