Big Gay Wedding: A Novel

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 234 ratings

Price: 17.71

Last update: 08-12-2024


Top reviews from the United States

Karen's Library
5.0 out of 5 stars Keep your Kleenex handy!
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2024
I’m writing this review as I mop up the tear tracks off my face. Word of warning, keep your Kleenex close!

ALL. THE. STARS to Big Gay Wedding and giant kudos for giving me ALL. THE. FEELS!! Going in, I just expected a fun romp about a big gay wedding. Yes… I got that, but oh my… There was so much more! So much!

I was hooked from the beginning when I realized that the setting of the book takes place on an animal farm for broken farm animals. Farm animals that would have been put down on any other farm. But Farmer Mom takes them all in and gives them their best lives possible.

And then there are the grooms, Barnett and Ezra. I was in love with both of them from the get go.

Farmer Mom, Chrissy, doesn’t accept that her son Barnett is gay and wanted him to come home to live and take over the farm. She is NOT happy that he wants to get married, let alone to another man.

And then Ezra’s crazy rich family joins in (Schitt’s Creek vibes here and so much fun to watch!) and the hilarity ensues!

This was such a feel good book and I seriously couldn’t get enough. I want more of this entire family! Please please please let there be a sequel.
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Karen's Library
5.0 out of 5 stars Keep your Kleenex handy!
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2024
I’m writing this review as I mop up the tear tracks off my face. Word of warning, keep your Kleenex close!

ALL. THE. STARS to Big Gay Wedding and giant kudos for giving me ALL. THE. FEELS!! Going in, I just expected a fun romp about a big gay wedding. Yes… I got that, but oh my… There was so much more! So much!

I was hooked from the beginning when I realized that the setting of the book takes place on an animal farm for broken farm animals. Farm animals that would have been put down on any other farm. But Farmer Mom takes them all in and gives them their best lives possible.

And then there are the grooms, Barnett and Ezra. I was in love with both of them from the get go.

Farmer Mom, Chrissy, doesn’t accept that her son Barnett is gay and wanted him to come home to live and take over the farm. She is NOT happy that he wants to get married, let alone to another man.

And then Ezra’s crazy rich family joins in (Schitt’s Creek vibes here and so much fun to watch!) and the hilarity ensues!

This was such a feel good book and I seriously couldn’t get enough. I want more of this entire family! Please please please let there be a sequel.
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carilynp
4.0 out of 5 stars Endearing characters, love the premise, and oh how I cried!
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023
A sweet story with several endearing characters. I cried so hard near the end and not just about the wedding (not a spoiler, note the title), but over the intense affection for the animals.

When Chrissy Durang’s only child, Barnett, comes for a visit to their small Louisiana town, she thinks he’s coming home to tell her that he’s finally taking over the Polite Society Farm, where he grew up, where they’ve raised and loved rescue animals. A widow, she doesn’t see herself being able to manage leading school tours and tending to the animals on her own forever. Plus, her farm manager, Pauley, is leaving for vet school. When Barnett reveals that he’s home to share his wonderful news that he’s in love with the man he plans to marry, to say this turns her world upside down would be an understatement. Barnett came out a long time ago but she kind of set the information aside hoping it would quietly go away. She is ashamed of her feelings and worried about what the conservative town will think of her for having a gay son.

When Barnett invites Ezra, his groom-to-be, to the family farm, Crissy’s reception isn’t exactly warm and welcoming. What ensues is a tug of war, a mother letting go of her son and a wish, while trying to come to terms with reality. Emotions run the gamut, from tackling disturbing and deeply rooted homophobic beliefs to the warmth of acceptance in unexpected places, such as Barnett’s loveable grandfather Paw-Paw, to a new blend of family that is all together hilarious and will keep you laughing. BIG GAY WEDDING is a lighthearted sort of a mashup of Schitt’s Creek meets Green Acres
John K. Mainieri
5.0 out of 5 stars A Loving, Funny, Touching, Book
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2023
Welcome to Polite Society Ranch. Where it’s matriarch, Chrissy Durang, is the ruler, the caretaker, the perfect hostess. She welcomes yellow school buses full of school kids who come for tours of the place. They get to meet the animals on the ranch, who are all named for sitcom characters. There’s Alice, the bald alpaca, Nanny Fine, the pig, Urkel, the goat, Diane and Woody, two of the chickens, and Elaine, the 17 year old Louisiana Heritage sheep, a breed so special they can’t survive outside the state. Pay special attention to Elaine, for she figures importantly in this delightful, funny, joy of a second novel. She often narrates and by the end…well, you’ll have to read the book for that secret.
Polite Society Ranch is also where Chrissy’s son, Barnett grew up, until he deserted his mother and fled to “Looney Tunes”, California, also known as L.A. But Barnett is coming home for a visit with his fiancé, Ezra, after living together for 3 years. Barnett and Ezra want to get married, and Chrissy isn’t sure how she feels about that. Little by little, she might come around. But not before Polite Society Ranch is invaded by Ezra’s alcoholic mom and her husband, Ezra’s twin sister, who wants to turn the farm into a very special wedding venue, Barrett’s grandfather, Paw Paw, who lives in a home and has just inherited his gay neighbor’s wardrobe and calls Ezra “the bum”, and the crazy, bigoted, homophobic townspeople who just aren’t having it. Until they are. This farm will have a magical effect on everyone by the end of this novel, and the reader will be carried along with every character on a very special, very uplifting ride. Like all weddings, there will be plenty of tears mingling with the mirth, but I dare anyone to come away from this beautiful book unaffected.
Byron Lane has a sure hand and a wicked sense of the world around him and I’m hoping this second novel, coming after after his debut, “A Star Is Bored”, will resonate with people of all genders, sexes, and locations. Suffice to say, Mr. Lane has a long career ahead of him. “Big Gay Wedding” is pure wedded bliss and often very surprising. You owe it to yourself.
And you owe it to Elaine.
Hannah P
3.0 out of 5 stars Cute, fun read!
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2023
This was a cute, fun read! I enjoyed this cast of kooky characters - minus the mom at times. I wish we’d had a bit more focus on Barnett and Ezra over the mom and the sheep. The mom was kind of a drag the whole book and very self centered which she even acknowledges. The explanations of the wedding and the characters are so over the top but in a good way and make you grin while reading. The ending felt like it dragged a bit with the intense focus on Elaine. That would have been a really good separate short story. Lane would probably make an awesome short story collection!

Thank you Netgalley and Henry Holt for my e-copy!
Randy Myers
4.0 out of 5 stars A lovely walk down that aisle
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2023
Byron Lane's latest makes for an ideal summer beach read -- even if there's no beach to be found nearby. Breezy yet moving, Lane's novel delivers more than its title suggests as one groom's mom struggles to embrace her son's sexuality and, initially, his fiancé. The characters Lane creates are bigger than life and memorable. I would love to see a movie version made. If I were an actor, I'd be hounding my agent to play Chrissy, the mother of the groom and owner of a farm where outcast animals go to live.

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