Karen Schwartz, Clearing the Aisle

Clearing the Aisle

Karen Schwartz

Downtown, May 2004, $13.00

ISBN: 0743471105

After meeting in college and seeing each other for several years, mid twenties Rachel and Dan plan to marry. The duo loves each other and knows the time is right to step down the aisle to a more legal commitment between them.

However, they receive a taste of what to expect from blood when her stepmother Phyllis tries to dictate location (DC over NYC) and numbers due to costs though her rolled over dad Jerry paid more for his car than what he plans to spend on the wedding. Phyllis feels cooperative when compared to her mom crazy my way or no way Joyce. Matters get worse as the wedding comes closer to happening as her extended family act more like berserkers and his best friend wants him not take the next major step. Will Rachel and Dan survive the pre-ceremony wars to actually say I do or will they succumb to the ever expanding stress that tests their relationship to the max?

Though at times inane, Rachel keeps the tale anchored so that the audience obtains a humorous look at the family jitters and disputes leading up to a marriage similar in some ways, but even more over the top, than The Father of the Bride. The secondary cast tries to pull Rachel and Dan as a pair and as separate entities into a wide spectrum of directions to the point that one wonders if eloping is the solution. Karen Schwartz leaves the reader to ponder whose wedding is this in this amusing walk sometimes in reverse and occasionally lateral sprint towards the aisle.

Harriet Klausner