What do You think about A Common Life: The Wedding Story (2002)?
A Common Life is not just a wedding story. It's also an intimate portrait of the unfolding love between Cynthia and the shy Father Tim, complete with fears and hesitations, professions of commitment, and Barnabas the dog delivering love letters. But there's nothing heavy-handed here. The tensions don't run any higher than wondering if Cynthia will make it to the wedding on time after getting locked inside her own bathroom, or guessing if Esther will make her famous three-layer orange marmalade cake for the reception. Told in the warm, down-home style that Karon has built her reputation on, A Common Life is sweet without being saccharine, charming without being cloying. It's an invitation to a literary reunion of the best kind, and like all weddings, it will probably coax a few tears and plenty of smiles. --Cindy Crosby --I love this series!
—Janice
As a long-time fan of Karon, I must say I was greatly dissapointed in A Common Life and embarrassed that I purchased it before reading more reviews. I would have certainly checked it out at the library and been equally dissapointed but $... dollars richer.I feel cheated as a reader and a fan because it seems as though Karon took advantage of her fan base. This magazine-length story is marketed to "appear" like all her other books, while a quick flick through the pages indicates larger fonts and hyper-margined text pages. While I might have forgiven her for what could have been a publishing decision, Karon obviously left her writing talent elsewhere while penning this story. There was nothing new to add with this addition, and even what there was wasn't written very well. I kept asking myself, "why bother?"Well, I've learned a good lesson from this purchase, and I have lost some respect for the author. I'll give her another chance, but not on my dime!
—Hannah
Reading this account of Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding always gives me a moment of pause, particularly when we revisit the past and see the lives of people who drastically changed in later books. Not to give away spoilers, but there are a few character revisits that will bring a tear to the reader's eye if you're reading them in order of publication. Jan Karon does an exceptional job moving back in time and keeping in mind the emotional and spiritual development of the characters at an earlier stage in the timeline. This book, however, is clearly for the fans. As a stand-alone book, it is quite short and limited in its scope and jumps from character to character as we peek in to the heart of each one and get their own view on this single moment in time: the wedding. It does give depth to the characters and keeps the heartwarming humor of the rest of the series.
—Ellen
