Cosper, Darcy

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COSPER, Darcy

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Los Angeles, CA, and New York, NY. Office—c/o Author Mail, Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER:

Novelist and freelance writer.

WRITINGS:

Wedding Season (novel), Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to magazines and newspapers, including New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Village Voice, Gentleman's Quarterly, and Nerve. Also contributor to anthologies, including Full Frontal Fiction: The Best of Nerve.com, edited by Jack Murnighan and Genevieve Field, Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

Darcy Cosper's debut novel, Wedding Season, revolves around protagonist Joy Silverman, a successful young freelance writer living in New York who, to her dismay, is invited to seventeen weddings in a mere six-month period. Though happily committed to Gabe, her live-in boyfriend, Joy is staunchly opposed to marriage, an institution she regards as antiquated and irrelevant. Among the soon-to-be betrothed are Joy's divorced parents, her younger brother, and several very close friends, making the possibility to ditching her obligations impossible. The first-person narrative relates Joy's experiences at the various weddings, ranging from formal to New Age to same-sex, and her softening position on the issue as she is immersed in the nuptial tide. When Gabe later proposes, unexpectedly, Joy is forced to reevaluate her principles and take a definitive stand.

Wedding Season was greeted by several critics as an example of "chick lit," a genre of popular lightweight fiction generally featuring smart, sharp-tongued young women and their concerns. Entertainment Weekly critics Jennifer Armstrong and Clarissa Cruz praised Wedding Season for its snappy dialog and witty observations. A Publishers Weekly reviewer similarly commended Cosper's "sly and sharp" narration, but found fault in the novel's overly "jokey" dialogue and several artificially colored characters. A critic for Kirkus Reviews also commented on Cosper's overuse of "one-liners," but noted that the book contains "some genuine intelligence" despite its somewhat pejorative classification as "chick lit." Qualifications aside, Booklist reviewer Carolyn Kubisz concluded that Wedding Season is a "charming and satirical" take on the marriage trap.