Related Tags

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. [via]