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    Seating Arrangements
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    Seating Arrangements
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    Seating Arrangements
    Audiobook12 hours

    Seating Arrangements

    Written by Maggie Shipstead

    Narrated by Arthur Morey

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Maggie Shipstead's irresistible social satire, set on an exclusive New England island over a wedding weekend in June, provides a deliciously biting glimpse into the lives of the well-bred and ill-behaved.

    Winn Van Meter is heading for his family's retreat on the pristine New England island of Waskeke. Normally a haven of calm, for the next three days this sanctuary will be overrun by tipsy revelers as Winn prepares for the marriage of his daughter Daphne to the affable young scion Greyson Duff.  Winn's wife, Biddy, has planned the wedding with military precision, but arrangements are sideswept by a storm of salacious misbehavior and intractable lust: Daphne's sister, Livia, who has recently had her heart broken by Teddy Fenn, the son of her father's oldest rival, is an eager target for the seductive wiles of Greyson's best man; Winn, instead of reveling in his patriarchal duties, is tormented by his long-standing crush on Daphne's beguiling bridesmaid Agatha; and the bride and groom find themselves presiding over a spectacle of misplaced desire, marital infidelity, and monumental loss of faith in the rituals of American life.

    Hilarious, keenly intelligent, and commandingly well written, Shipstead's deceptively frothy first novel is a piercing rumination on desire, on love and its obligations, and on the dangers of leading an inauthentic life, heralding the debut of an exciting new literary voice.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 12, 2012
    ISBN9780449008782
    Unavailable
    Seating Arrangements
    Author

    Maggie Shipstead

    Maggie Shipstead graduated from Harvard in 2005 and earned an M.F.A at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She was also a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her debut novel, Seating Arrangements, won the Dylan Thomas Prize and the LA Times Prize for First Fiction. Astonish Me is her second novel.

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    Reviews for Seating Arrangements

    3/5

    284 ratings39 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Apparently it's a thing to hate the output of alum from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, because as you skim through the reviews on GoodReads, the comments are peppered with snide remarks and tut-tutting of the decline of quality of IWW's output. Who knew?

      Was Seating Arrangements a tour de force and innovative? No. Was it sloppy and a bit amateurish at times? Absolutely. Was the language overwrought? At times. But is this a bad story? The short answer is no. It's clunky, some of the plot points felt like they were thrown in at the last minute, and some of the characters were definitely there to fill a quota but there is something here. You just have to be patient as you dig through the muck and Shipstead can turn a beautiful phrase more often than not.
      I could be a bit biased -- I have a weakness for anything relating to farces surrounding blue bloods and their world. And this felt like someone had done their research and wrote as if they knew this particular world without ever having stepped into it. So think of this as if Whit Stillman and Bret Easton Ellis were high on acid, conceived Shipstead as their prodigal daughter in their ultra preppy way and you'll have encompassed the writer completely.
    • 3/5
      all the characters in this book needed therapy. They were all unfeeling and ambivalent. There were some funny moments and I did want to know how things ended, but to me the book was just ok.
    • 3/5
      Apparently it's a thing to hate the output of alum from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, because as you skim through the reviews on GoodReads, the comments are peppered with snide remarks and tut-tutting of the decline of quality of IWW's output. Who knew?

      Was Seating Arrangements a tour de force and innovative? No. Was it sloppy and a bit amateurish at times? Absolutely. Was the language overwrought? At times. But is this a bad story? The short answer is no. It's clunky, some of the plot points felt like they were thrown in at the last minute, and some of the characters were definitely there to fill a quota but there is something here. You just have to be patient as you dig through the muck and Shipstead can turn a beautiful phrase more often than not.
      I could be a bit biased -- I have a weakness for anything relating to farces surrounding blue bloods and their world. And this felt like someone had done their research and wrote as if they knew this particular world without ever having stepped into it. So think of this as if Whit Stillman and Bret Easton Ellis were high on acid, conceived Shipstead as their prodigal daughter in their ultra preppy way and you'll have encompassed the writer completely.
    • 2/5


      The author excelled at creating characters I disliked. While I finished the book I did not enjoy it.
    • 1/5
      Really no good characters - creepy father and terrible ending. Wedding party w a bunch of creepy, whining and unhappy people
    • 2/5
      Painful

      I am forever an optimist when reading a book. I think that even "bad" books have a story from which we can learn. I'm not sure what to say about this novel. Even at the end, I'm stuck wondering...why? What was the purpose? Some books leave you with deep contemplation while the book just left me confused. There were several storylines relating to several of the characters with the timeline fluctuating from past to present. I'm finding I have to try too hard to find merit in this story.
    • 4/5
      If Franzen did The OC. A hugely enjoyable read that underscores Shipstead’s talent. Will hoover up the book that falls between this and Great Circle, then eagerly anticipate whatever comes next
    • 3/5
      adult fiction; human comedy of romantic escapades taking place over a weekend wedding on a New England island, filled with a delightful and lifelike cast, some of whom are definitely more WASPy than others.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book . . . until the end. It seemed to just kind of end, but I don't know where else it might have gone I guess. Everyone had some closure. The author is great at taking us in and out of everyone's stories and giving us a sense of place. Very nicely done. I enjoyed it a lot.
    • 3/5
      Shipstead is an immensely talented writer, with laser-accurate descriptions and characters of remarkable depth. But this book was too subtle for my taste: the plot moved too slowly and the sparse dramatic events fizzled to nothing. I'm broadcasting my ignorance here, but I was left without much understanding of how the characters were transformed by the few days we spent with them.

      Much of my dissatisfaction may have been the simple result of mismatched expectations; the blurb mentions a wedding, champagne, lust and an escaped lobster. It's true, all these things are present, but I was expecting a lighter, more comical story, not the kind of novel which gets itself on the literature syllabus at serious universities.

      I take my hat off to Shipstead's prowess as a writer, but for entertainment, I prefer a faster-moving yarn.
    • 1/5
      I wanted to like this book. So many reviews stated laugh out loud funny...I wish I could have found a single part that was funny. All I could find was rich people complaining about their lives and playing the victim.
    • 4/5
      Here's a quick diagnostic to assess whether you'd enjoy this book:

      If someone told you they were wearing seersucker ironically, would you walk away or would you ask how it was working for them?

      Seating Arrangements is populated with characters in seersucker, whale belts and pastel pop-collared polos, and very few of them wear--or do--anything with irony. Those that try largely fail. So we are surrounded by Biddy and Mopsy and Oatsie (I kid you not) and more last-names-as-first names than the freshman class of Hah-vahd, all organized around a wedding and the middle-age flailings of Winn Van Meter. It's almost as easy to hate these people as it is to dismiss them.

      And yet I didn't hate them or dismiss them. You might (see question above), but I was entertained on nearly every page, and even moved. Maggie Shipstead's writing is superb; I crossed from admiration into envy several times. She manages to weave the back story into the grim present with finesse, and we come to see that for all their stuffy posturing, their suffering (and loyalty) is very real. It's a neat trick, and served up with plenty of laughs.
    • 4/5
      Completely engrossing tale of high WASP and wannabee high WASP characters, organized around a weekend wedding on an island in New England. Extremely well written, with most characters full of life and truth. Lots of surprises; no hackneyed plot twists. Hated to finish!
    • 2/5
      Ehh. . . ok, not great. Too much pleasure at the idiocy of the rich for my taste.
    • 5/5
      This book was recommended to me by a friend. I was searching for something light hearted. This book isn't quite a comedy, but it is more positive about life and people and the world than a lot of what I've read recently! We are with the Van Meters, at the wedding of their eldest daughter. The groom is a thoroughly decent Duff. We see the weekend unfold through the eyes of the Van Meters. Head of the family Winn is having a crisis. His wife Biddy is stoic. Youngest daughter Livia is an uncontained whirl of emotion. Set in the upper class community of the Eastern seaboard of America, we learn what it means to fit in, and what it costs to be yourself. The writing style has shades of Edith Wharton, shades of F Scott Fitzgerald, and the story has echoes of Virginia Woolf. Strong literary fiction worth reading.
    • 5/5
      A pitch-perfect comedy of manners examining the cracks in an upper-class family during one wedding weekend. I gobbled it up in a matter of hours.
    • 3/5
      This book about a family during a long weekend in preparation for a daughter's wedding was highly disappointing. It started well enough, but it was just too weird in the middle (exploding whales and everybody wanted to have sex with everybody else!) and a very abrupt ending.... It seems the author had reached her preassigned word limit and just quit!
    • 4/5
      A family prepares for a wedding. Over the course of a few days, sadness/hilarity/mayhem ensues. The hapless main character was not my type of protagonist but the surrounding characters redeem it.
    • 3/5
      Maggie Shipstead is an accomplished, creative, and insightful author; and you know it from the way she writes. The words are woven in such a way that indicates the author is fully aware of her skill. It got in the way of enjoying the story initially, but soon I fell into the dysfunctional yet ethereal groove she created. Beautifully explored characters and a teaspoon of mysticism set in a the drama of a wedding between two rich white families make an odd threesome. Shipstead tacitly acknowledges the challenge in her writing and tackles it. She may have even intentionally created it herself. It took 89 pages to find one that I wished to fold over and return to. A good read, to be sure, but no need to go far out of your way to get your hands on a copy.
    • 4/5
      This story revolves around a weekend of wedding preparations for a very pregnant bride, daughter of Winn and Biddy. The entire extended families have convened, as have the bridesmaids and groomsmen. It is a time for reflection and memories, mainly by Winn, the father of the bride, and Livia, the bride's sister. Winn is a pretentious, shallow man whose main goal in life is to achieve membership in an exclusive club that doesn't want him. Livia's main goal is to find a man to replace the one she lost. Agatha, one of the bridesmaids, figures heavily in their drama. This is a well-crafted social satire. The poignancy is limited because the main characters are simply unlikable and self-absorbed, but Maggie Shipstead does an excellent job of portraying them within the confines of their limited lifestyle.
    • 3/5
      all the characters in this book needed therapy. They were all unfeeling and ambivalent. There were some funny moments and I did want to know how things ended, but to me the book was just ok.
    • 3/5
      Maggie Shipstead is an accomplished, creative, and insightful author; and you know it from the way she writes. The words are woven in such a way that indicates the author is fully aware of her skill. It got in the way of enjoying the story initially, but soon I fell into the dysfunctional yet ethereal groove she created. Beautifully explored characters and a teaspoon of mysticism set in a the drama of a wedding between two rich white families make an odd threesome. Shipstead tacitly acknowledges the challenge in her writing and tackles it. She may have even intentionally created it herself. It took 89 pages to find one that I wished to fold over and return to. A good read, to be sure, but no need to go far out of your way to get your hands on a copy.
    • 3/5
      I just couldn't be bothered to feel sorry for these poor, rich, white people who scream "Pity me" from every page. Not to mention that the story is entirely predictable - I wasn't surprised by anything.
    • 4/5
      Engaging and thoroughly descriptive writing put me right on Waskeke with the Van Meters. The main characters are all so flawed, and all so very human, all yearning for a true connection that you can't help but pity them as they struggle with their own inner desires and unspoken wishes suppressed underneath the stifling demands of having to keep up appearances. Above all, there is a great sense of desperation from the characters who all yearn for a life of freedom but don't exactly understand how they'd live if they got it. The Van Meters are cautionary examples against living an inauthentic life, but at the same time one can relate to their basic human need for connection, hope and love.
    • 5/5
      What a good read this was – rich in detail and characterisation, conveying a strong sense of physical location, as well as the class-conscious demographic among which it is set. The story covers just a couple of days in the lives of the Van Meter family, but with many flashbacks and a perceptive eye for the subtleties of social interaction, it paints a fascinating picture of a troubled family, and in particular its ageing patriarch, Win. He is in many ways a quite appalling character and yet his cringemaking attitudes and actions are explained by his past, and you can’t hate him.It is such a wise book – its wisdom all the better for being understated, whether it is shining a light on the obsession with exclusive clubs and social climbing in a supposedly class-free nation, or just the business of life in general: (“....Dominique didn’t know if she was strong or not. All she knew was that her best decisions had been the ones that brought her freedom, but talking about freedom with Biddy would be like explaining Africa to a giraffe that had been born in the Bronx Zoo.”). Definitely an author to watch.
    • 3/5
      Back when this came out it got a fair bit of press so that when a free copy came my way, I read it right away. I’m glad that’s how I came by it because it’s not something I’m going to revisit. Not for the reason most people give, that the characters are loathsome, which they are, but because they’re boring, too. It’s been about a week since I turned the last page and I can’t really tell you anything about it, that’s how non-affecting it was. Rich people with lots of baggage and delusions. Winn’s obsession with various clubs and the social importance he thinks they give was pretty funny. Especially when he’s told straight out that he won’t get into his most coveted aerie. Even his family thinks he’s ridiculous. Livia was just immature and I didn’t find her as interesting as her dad. There is some nice language in it and phrases and the atmosphere is thorough, so I can’t fault the writing. The subject though isn’t interesting enough for me to return.
    • 4/5
      Fantastic cast of characters, incredibly sharp, smart writing, and a fully-realized world both intimate/specific and very relatable. I love how she sort of gently moves you back and forth as a reader between thinking the family has a certain social position and fearing that perhaps they don’t. Deft and enjoyable and full of insight. Richard Russo meets Claire Messud.
    • 4/5
      It's always interesting to me when you have a fantastically fleshed out male protagonist and then you flip back to the cover and realize a 29 year old female is the author. I love it.
      This was such a WASPy, first world problems book and I utterly loved it. It was similar to another novel I had read recently, Friend of the Family, but both (female) authors wrote as a washed up middle aged male so seamlessly that the similarities weren't off putting.
      I think this book was bumped up from three to four stars for me based on this quote alone : "female friendship was one tenth prevention and nine tenths cleanup" So much yes. Love. 3.5 stars.
    • 3/5
      I was in the mood for some East Coast prep and Seating Arrangements didn’t disappoint in this regard. Shipstead takes us into the lives of the Van Meter family for three days as they gather on some New England island to prepare for the wedding of the eldest daughter. And boy do we get a lot of prep. We get characters called Biddy, Mopsie, Greyson; we get guys who wear seer sucker suits and whale prints on their pants; we get concerns about getting into the right clubs; and of course, we get a whole lot of repressed emotions.

      The story mostly focuses on the patriarch of the Van Meters, Winn. He’s at a stage in his life where he’s feeling some existential angst. Here's someone who’s always done the right things, stayed on the right side of propriety, held on to the markers of class and status that have been important to him all of his life. And yet there’s a sense that’s something’s missing. As Winn works through these feelings of dissatisfaction, he confronts his attraction to one of his daughter’s bridesmaids and obsesses over why the island’s golf club refuses to offer him membership. Meanwhile, we also get flashbacks of different points in his life that have shaped him up till this point, and a lot of it is not flattering. We see that he’s not exactly the most likable person, but somewhere along the way, as the book progresses, we still root for him.

      At the same time, we also get into the head of Winn’s youngest daughter, the passionate, emotional Livia, who's reeling from a break up with her boyfriend. Not only is she a maddening person for her parents—making questionable decisions that embarrass the family—but also for the reader. It is difficult to empathize with someone who’s whiny, stubborn, and tiresome. While I totally get Winn’s story, I don’t understand why Livia’s story needed to be told. Character unlikability alone is not a good enough reason for me to dislike a book, but in this case, I don't understand the purpose of Livia's character, unlikable or not. Perhaps it has to do with setting up contrast between the way the Winn and Livia face the world? Regardless, it didn’t work for me. My three-star rating is based entirely on the strength of the father’s story.

      Seating Arrangements is a breezy enough social satire to help you pass the time. The story isn't earth-shattering; it didn't feel like it was a story that needed to be told, something that was vital. But then again, not all books have to be 'vital,' I guess. The writing is solid, the characterizations vivid—I am impressed with Shipstead's ability to get into the head of a WASPy man for what, to my eye, was a pretty convincing portrait.
    • 2/5
      This is one of those books where I didn't really like any of the characters. I have no idea why I finished it, but it could have been the great writing because it certainly wasn't Winn, Livia, Agatha, Sterling or any of the other really annoying, arrogant, idiotic characters. If you like reading about people that have a lot of money but still don't have it together at all, then read this book.Here's the thing, it isn't even that I disliked the book, I just hated the characters. It was also a little annoying that it focused on the days up to the wedding, but the actual wedding day got only ten pages (approximately). Lesson: if all the bad stuff happens the days before your wedding...the day of will be great!