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A Walk Down the Aisle: Notes on a Modern Wedding | 
 enlarge | Author: Kate Cohen
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $6.98
You Save: $6.97 (50%)
New (17) Used (13) from $6.10
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 335181
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 0393324125
Dewey Decimal Number: 395
EAN: 9780393324129
ASIN: 0393324125
Publication Date: January 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: new book diff cover I protect my new books with plastic covers
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Product Description
In this modern age, why do we carry on that most traditional of all traditions: marriage? When Kate Cohen decided to marry her longtime boyfriend, it seemed like a natural choice. But why? In an age of widespread cohabitation and divorce—when marriage is no longer the master key to sex, a shared home, or security—what reasons did she have for marrying? With charm and honesty, A Walk Down the Aisle addresses our desires to wed traditionally, and also to break with tradition. Illuminating familiar wedding customs by showing us those from other cultures and eras, and enlisting the ideas of figures from John Milton to Lyle Lovett, Cohen looks at how we wed today, how we find a true love, or how we find a china pattern. We join her during the summer before she walked down the aisle, and with her we face the questions her restless mind encountered—including the most troubling and, finally, exhilarating ones: What does that walk mean? And why does it feel so right?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Ultimately, she doesn't subvert anything July 3, 2008
I bought this book before my own wedding looking for an insightful deconstruction of the modern wedding-industrial complex by someone who went out of her way not to do everything by the book. Although Cohen agonizes along the way about all of the traditions associated with a modern American wedding, she systematically embraces each and every one-- the white dress; the wedding bands; the first dance; the multiple-day wedding with several events; even the prized NY Times "Vows" wedding announcement! What is so unusual about her wedding experience except that she experienced a lot of post-feminist, Ivy League, liberal angst about it? (I say this as a feminist Ivy Leaguer myself). Ultimately, she lacked the courage to be different and the book, on the whole, casts her in a rather unsympathetic and self-centered light.
 Great book, not just about marriage April 11, 2008
I bought this book when I was planning my own wedding and wanted to learn more about the various traditional elements of the wedding ceremony. I loved it so much that I gave my sister a copy when she got engaged.
This isn't just another wedding-planning guide, though. It's a book of essays, one woman's view of life from the perspective of a soon-to-be-bride - and it's well worth the read, whether you have a wedding in your future or not. I still re-read it from time to time just because I enjoy the writing so much, and I really wish Ms. Cohen would put out another book.
 Great book for the most part September 4, 2004
I am in a situation very simiar to that of the author - in a long-term live-in relationship and we've just decided to get married. This book addresses SO MANY of the things that've been bugging me. For example: many marriages end in divorce, how can we be sure this one will last? In all actuallity, no one really knows, because I'm sure just about everyone who gets married truly believes it will be forever. In reality, people change, and it isn't always possible to be together forever. It helps so much just to know other's have struggled with the same issues.
The only reason I gave it 4/5 is because the book goes off on some weird tangents that didn't flow too well. The transitions weren't smooth and I was confused as to why they were included.
Overall, very good book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in a similar situation themselves.
The Truth about Marriage November 15, 2001
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
A Walk Down the Aisle is a beautiful and powerful book--witty and wise, poignant and moving (but never maudlin), intimate and communal at the same time. Cohen's writing is lyrical and her messages are profound. Above all, her book is incredibly real and authentic in a way that no other book I've read about marriage has been. (Plus I cried all the way through the last chapter, and it was a good, cleansing cry.) I have been married to Jeff for twenty-two years, but Cohen's book led me back down that aisle, and my reflections on "my" day (it was definitely the bride's day for us), on dozens of weddings since, and on my marriage have been fruitful for me. If we were to marry again today, we would do almost everything completely differently. I don't think Kate and Adam will ever need to say that.When I got married, a well meaning Sunday school teacher from my church gave me a book of "devotional readings for the newly married." Reading it was a miserable experience for me. It created all sorts of guilt and anxiety; there was just no way Jeff and I were ever going to conform to the images of the perfect couples who filled those pages. After a while, I realized that I didn't want to be one of those cardboard cutouts. So Cohen's is the flesh and blood book I'm going to give to all my engaged friends. I encourage you also to read it, share it with your friends and loved ones, and return to it often.
My favorite wedding book (and I've read a *ton*!) July 7, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was absolutely thrilled when I found this book by chance one day and bought it (I almost never buy hardcovers, but...). I have read it twice and frequently pick it up to reread parts of it again. I love the combination of such deeply personal and thoughtful writing with tidbits about the history of the wedding traditions. I find it so inspiring in planning my own wedding and helpful in clarifying exactly what marriage means for people like my fiance and I in today's world. Thank you Kate Cohen for writing this!
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