Author: Elodia Strain
Previously Engaged is another Shopaholic wannabe, right down to the obsession with designer clothes and shoes. Or maybe it's Bridget Jones, with the job in publishing and the two guys-- one her boss and the other one a little less polished, but perfect for her. Whatever it is, it's not original.
Previously Engaged just has SO many little things that bugged me. Maybe it was Strain's mixing up of "your" and "you're" or her use of "I" when she should have said "me" (basic grammar here, folks!). Maybe it was the fact that Annabelle Pleasanton was only twenty-five but up for an editor-in-chief position for a magazine. Maybe it was the fact that her twenty-four year old sister managed to have a four-year-old, a toddler, and a license in counseling (was she Doogie Howser?). Maybe it was the "Peach Pit"-style hangout down the street from Pleasanton's office that carried endless variations of hot chocolate and sticky buns, all with ridiculously saccharine surfer names like "riptide" and "billabong." Maybe it was the fact that she exhausted just about every single cliche about funky new-Age Northern Californians in Pleasanton's best friend Carrie, all in the first chapter (from her health food store, to her tea-dyed wedding napkins, to her yoga breathing-- you name it, it's in there). I didn't find Pleasanton cute, or charming. In fact, I wanted to warn the would-be fiance Isaac to run the other direction because this girl wasn't going to bring him much but a huge Mastercard bill.
I know that I've talked here and there during this Whitney process about the writers' treatment of their religion in their novels. We've had situations where the characters weren't Mormon, situations where the main characters were Mormon, and situations where supporting characters were Mormon but the main characters weren't. We've also had cases where it was ambiguous. In Previously Engaged, it's easy for a Mo to spot a Mo, and Annabelle and her family are definitely Mo. They talk about church, they don't drink, they talk once or twice about having a small religious ceremony for the upcoming wedding. And here's where you'll see me get all sanctimonious, because even though the book is all about weddings and marriage and happily ever afters, neither the bride nor the groom ever mentions the temple or eternity, even though it's sort of an unstated given that the wedding is going to take place there. We hear a LOT about flowers and dresses and canapes, but nothing about covenants. And I just find that bizarre. Strain also makes me feel like all of the residents of Northern California are quietly understated Mormons, just like Annabelle. Every character, from the publisher who went to Columbia to the girl with the Jewish last name, are apparently Mormons.
Finally, the one thought-provoking part of Previously Engaged came when both Annabelle and Isaac (seriously, do you know anyone over the age of 10 named Annabelle or Isaac?) both had fantastic opportunities in their careers, in opposite sides of the California coast, and they had to decide whether they'd both go for their careers or one of them would forfeit work for love. The characters are 24, so old enough to be out of college for a couple of years (apparently not smart enough, however, to know, that editors of regional magazines don't get 250K salaries and beachfront homes as a matter of course), but not really old enough to be established in their careers. And since we as Mormons tend to marry young and have kids young, we also tend to do some deferring and compromising in terms of our career plans (said by someone who went to the hospital to have her first baby straight from handing in the last paper for her MA), and I think that's something that deserves some careful consideration in the Mormon publishing world, even though it doesn't really get it here.
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