Last week I interviewed, Adina Ferguson, a recent graduate of a Creative Writing and Publishing Arts MFA curriculum. Not surprisingly, the thesis for the degree was a book. Students had to do not just the writing, but the page design, cover design, choose the paper and the cover stocks, all those little things you don’t think of when you pick up a book, but that are all critical to the success of the book. The only thing they did not have to do was the actual printing.

Like most of the ones I’ve seen, I don’t want to be your bridesmaid is a small book. The cover looks just crowded at first glance, but as you continue to look at it, it communicates exactly what the author wants it to, what the title says.

Of course, the point of a book is the content. This is a first book and the content does reflect that, but the promise of an excellent author is so clear I want to highlight it. The title may be a little trite, but you only have to have been a bridesmaid a couple of times before you’re feeling it. The book is a collection of what would be short stories except that they are non-fiction. I would call them a series of essays. Adina calls them memoir selections, or “a declaration of who I am.”

Whatever they are, the topics are universal: The best friend you aspire to be and then find out you have surpassed, getting miffed at God after a very bad year of multiple losses, getting over your first love who dumped you, the Grandma dialog you know word for word, agonizing over the perfect gift for a kid while your boyfriend just grabs something and the kid likes that one better, and of course, always the bridesmaid, never the bride. It’s very easy to say, “Yeah, been there!” to each story. I’m sure some of them appeal more to women then men, but there’s plenty there for them, too.

And Adina is capable of an excellent turn of phrase. “Marquetta was any-day-now away from going into labor…” “This request arrives by text, yet has the weight of a sleeping toddler when you’ve parked in the last aisle furthest from the grocery store.” “Wanda was always around. She was like the mice in my family’s basement apartment that traveled in the U-haul with our other belongings to our new single family home.” And much better ones that I didn’t mark as I read through the book.

This book is very much worth reading, but definitely keep an eye on this author. Look for her next book.