The Gilmore Guide to Books

Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Genre
  • Podcast
  • Policies
    • Review Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Policy

One Woman Show

October 16, 2023

one woman

One Woman Show by Christine Coulson
Published by Avid Reader Press
Publication date: October 17, 2023
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Historical, Literary
five-stars
Bookshop, Amazon

Caroline Margaret Brooks Whitaker Wallingford de Braganza Deen (aka Kitty), the epitome of 20th century American wealth, is depicted through art in the novel, One Woman Show. How does one represent a woman as art in a written format? Author Christine Coulson, whose imagination is as expansive as the art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she worked, makes it look simple in this literary delight.

Coulson takes Kitty, a Manhattanite born to privilege in 1906, and retells her life as a valuable piece of decorative porcelain art. If this feat isn’t astonishing enough she does it in the form of wall labels—those brief, descriptive squares mounted next to every item in a museum, that gives its title, history, key facts, and provenance. And Kitty is flush with all of these. Her first display is Masterpiece, Aged 5, 1911 with the succinct label “a delirious display of Bernini verve and unrivaled WASP artistry”.

From this illustrious beginning Kitty goes on to critically acclaimed appearances as Dreamer, Bride, Society Force, and Third-Time Wife. At which point the wear and tear begins to show, with cracks appearing in her delicate surface glaze. When her form and style fall out of fashion she recasts herself in desperate attempts to fend off the inevitable—being taken off the shelf and packed away, forgotten in her world.

Throughout One Woman Show Kitty is catalogued as neatly and succinctly as any museum piece except…within these pithy, factually accurate descriptions Coulson’s wickedly sharp and articulate prose leaves behind clues that expose the realities of Kitty’s life. At 21 she is renowned as Display Model

With astonishing facility, Kitty ignites the illusion of buzzing occupation, beguiling viewers while she blithely does absolutely nothing.

But while it is a one woman show, Kitty is highlighted by the various pieces of artistic bric-a-brac that surround her, from bridesmaids and parents to a housekeeper, husbands, and Picasso. Together they complete this 20th century showpiece of entitlement, but within the acidic wit and frivolity, there are lesser-known portraits of Kitty in shades of tragedy that create a degree of balance in the collection.

Aside from wanting it to be longer, I adored everything about this clever, wisp of a novel. Coulson’s creativity is notable, but even more so is the fact that she executed her vision so superbly. Like any great piece of art, she catches the eye with the superficial elements, only to draw it in and hold it with the finer strokes found in the smallest of details. Kitty’s life as bored, wealthy woman is easy to recognize as Coulson renders the cliché with style, but it’s the play of dark against light that elevates One Woman Show from knick-knack to masterpiece.

Want to bliss out on even more fiction about the Met? Coulson’s debut, Metropolitan Stories, is another of my favorites.

 

 

This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on a link and make a purchase of any kind, I get a small commission (at no cost to you).

*I received a free copy of this book from Avid Reader Press in exchange for an honest review.*

 

 

five-stars

Related Posts

  • Related Posts
  • Same Genre
  • 5 Star Books
  • By Christine Coulson
august
August Reading Wrap-Up
two years
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
girls
Girls Burn Brighter
in light
In Light of All Darkness
paris
Paris in the Present Tense
Idaho: A Novel by Emily Ruskovich
Swimming Lessons
north korean
How I Became a North Korean
van apfel
The Van Apfel Girls are Gone
fall
The Fall of Lisa Bellow
Enon
Enon
exit interview
Exit Interview: The Life and Death of my Ambitious Career
tsar of love
The Tsar of Love and Techno
fever
A Fever in the Heartland
top
Life from Scratch: a memoir of food, family, and forgiveness
metropolitan
Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 20th century, art, book clubs, literary, women

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Save time and subscribe via email

No time to keep checking for new reviews? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. No spam!

Bookshop

Currently Reading

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski
The Dutch House
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

goodreads.com

Affiliate Disclosure

I’m an affiliate for Bookshop and Amazon. If you click on a link that takes you to any of these sites and make a purchase I’ll earn a small fee, which goes towards the costs of maintaining this site. Your support is appreciated. Thank you!

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2023

Copyright © 2023 · Beyond Madison Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in