Wedding Pictures A Novel - Hardcover

Bonnie and Kip are getting married. Tansy, the married sister, doesn't approve of marriage, and George, Kip's brother, is on his fourth union. As quirky as its characters, this uniquely conceived and designed "novel" isn't one in any conventional sense. It delivers what it promises--pictures, both verbal and visual, of a wedding, capturing the event, of course, but more compellingly, the currents beneath the surface.

The vignettes are comprised entirely of dialogue, and they're enlivened by Kathy Osborn's art (which will be familiar to aficionados of the New Yorker). The dialogue is so natural that it'ss all but spoken aloud from the page. Although presented with refreshing simplicity, there is nothing simplistic about Wedding Pictures; Bonnie and Kip tumble from a kind of insouciant, urbane bliss into sticky conflicts. Whose job is more important--his or hers? Who (he lives in New York; she in D.C.) will move for the sake of the marriage? And because it unfolds so breezily, their gender-war banter has an almost Hepburn-Tracy feel.

The collaboration is a perfect fit. Both the verbal and visual styles betray sly wit and a passion for the sort of details that pinpoint the artifacts and obsessions of a generation.

Thirty or so short dialogues, each with a full-page color painting to illustrate, make up this short story (billed as a ``novel'') about the wedding between two yuppies, from their offbeat proposal to the last minutes of the trendy reception. Those expecting a Serial-style flash of humor will be disappointed by this rather mundane tale of reluctant newlyweds surrounded by their adulterous siblings, lecherous friends, and insufferable parents. Not engaging enough to stage as a play, these snippets of upper- middle-class banter might make a good half hour on TV. The illustrations nicely capture key moments in the story, and often add sly little details in the backgrounds. Osborn's New Yorker-ish style will guarantee that this book shows up at bridal showers this wedding season, if only to console more conventional brides. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.