SOURCE: "Imperishable Identities," in Commonweal, Vol. CXIX, No. 10, May 22, 1992, pp. 15-16.

In the following review, Baumann commends McDermott's evocation of daily life and family ties in At Weddings and Wakes.

Old Momma Towne, the widowed Irish matriarch of Alice McDermott's stunning new novel [At Weddings and Wakes], orchestrates the ceremonial gatherings of her four stepdaughters with a certain "papal dignity," the narrator tells us. She's a very Irish pope, to be sure. Of her daughter May's future husband's irritating habit of sending flowers, Momma Towne is as suspicious—and as unforgiving—as the proverbial Irish peasant. "Don't think I didn't notice," she announces in her brogue. "First of the month it's roses, last of the month daisies…. A man who runs out of money at the end of the month is no manager." Of the soon-to-be-married couple's unwary plans for the future—a future where inevitably every joy...