A Catered Affair

The latest in Margolis's Brit-chick-lit cadre (after last year's Perfect Blend) finds lawyer Tallulah Roth jilt-ed at the altar by a nice Jewish doctor with a history of commitment problems. Tallulah gets help licking her wounds from two men: old flame Hugh Marshall, a serious sort whose career ambitions got in the way of lasting love, and Kenny, the handsome caterer of her embarrassment. Though sparks are evident between Tallulah and Kenny, class differences and Tallulah's snobbery get in the way of romance. Add to this a hard-luck friend whose desperate stab at literary fame actually pays off; an 84-year-old Jewish grandmother who remembers the war; and an Iranian activist facing deportation and you have a breezy effort not afraid to take on weighty subjects like WWII and Judaism (though the deportation plot feels tangential at best). Will Tallulah finally reconcile her attractions with her prejudices? You bet, and it's a pity that her arc turns on contrivances built upon aphorisms that are all but weightless. Margolis finds recurring humor in a character with Tourette's who blurts out catchphrases from popular cartoons, a fa-miliar bit of levity that nonetheless actively punctuates all the leaden exposition. (Aug.)