One Woman Show by Christine Coulson

I can tell you with some confidence that you will not have read a book like this before. It's a short book, best read in one sitting, that is quite original and very well done.

You are probably thinking to yourself that you have read so many books that there is nothing new under the sun, but I am here to tell you that there is. Here is the story of Caroline Margaret Brookes Whitaker (known as Kitty) through her engagement to William Wallingford III (known as Bucky). They marry in 1926 and become a coveted pair at Fifth Avenue dinner parties and cocktail gatherings, and their lives appear to be perfect although they are concealing private grief.

So nothing terribly out of the ordinary so far, but I haven't told you about the format of the book yet. Each page carries no more than a paragraph of writing set out as though it was a catalogue entry for a high class art gallery. Every entry carries a heading to give you a time and location and then the paragraph offers a snapshot of what is going on in this exibit. The best way to expalin it is to show you:

'UPPER EAST SIDE GIRL, AGED 10, 1916

Caroline Margaret Brooks Whitaker (known as Kitty)

Collection of Martha and Harrison Whitaker

Glitter and gloss define the vitrine of a Park Avenue life, and Kitty plays the role of trifle with gusto. She charms guests at tea with porcelain manners, rippling with charisma like gilding along a rim. But a hum of humiliation jitters below the surface of this exhibition. Even at age ten, Kitty senses a suffocating tyranny on the horizon. Not the war in Europe, but the fragile need to be forever cared for according to someone else's tastes and appetities.'

Now I'm guessing that some of you will not have the patience for such a style, but there is real skill in the use of writing, and underneath the format is as much of a biography as you might find in a full length novel where all the detail is handed to you on a plate.

This is worth reading twice. Firstly to get the hang of it and then by the second reading you will be ready to appreciate the craftsmanship.

Comments

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