The Unwedding

Big Sur is a rugged, remote section of the California coastline between the Carmel Highlands in the north and San Simeon in the south. The area is known for its dramatic landscapes, featuring massive redwood trees, sheer cliffs, and oceanside waterfalls. The area is largely undeveloped and serviced only by a narrow two-lane highway, making it crowded during peak season and dangerous during storms. The road is often closed due to mudslides, as depicted in The Unwedding. Throughout the novel, the dynamic Big Sur landscape is used as a powerful symbol for the unpredictable nature of life. Ellery imagines that the land beneath the resort is “alive and shifting” beneath her, echoing her own understanding of the trip as a life-affirming, transformative experience (223). She explicitly connects the landscape of Big Sur to her experiences at The Resort as she prepares to leave, concluding that “the geography of their lives would always have a before and an after, would always have scarring and ruin and new roads” (295). Although the murders are ultimately solved and “the sun [shines] as if it had never rained,” the Big Sur landscape and Ellery’s life remain unsteady. Ellery reflects that “the roads {are] still out and the very land they [are] on might still crumble” (333). In these passages and throughout the novel, the dynamic, shifting landscapes of Big Sur symbolizes the unpredictable nature of human life.