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Girls in White Dresses
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An “addictive, thoughtful” novel (Entertainment Weekly) that brings us through the thrilling, bewildering years of early adulthood while pulling us inside the circle of three friends, perfectly capturing the wild frustrations and soaring joys of modern life. Isabella, Mary, and Lauren feel like everyone they know is getting married. On Sunday after Sunday, at bridal shower after bridal shower, they coo over toasters, collect ribbons and wrapping paper, eat minuscule sandwiches and cakes. They wear pastel dresses and drink champagne by the case, but amid the celebration these women have their own lives to contend Isabella is working a dead-end job, Mary is dating a nice guy with an awful mother, and Lauren is waitressing at a midtown bar and wondering why she's attracted to the sleazy bartender.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 9, 2011
1025 people are currently reading
24990 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Close
4 books1,023 followersJennifer Close is the best-selling author of Girls in White Dresses and The Smart One. Her new novel, The Hopefuls, will be out in July 2016. Born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago, she is a graduate of Boston College and received her MFA in Fiction Writing from the New School in 2005. She worked in New York in magazines for many years. She now lives in Washington, DC, and teaches creative writing at George Washington University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,501 reviews
October 7, 2011
I am almost at a loss for words. I have no idea how to review this. The back cover say's that this will perfectly capture the wild frustrations and soaring joys of modern life. I can honestly say, that for me, the only thing soaring were my frustrations with this book.
It reads monotonously. We got summer sausage, we cut the summer sausage. I couldn't even keep the characters names straight and I didn't even care. I started despising the characters. Honestly, Isabella was so annoying. She didn't even try to get along with her boyfriends friends. I don't even know why Harrison wanted to be with her.
The only character I liked was Abby with her strange parents. It was the only mildly entertaining piece of the entire novel. Too bad she was such a small part of this.
I really disliked the ending. When I thought we were getting somewhere with Isabella it just stops. No point whatsoever. I actually turned the page looking for more, although, I should have been happy with it ending. I suppose in a way the ending was the best part for me because it meant it was over.
It might sound like I'm being harsh but it just drones on an on with no feeling or growth. I'm not even sure how some people gave this 5 stars. It was terrible. I don't say that lightly either. I never enjoy giving bad reviews but I just have to throw my two cents in. I'm not even sure where the author was trying to go with this one.
Amazon Vine provided this book for my honest opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/Girls-White-Dre...
It reads monotonously. We got summer sausage, we cut the summer sausage. I couldn't even keep the characters names straight and I didn't even care. I started despising the characters. Honestly, Isabella was so annoying. She didn't even try to get along with her boyfriends friends. I don't even know why Harrison wanted to be with her.
The only character I liked was Abby with her strange parents. It was the only mildly entertaining piece of the entire novel. Too bad she was such a small part of this.
I really disliked the ending. When I thought we were getting somewhere with Isabella it just stops. No point whatsoever. I actually turned the page looking for more, although, I should have been happy with it ending. I suppose in a way the ending was the best part for me because it meant it was over.
It might sound like I'm being harsh but it just drones on an on with no feeling or growth. I'm not even sure how some people gave this 5 stars. It was terrible. I don't say that lightly either. I never enjoy giving bad reviews but I just have to throw my two cents in. I'm not even sure where the author was trying to go with this one.
Amazon Vine provided this book for my honest opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/Girls-White-Dre...
September 5, 2012
Blerg. I’m going to get this out of the way up front. I did not like this book. Reasons:
1. There is no plot. There are a bunch of girls (I could not for the life of me tell you how many, see point 2). They are between 21 and 30 years old. They are not married, but people they know are. They are living in New York or Chicago and they have jobs that they hate. Each chapter consists of a kind of episodic event (or nonevent), mostly to do with boys who they don’t really like that much, but date anyway. This is the whole book. No character progression, no conflict, no resolution. Just stuff.
2. I could not remember which characters were which. In addition to the absence of a plot, there was also an absence of any discernible differences between the characters, which made them just names to me. The very cute cover (I give credit where credit is due, good job designers) is also sadly accurate. They are faceless girls in white dresses (though they spend less time in weddings than the cover and title might suggest…I think there were two wedding-related scenes total). Because the characters all had basically the same voice and no personality to speak of, I had to basically relearn who each person was at the beginning of their next chapter. I found myself flipping back to their previous sections just to get some kind of context. There’s one girl named Isabella who gets mentioned more than the other ones, so I could generally remember her when she showed up, but I couldn’t quite remember what I knew about her. Where did she live again? What kind of job did she have? Was she the waitress or the publishing assistant? Flat. All flat.
3. The writing is childlike, featureless and completely uncompelling. See points one and two. Large casts of characters and a vignette writing style can work. But not in the hands of a poor writer. Whole paragraphs would pass with exchanges similar to the following: “Mary moved to New York. She went to her job every day and didn’t like it. After awhile she found an apartment and moved in. She started to like it.”
I mean, seriously?
Admittedly, I don’t normally read a lot of what we call “chick lit”. Maybe this is what a lot of chick lit is like! I thought I’d give it a try since I was looking for something easy and sweet. I thought, “oh my gosh, I’ve been in a ton of weddings! Maybe I’ll find this funny and relatable.” But I did not. Maybe there’s a reason I don’t read this genre. Maybe my lesson is learned.
That’s all I have to say. You have been warned.
Want to read more of my reviews? Visit yearofmagicalreading.wordpress.com.
1. There is no plot. There are a bunch of girls (I could not for the life of me tell you how many, see point 2). They are between 21 and 30 years old. They are not married, but people they know are. They are living in New York or Chicago and they have jobs that they hate. Each chapter consists of a kind of episodic event (or nonevent), mostly to do with boys who they don’t really like that much, but date anyway. This is the whole book. No character progression, no conflict, no resolution. Just stuff.
2. I could not remember which characters were which. In addition to the absence of a plot, there was also an absence of any discernible differences between the characters, which made them just names to me. The very cute cover (I give credit where credit is due, good job designers) is also sadly accurate. They are faceless girls in white dresses (though they spend less time in weddings than the cover and title might suggest…I think there were two wedding-related scenes total). Because the characters all had basically the same voice and no personality to speak of, I had to basically relearn who each person was at the beginning of their next chapter. I found myself flipping back to their previous sections just to get some kind of context. There’s one girl named Isabella who gets mentioned more than the other ones, so I could generally remember her when she showed up, but I couldn’t quite remember what I knew about her. Where did she live again? What kind of job did she have? Was she the waitress or the publishing assistant? Flat. All flat.
3. The writing is childlike, featureless and completely uncompelling. See points one and two. Large casts of characters and a vignette writing style can work. But not in the hands of a poor writer. Whole paragraphs would pass with exchanges similar to the following: “Mary moved to New York. She went to her job every day and didn’t like it. After awhile she found an apartment and moved in. She started to like it.”
I mean, seriously?
Admittedly, I don’t normally read a lot of what we call “chick lit”. Maybe this is what a lot of chick lit is like! I thought I’d give it a try since I was looking for something easy and sweet. I thought, “oh my gosh, I’ve been in a ton of weddings! Maybe I’ll find this funny and relatable.” But I did not. Maybe there’s a reason I don’t read this genre. Maybe my lesson is learned.
That’s all I have to say. You have been warned.
Want to read more of my reviews? Visit yearofmagicalreading.wordpress.com.
June 4, 2014
This is a review for the ladies - specifically, for the mid-20s ladies, the ones who went to great colleges and had big dreams and couldn't wait to get out there and start their totally fabulous lives, except, oops, that's actually a lot harder than it sounds when you're 21 and it's senior spring and you're drinking Trader Joe's wine on the stoop.
After reading this book, I had one of my first pangs of Kindle regret since purchasing the device a little over a year ago. Girls in White Dresses is the type of book that I wish I could drop in the mail to one of my college roommates, with explicit instructions to pass it on to the next lady in our little cluster after finishing. This book doesn't follow a traditional "and then, and then, and then, happy ending" plot; instead, it presents us with moments from the characters' lives. We see the publishing assistant at a small firm flail when her company folds. We see the "I'm not really a waitress" concede that her industry isn't going to revive and, yes, for the moment she is a waitress, and that's okay. We see their relationships, like the safe guy that you stay with because he just looks right, but you don't feel the mad crazy love for him, or the guy that you're more than a little ashamed of, so you hide the fact that you're with him, and you feel dirty even thinking about it. It all works because it's all real. These characters are me, are my friends, are the people I still talk to every day. Close doesn't give us a plot, but she gives us ourselves, carefully crafting a novel about what it means to grow up.
We are in our mid - okay, or our late - 20s, and no matter how much we fight and flail, we're growing steadily closer to that horrible line in the sand: 30. How did we get here? How did we get so far away from those dreamers, sitting on the stoop on 113th street? We're adults, now, or we're trying to be, and that's complicated and frustrating, but also exhilarating and beautiful. And Close captures all of that and more in this novel.
So if you can remember giggling with your girlfriends instead of writing your final paper; dancing to "Sexyback" and swigging champagne straight from the bottle and smoking out the dorm room window; sleeping with stupid boys but promising ourselves that we'd look for the right one as soon as we graduated; and dreaming that something out there holds something bigger and brighter... this is the book for you. Read it now. And then grab some wine, throw on a circa-2005 mix CD, and dance it out. I promise you'll feel better.
After reading this book, I had one of my first pangs of Kindle regret since purchasing the device a little over a year ago. Girls in White Dresses is the type of book that I wish I could drop in the mail to one of my college roommates, with explicit instructions to pass it on to the next lady in our little cluster after finishing. This book doesn't follow a traditional "and then, and then, and then, happy ending" plot; instead, it presents us with moments from the characters' lives. We see the publishing assistant at a small firm flail when her company folds. We see the "I'm not really a waitress" concede that her industry isn't going to revive and, yes, for the moment she is a waitress, and that's okay. We see their relationships, like the safe guy that you stay with because he just looks right, but you don't feel the mad crazy love for him, or the guy that you're more than a little ashamed of, so you hide the fact that you're with him, and you feel dirty even thinking about it. It all works because it's all real. These characters are me, are my friends, are the people I still talk to every day. Close doesn't give us a plot, but she gives us ourselves, carefully crafting a novel about what it means to grow up.
We are in our mid - okay, or our late - 20s, and no matter how much we fight and flail, we're growing steadily closer to that horrible line in the sand: 30. How did we get here? How did we get so far away from those dreamers, sitting on the stoop on 113th street? We're adults, now, or we're trying to be, and that's complicated and frustrating, but also exhilarating and beautiful. And Close captures all of that and more in this novel.
So if you can remember giggling with your girlfriends instead of writing your final paper; dancing to "Sexyback" and swigging champagne straight from the bottle and smoking out the dorm room window; sleeping with stupid boys but promising ourselves that we'd look for the right one as soon as we graduated; and dreaming that something out there holds something bigger and brighter... this is the book for you. Read it now. And then grab some wine, throw on a circa-2005 mix CD, and dance it out. I promise you'll feel better.
October 3, 2012
This book embodies everything I can't stand about some women! How they can be completely pathetic when it comes to love and relationships. Every character (don't even ask me their names bc I couldn't keep up) was involved in one train wreck after another. The most infuriating part is that each women single handedly sabotaged every relationship they were in! I knew it was bad when I started siding with the men the majority of the time. I thought I was going to read a book about women finding out that there's more to life than "White Dresses", Weddings and Babies... Like an education, career, friends and family. Turns out it was the complete opposite and a huge disappointment.
The book should have been called, "Race to the Altar"
My favorite quote from the book because it couldn't have been more true,
“The peahens waddled round, following the peacock wherever he went. He couldn't see in the night, so he wandered around aimlessly in the pen."
The book should have been called, "Race to the Altar"
My favorite quote from the book because it couldn't have been more true,
“The peahens waddled round, following the peacock wherever he went. He couldn't see in the night, so he wandered around aimlessly in the pen."
June 28, 2012
I go through this phase every summer. It gets hot, I don't feel like wearing make-up or drying my hair, I wear as little as possible, and I stop wanting to read anything serious. My collection suddenly looks tired, everything seems too long. I want to read something quick, refreshing, light: see Traveling Pants, Millenium Trio, Hunger Games. I start looking at Fluff and Chick Lit books in a new way. Sometimes, GASP, I actually like them. Which is basically why I picked up this piece of crap.
And yeah, I hate you summer, for making me do this. I hated it from the first page. The writing was so disconnected, trying to be funny but never getting there. The characters were confusing as hell. I get that she wanted to make it be this sprawling example of young adulthood and dating frustrations and career frustrations and ohmygodjustshutthehellupalready. There were about 15-20 girls in this book, but none of them are memorable, many of them mentioned in one or two chapters.
The "main" characters were obnoxious, not relatable, and one dimensional. And holy crap did they drink a lot. Like every page. I didn't even drink that heavily in college. Every story seemed repetitious and juvenile- every woman staying with their guy when they so clearly do not love them just because they are afraid of being alone. And she did an even worse job with the male characters!
It all was a little depressing. Yeah, the twenties are a little frustrating with all your friends getting married and knocked up. But she missed the BEST part of it: falling in love, figuring out what you want out of your life, finding out who you really are, taking chances! Even during my most dismal days, I cannot relate to her story.
So yeah. Didn't like it.
And yeah, I hate you summer, for making me do this. I hated it from the first page. The writing was so disconnected, trying to be funny but never getting there. The characters were confusing as hell. I get that she wanted to make it be this sprawling example of young adulthood and dating frustrations and career frustrations and ohmygodjustshutthehellupalready. There were about 15-20 girls in this book, but none of them are memorable, many of them mentioned in one or two chapters.
The "main" characters were obnoxious, not relatable, and one dimensional. And holy crap did they drink a lot. Like every page. I didn't even drink that heavily in college. Every story seemed repetitious and juvenile- every woman staying with their guy when they so clearly do not love them just because they are afraid of being alone. And she did an even worse job with the male characters!
It all was a little depressing. Yeah, the twenties are a little frustrating with all your friends getting married and knocked up. But she missed the BEST part of it: falling in love, figuring out what you want out of your life, finding out who you really are, taking chances! Even during my most dismal days, I cannot relate to her story.
So yeah. Didn't like it.
April 5, 2012
I really enjoyed this book! There are two things that make it stand out for me vs other chick lit. One, the characters are going through very average, every day events--they don't get into these crazy, ridiculous situations that you see in some other novels of this genre (ie. Becky Bloomwood's entire existence in the Shopaholic series). But that doesn't mean their lives are boring. Instead, it's fun to read because they are going through things that nearly every girl in her late 20s/early 30s can relate to in some way. If you fall into that age bracket, I bet at least one of the characters will sing for you in some way. That made me form a better connection to the novel and really drew me in quickly.
Two, the humor in it is pretty wry and deadpan, which is such a change from what you get in many other chick lit novels. This book made me laugh a lot more than anything else I've read lately. It was really well-written and I'm hoping the author releases something else soon!
Two, the humor in it is pretty wry and deadpan, which is such a change from what you get in many other chick lit novels. This book made me laugh a lot more than anything else I've read lately. It was really well-written and I'm hoping the author releases something else soon!
April 25, 2012
So I'm a big fan of chick-lit and this book came recommended to me by another librarian. Recommended!! Honestly I can't imagine why anyone would recommend this book. It is terrible!! I love books about young twenty-somethings figuring out who they are and books about thirty-somethings making a life for themselves. I love relationship books. I thought this book had all the components to make me really enjoy it. I can enjoy even the silliest chick-lit novel. But come on. All these characters were so annoying I can't imagine anyone wanting to be their friend, much less date them. Ummm... I think there is a reason some of these ladies are still single. This is a book filled with insecure, unsuccessful, and obnoxious women, yuck. The worst was the quasi main character Isabella. She doesn't like the city but yet becomes upset when someone suggests leaving it. She doesn't like her boyfriends friends, complains about her own friends, feels uncomfortable EVERYWHERE, hates her job then gets a new one and still complains. Complain, complain, complain omg! I think she is mentally ill and needs medication. Some of the other girls are less annoying but not by much. They all complain about their married friends but are sooooo jealous because they too aren't getting married. I don't understand the point of this book. Oh and it had no real end, it just ended. No point, annoying characters, whiny insecure overly analyzed problems. Reader beware!
August 5, 2011
This wasn't a bad book, and in fact the writing was quite good. Normally I'm not a fan of the whole interrelated story style, but I enjoyed it here. I think my problem is that despite the fact that I'm the same age as all the women in the stories, I couldn't relate to them at all. They're so focused on trivial things, they make terrible choices, they settle for men they don't seem to love in order to avoid being alone. I really need characters that I can like more if I'm going to like a book. Also, and this is just a personal quirk, for some reason I find it much harder to like New Yorkers than Londoners in this sort of book. Weird but true.
White I'm shelving this as chick lit, it's not that chick lit-ty. There were some mildly amusing parts and even parts that made me laugh out loud, but they weren't as prominent as one might expect. It does offer an interesting perspective on the lives of young city women with those few laughs as well.
Because the writing was good, I think I would happily read something else by Jennifer Close, depending on the subject matter.
White I'm shelving this as chick lit, it's not that chick lit-ty. There were some mildly amusing parts and even parts that made me laugh out loud, but they weren't as prominent as one might expect. It does offer an interesting perspective on the lives of young city women with those few laughs as well.
Because the writing was good, I think I would happily read something else by Jennifer Close, depending on the subject matter.
November 28, 2011
I didn't like it, but I enjoyed it, if that makes any sense.
This was an extremely readable book. The observations were funny and the situations identifiable. However, as some other reviewers observed, the narration and characters get mired in the negatives, and there were not enough positives to make this novel work for me. I felt like my own past ten years of rage had been distilled into one book. Reading this at times felt cathartic, but mostly made me frustrated, as I don't really think I wanted to relive all the sensations, stacked one after the other with no pick-me-up or small victory along the way. This stopped me short of feeling the intended intimacy with the story and characters.
I did not feel that the characters had unique voices, which could be intended, but frustrated me. Furthermore, they did not change; collectively, they were a mass of complaining twenty-somethings on their quarter life crisis stage. And then they got older and some of them managed to got married. And they kept on complaining.
Still, stacked up against chick lit, this was much more enjoyable than most of other works I've read in the genre. Close is a very readable writer. And I did snicker a lot. And so I can't give this less than three stars. And I know I'd recommend it for some friends. Only the closest ones. So I guess that counts for more than most books.
This was an extremely readable book. The observations were funny and the situations identifiable. However, as some other reviewers observed, the narration and characters get mired in the negatives, and there were not enough positives to make this novel work for me. I felt like my own past ten years of rage had been distilled into one book. Reading this at times felt cathartic, but mostly made me frustrated, as I don't really think I wanted to relive all the sensations, stacked one after the other with no pick-me-up or small victory along the way. This stopped me short of feeling the intended intimacy with the story and characters.
I did not feel that the characters had unique voices, which could be intended, but frustrated me. Furthermore, they did not change; collectively, they were a mass of complaining twenty-somethings on their quarter life crisis stage. And then they got older and some of them managed to got married. And they kept on complaining.
Still, stacked up against chick lit, this was much more enjoyable than most of other works I've read in the genre. Close is a very readable writer. And I did snicker a lot. And so I can't give this less than three stars. And I know I'd recommend it for some friends. Only the closest ones. So I guess that counts for more than most books.
October 11, 2013
Find an updated review for this book on my blog: Natflix&Books where I explain the jump from four to five stars.
I loved Girls in White Dresses. I flew through it, ignoring almost everything else to get to the end. Each chapter is written like a short story, which is my favorite format for a novel. It is melancholy and funny and just oh-so-true. It tells the stories of a group of friends after college as they start to navigate their lives in the city. Their jobs and relationships, wedding showers of friends they are mostly happy for, actual weddings, pregnancy, holding on to the guys who aren't really right because at least they aren't alone, the fading of friendship with girls they were so close to during those college years.
My only complaint, and the reason I can not give this book five stars is that it was impossible to keep all of the girls straight. There are a couple of girls who are the 'main characters', but some of the stories were about girls who were mentioned earlier, but I couldn't remember details--and I read this almost straight through. Even with some of the more prominent characters, I would ask, 'now, Lauren was the waitress with the bad bartender boyfriend, right?' and have to flip back to make sure that I was thinking of the right character. If this was intentional on the author's part, a kind of statement about how girls of this age are all the same, then she did it brilliantly. Regardless, it was was sometimes confusing, and slowed down the narrative.
Don't let that deter you, though. I honestly did love this book. I loved the style, I cared about the characters, her writing is fresh and introspective and I wished it was longer. I can't wait to see what Jennifer Close writes next.
August 27, 2011
When Amazon sent me a recommendation for this book I was so excited. I am in that exact place in my life where I am single and going to all my friends' wedding and wedding showers (I went to two wedding this past month, really I am there), so I expected this book to be phenomenal and shed light into this difficult time in many womens' lives.
What I read in this book angered me beyond all measure. First of all even casually mentioning marijuana is inappropriate. You do know that marijuana is illegal in this country correct Jennifer? Having characters indulge in this "hobby" is horrible and setting a bad example. Also I do not think the main characters made it through one chapter without getting drunk. Can you say alcohol problem? And yes, I am saying this as a social worker, so I do have a point of view that is different from many. But still, the alcohol and drug usage in this novel angered me greatly.
Beyond that there were so many characters I cannot find a main character. I read this book over 2 days and in between the 1st and 2nd day I lost all semblance of remembering who these characters were and why I cared about them. I do not believe there was a single compound or complex sentence in the entire book. Chapters were divided into subsections that usually never even made it into a page of length, really? I can read better than that, you made it more confusing.
And finally I would like to sum it up with a message: Jennifer Close, I think you single handedly knocked women's rights about 50 years backwards. Women do not need a man to be happy, we do not need to settle, we can be happy on our own. None of your characters were strong female leads any girl would aspire to look up to. Horrible book, if I could I would give it 0 or even negative stars.
What I read in this book angered me beyond all measure. First of all even casually mentioning marijuana is inappropriate. You do know that marijuana is illegal in this country correct Jennifer? Having characters indulge in this "hobby" is horrible and setting a bad example. Also I do not think the main characters made it through one chapter without getting drunk. Can you say alcohol problem? And yes, I am saying this as a social worker, so I do have a point of view that is different from many. But still, the alcohol and drug usage in this novel angered me greatly.
Beyond that there were so many characters I cannot find a main character. I read this book over 2 days and in between the 1st and 2nd day I lost all semblance of remembering who these characters were and why I cared about them. I do not believe there was a single compound or complex sentence in the entire book. Chapters were divided into subsections that usually never even made it into a page of length, really? I can read better than that, you made it more confusing.
And finally I would like to sum it up with a message: Jennifer Close, I think you single handedly knocked women's rights about 50 years backwards. Women do not need a man to be happy, we do not need to settle, we can be happy on our own. None of your characters were strong female leads any girl would aspire to look up to. Horrible book, if I could I would give it 0 or even negative stars.
April 25, 2016
If I had to choose a food metaphor for Girls in White Dresses, I'd say this book was the equivalent of a DoubleStuf Oreo. Not very edifying, and as far as indulgences go it's not a high-quality one, but you're going to enjoy it anyway and keep going back for more until the box is empty. Or at least, I did.
Girls in White Dresses is a book about a group of college friends in the 10 years following graduation, and as such hits all of the usual milestones: moving around a lot, figuring out your career, dating various people, attending your friends' weddings, having your own wedding (or not), having kids (or not). It is less a novel than a collection of interlinked short stories. The humor is rather gentle and the stakes are generally quite low, but relatable--my favorite story involves a character who goes on a ski trip with her new boyfriend and his friends. She doesn't really know how to ski herself and doesn't enjoy it, but she tries to be a good sport even though all she wants to do is sit in the lodge. Eventual embarrassment occurs, of a sort I could understand completely. As the Goodreads reviews reveal, many readers find this kind of thing boring or pointless, but for some reason I love reading these "not much happens" stories as long as the writing is good. And I did think the writing was good--pretty much impeccable for what it was setting out to do, in fact.
I have only one complaint about this book, but it's a big one: not one of these girls seems to have an actual personality. They're not really interested in anything. They have no hobbies or passions. Their jobs, for the most part, are just things they do. There are no original thinkers in their midst. In contrast, the men they date have interesting careers, actual hobbies (like skiing), or are passionate about effecting social change--and the women often gripe about these passions and how they keep their men from spending more quality time with them. Girls, instead of complaining, how about you get some interests of your own? It was difficult for me to reconcile this glaring flaw with an otherwise well-done book, and it eventually did affect my overall enjoyment (and rating) of Girls in White Dresses.
In the end, I would have trouble recommending this book to anyone in spite of its many appealing qualities--but at the same time, I am very eager to check out the work Close is doing now that she's a bit older and has a few books under her belt. In this spirit, I look forward to The Hopefuls and am hopeful I'll be able to assign it a better rating than Girls in White Dresses.
Girls in White Dresses is a book about a group of college friends in the 10 years following graduation, and as such hits all of the usual milestones: moving around a lot, figuring out your career, dating various people, attending your friends' weddings, having your own wedding (or not), having kids (or not). It is less a novel than a collection of interlinked short stories. The humor is rather gentle and the stakes are generally quite low, but relatable--my favorite story involves a character who goes on a ski trip with her new boyfriend and his friends. She doesn't really know how to ski herself and doesn't enjoy it, but she tries to be a good sport even though all she wants to do is sit in the lodge. Eventual embarrassment occurs, of a sort I could understand completely. As the Goodreads reviews reveal, many readers find this kind of thing boring or pointless, but for some reason I love reading these "not much happens" stories as long as the writing is good. And I did think the writing was good--pretty much impeccable for what it was setting out to do, in fact.
I have only one complaint about this book, but it's a big one: not one of these girls seems to have an actual personality. They're not really interested in anything. They have no hobbies or passions. Their jobs, for the most part, are just things they do. There are no original thinkers in their midst. In contrast, the men they date have interesting careers, actual hobbies (like skiing), or are passionate about effecting social change--and the women often gripe about these passions and how they keep their men from spending more quality time with them. Girls, instead of complaining, how about you get some interests of your own? It was difficult for me to reconcile this glaring flaw with an otherwise well-done book, and it eventually did affect my overall enjoyment (and rating) of Girls in White Dresses.
In the end, I would have trouble recommending this book to anyone in spite of its many appealing qualities--but at the same time, I am very eager to check out the work Close is doing now that she's a bit older and has a few books under her belt. In this spirit, I look forward to The Hopefuls and am hopeful I'll be able to assign it a better rating than Girls in White Dresses.
September 13, 2011
I'm having trouble deciding if I liked this book or not. It was about three best friends Isabella, Mary and Lauren. Yet it took me about half the book to figure this out. The book is laid out with each chapter focusing on a different person. This made it a little confusing. Since I neither loved nor hated this book I decided to split this review into two parts: the good and the bad.
The Good:
I like how none of the characters in this book had perfect lives. They dealt with situations that everyday people face, like hating your friends boyfriend, not being satisfied in your career, and having friends you don't really like. The most refreshing part of this book was that their relationships weren't perfect. They fought with their boyfriends. They broke up with them. They dated people that were bad for them. I think this book reflected real life more then most books do, and I liked it for that.
The bad:
Too many characters! Every time I started a new chapter I had to go back to remember what happened to that character last. I kept flipping back to remind myself which boyfriend she had before, was hers the political guy or the one who went skiing? I think it would have been better if the story was only told from the perspective of the three main characters only.
The Good:
I like how none of the characters in this book had perfect lives. They dealt with situations that everyday people face, like hating your friends boyfriend, not being satisfied in your career, and having friends you don't really like. The most refreshing part of this book was that their relationships weren't perfect. They fought with their boyfriends. They broke up with them. They dated people that were bad for them. I think this book reflected real life more then most books do, and I liked it for that.
The bad:
Too many characters! Every time I started a new chapter I had to go back to remember what happened to that character last. I kept flipping back to remind myself which boyfriend she had before, was hers the political guy or the one who went skiing? I think it would have been better if the story was only told from the perspective of the three main characters only.
March 21, 2017
2.5 stars actually.
October 23, 2011
Jennifer Close portrayal of twenty-something women trying to navigate the adult world of careers, boyfriends, husbands, babies, and the changes that these life events bring to their friendships with their girlfriends is spot on. As a twenty something myself, I knew the plights Isabella, Mary, and Lauren faced as they sent out countless resumes, dated the wrong guy in search of the right one, or ended up in a dead end job that was just supposed to pay the bills until the career job materialized.
Even with this shared experiences, I just couldn't get into this book. It was a combination of the writing style and the author taking on more than she could manage in the narrative. The book begins in this stilted and dare I say awkward tone that was more jarring to me than anything else. My mind couldn't immerse itself in the flow of the book because it just didn't flow. Sentences were short and incredibly simplistic. I felt like I was reading a middle schooler's short story rather than a published novel by an MFA graduate. As the novel progressed, Close's style bothered me less - whether that is because the style improved or I grew accustomed to the abrupt sentences, I'm not sure.
Or maybe I stopped noticing because I was too busy trying to figure out who the parade of women were, if they were the same women from chapter to chapter, and how the hell they all knew each other. This book isn't just about Isabella, Mary, and Lauren. It's also about Abby, Ellen, Shannon, Kristi, Cate... but these ladies are not billed as main characters. They are somehow connected to the three 'main characters', but sometimes are the focus of an entire chapter. If it wasn't for the book jacket telling me this book was about Isabella, Mary, and Lauren, I wouldn't have known. I gave up trying to figure out how they all fit into the novel. It's a shame that the cast of characters in this book grew so large because it took away from the main characters and left everyone a little shallow and underdeveloped.
And then there was the chapter featuring Shannon and Dan... Shannon's boyfriend Dan leaves town to work on a presidential campaign for 'The Candidate.' All of the information in the chapter blatantly revealed that the candidate was Barack Obama; however, the author never mentioned him by name. I thought this was due to legal issues or the author not wanting to 'date' her book by referencing something that could easily correlate her book to a specific year/time period. Then, Michael Jackson died. There went my theory about the author not wanting to date her book. And she didn't even mention Farrah Fawcett who died on the same day. It's small, seemingly trivial, things like this that turn me off from a book.
Girls in White Dresses was a disappointment because it didn't live up to the potential that the concept had or the hype I had heard about it. I couldn't relate or empathize with any of the characters because there wasn't just much to them except an over abundance of issues that women in their twenties face. There were no laugh out loud moments or even any tears. It was just a book to finish because I started reading it.
This review originally appeared on Feeding My Book Addiction:
http://feedingmybookaddiction.blogspo...
Even with this shared experiences, I just couldn't get into this book. It was a combination of the writing style and the author taking on more than she could manage in the narrative. The book begins in this stilted and dare I say awkward tone that was more jarring to me than anything else. My mind couldn't immerse itself in the flow of the book because it just didn't flow. Sentences were short and incredibly simplistic. I felt like I was reading a middle schooler's short story rather than a published novel by an MFA graduate. As the novel progressed, Close's style bothered me less - whether that is because the style improved or I grew accustomed to the abrupt sentences, I'm not sure.
Or maybe I stopped noticing because I was too busy trying to figure out who the parade of women were, if they were the same women from chapter to chapter, and how the hell they all knew each other. This book isn't just about Isabella, Mary, and Lauren. It's also about Abby, Ellen, Shannon, Kristi, Cate... but these ladies are not billed as main characters. They are somehow connected to the three 'main characters', but sometimes are the focus of an entire chapter. If it wasn't for the book jacket telling me this book was about Isabella, Mary, and Lauren, I wouldn't have known. I gave up trying to figure out how they all fit into the novel. It's a shame that the cast of characters in this book grew so large because it took away from the main characters and left everyone a little shallow and underdeveloped.
And then there was the chapter featuring Shannon and Dan... Shannon's boyfriend Dan leaves town to work on a presidential campaign for 'The Candidate.' All of the information in the chapter blatantly revealed that the candidate was Barack Obama; however, the author never mentioned him by name. I thought this was due to legal issues or the author not wanting to 'date' her book by referencing something that could easily correlate her book to a specific year/time period. Then, Michael Jackson died. There went my theory about the author not wanting to date her book. And she didn't even mention Farrah Fawcett who died on the same day. It's small, seemingly trivial, things like this that turn me off from a book.
Girls in White Dresses was a disappointment because it didn't live up to the potential that the concept had or the hype I had heard about it. I couldn't relate or empathize with any of the characters because there wasn't just much to them except an over abundance of issues that women in their twenties face. There were no laugh out loud moments or even any tears. It was just a book to finish because I started reading it.
This review originally appeared on Feeding My Book Addiction:
http://feedingmybookaddiction.blogspo...
January 14, 2013
The description on the inside jacket cover of this book says “wickedly funny and utterly recognizable.” That is pure marketing bullshit, unless of course you mean ‘utterly recognizable’ as a synonym for “eye-rollingly cliché and reminiscent of every single episode of Sex and the City, or Friends, or (insert the young singles dating sitcom of your choice) ever made, ever.” The wickedly funny part is just wrong. I think I may have smiled twice, and I got incredibly angry at these ridiculous women over and over and over. And over. I seriously wanted to grab each of them by the shoulders and shake her till she puked—which, since every one of them was full of at least a half a bottle of wine at any given point in the story, no matter the time of day, wouldn’t take too much shaking to accomplish.
I kept finding myself thinking, “Why is this book considered literature/fiction/something that anyone would think I would have an interest in at all, rather than just pure and simple ‘chick-lit’?” And here’s the reason: The author has an MFA from The New School. That’s how. Apparently the same reason the world thinks we’d give a shit about this passel of pathetic women and their dating problems is the same reason why it thinks we give a shit about what the author has to say: She’s got money. I really hope that in ten years she’ll look back on this ridiculous work that she’s wrought and be embarrassed by it, but I’m sure in ten years she’ll just be another stay-at-home mom with too much money and too much time worrying about what kindergarten will get her kid on the best track to Harvard to ever have such a thought occur to her. She’ll be writing about the alcohol-soaked travails of middle age in such an environment, and her only embarrassments will be a 3 year old who can’t yet pirouette like the rest of the class or her own horrible faux pas of not wearing the best pair of yoga pants in class that day.
There is no end to the canon of “entertainment” about the perils of dating, and absolutely nothing new or interesting or insightful added to it by this book. The best thing I can say about “Girls in White Dresses” is that it only took about 5 hours on the whole to read. I plowed through it in no time because the book is like the characters in it: boring, superficial, without any depth or meaning. Everything about it truly sucked.
I kept finding myself thinking, “Why is this book considered literature/fiction/something that anyone would think I would have an interest in at all, rather than just pure and simple ‘chick-lit’?” And here’s the reason: The author has an MFA from The New School. That’s how. Apparently the same reason the world thinks we’d give a shit about this passel of pathetic women and their dating problems is the same reason why it thinks we give a shit about what the author has to say: She’s got money. I really hope that in ten years she’ll look back on this ridiculous work that she’s wrought and be embarrassed by it, but I’m sure in ten years she’ll just be another stay-at-home mom with too much money and too much time worrying about what kindergarten will get her kid on the best track to Harvard to ever have such a thought occur to her. She’ll be writing about the alcohol-soaked travails of middle age in such an environment, and her only embarrassments will be a 3 year old who can’t yet pirouette like the rest of the class or her own horrible faux pas of not wearing the best pair of yoga pants in class that day.
There is no end to the canon of “entertainment” about the perils of dating, and absolutely nothing new or interesting or insightful added to it by this book. The best thing I can say about “Girls in White Dresses” is that it only took about 5 hours on the whole to read. I plowed through it in no time because the book is like the characters in it: boring, superficial, without any depth or meaning. Everything about it truly sucked.
August 20, 2012
I really enjoyed Girls in White Dresses and found the three main characters in their 20s to be totally relatable. It was an easy read but entertaining and I was happy that Close didn't wrap up each girl's story in a nice little pink bow. It was funny, truthful, and engaging. What a great debut for a first-time novelist.
February 11, 2012
Jennifer Close's debut novel Girls in White Dresses explores the complexity of being a single woman. The novel follows the lives of three women, Lauren, Isabella and Mary, as they navigate the often treacherous waters of relationships, friendships, work, and the fear of the unknown. The novel is told in a series of connecting stories and is a wonderful approach as it allows the reader to observe small moments within the lives of these women. Each character is real and authentic and the writing is pitch perfect. Conversations between characters are so honest that you will feel you are listening in on conversations you have had with your own friends. A sign of a great book is when you forget you are reading and are just trying to learn more about the characters lives. This is exactly what happened when reading Girls in White Dresses. I think most women will identify with many of the experiences of these characters. Experiencing the lives of others, vicariously through literature, is a truly wonderful and unique adventure. When you can relate to characters, it makes that experience even more meaningful. We read to learn about new lives but also to learn more about ourselves. Girls in White Dresses will give every woman a glimpse into their own lives from an outside, objective perspective and you will find yourself recommending it to all of your girlfriends.
March 15, 2014
It started out as mildly entertaining and then spiraled downhill into a vodka, martini and tequila soaked disaster. Reasons for my disgust below:
1. There is no plot. How did this book get published? There is no conflict, no resolution. NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS THROUGH THE WHOLE BOOK!
2. Ms. Close manages to reinforce society's perception of single women. Apparently if you didn't get that ring by spring your final year of college you are destined to move to a hip, happening city, rent a tiny apartment you can barely afford with your crappy entry level job, drink lots of alcohol and spread your legs for anything with a penis that looks at you over the bar.
3. There is a cacophony of female characters with no real defining characteristics of attributes that set them apart from each other. I had to keep referring back to the "book extras" provided on the Kindle edition I was reading because I couldn't keep them straight. Want to know why I could not keep them straight? Because their character descriptions would have all read similar to point 2 listed above. Typically a large cast of characters is no real trouble for me...I've manage the Outlander series, the Fire and Ice series and others just fine. But the little twits running around in this trash had no character in every sense of the expression.
1. There is no plot. How did this book get published? There is no conflict, no resolution. NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS THROUGH THE WHOLE BOOK!
2. Ms. Close manages to reinforce society's perception of single women. Apparently if you didn't get that ring by spring your final year of college you are destined to move to a hip, happening city, rent a tiny apartment you can barely afford with your crappy entry level job, drink lots of alcohol and spread your legs for anything with a penis that looks at you over the bar.
3. There is a cacophony of female characters with no real defining characteristics of attributes that set them apart from each other. I had to keep referring back to the "book extras" provided on the Kindle edition I was reading because I couldn't keep them straight. Want to know why I could not keep them straight? Because their character descriptions would have all read similar to point 2 listed above. Typically a large cast of characters is no real trouble for me...I've manage the Outlander series, the Fire and Ice series and others just fine. But the little twits running around in this trash had no character in every sense of the expression.
Read
August 17, 2011I read this in galley form (got it at BEA at the urging of my friend Maya), and the back cover copy compares it to The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing. I'm always skeptical of those sorts of comparisons, but in this case I have to say the book completely delivered.
Girls in White Dresses is a novel-in-stories (side note: sometimes it makes me sad that we have to call collections of linked stories "a novel-in-stories" in order to get them more attention. why don't we love short stories for what they are? see also: a visit from the goon squad) about a group of Boston College grads living in New York City, following them from just post-college until they're around 30. And I loved it. What I loved most of all was the way the girls talked to each other--Jennifer Close nailed the dialogue, really capturing the way friends speak, the shorthand and the slang that comes from knowing people for forever. But beyond that she nailed the feeling of being in New York in your 20s, when you're vaguely dissatisfied and you don't know why, and your job sucks and your boyfriend sucks and your apartment sucks and the only thing that doesn't suck are your friends.
Also, the chapter on being a bridesmaid was so dead-on I wanted to call my best friend (who I was a bridesmaid with) and read it to her.
Girls in White Dresses is a novel-in-stories (side note: sometimes it makes me sad that we have to call collections of linked stories "a novel-in-stories" in order to get them more attention. why don't we love short stories for what they are? see also: a visit from the goon squad) about a group of Boston College grads living in New York City, following them from just post-college until they're around 30. And I loved it. What I loved most of all was the way the girls talked to each other--Jennifer Close nailed the dialogue, really capturing the way friends speak, the shorthand and the slang that comes from knowing people for forever. But beyond that she nailed the feeling of being in New York in your 20s, when you're vaguely dissatisfied and you don't know why, and your job sucks and your boyfriend sucks and your apartment sucks and the only thing that doesn't suck are your friends.
Also, the chapter on being a bridesmaid was so dead-on I wanted to call my best friend (who I was a bridesmaid with) and read it to her.
November 28, 2011
This is not really a novel but a bunch of short stories with overlapping character strung together. If you like reading slice of life books about women in their twenties, you might like this book. If you like books that tell a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end, then this one is a pass.
I didn’t dislike these characters, but I never really connected with any of them either. That could be because the author kept switching points-of-view and after a while I couldn’t even remember who was who anymore. There was one character, Abby, who was introduced in the first half of the book that I thought was a little bit interesting and was looking forward to reading more about. But then the author finished with her vignette and except for a passing reference to her later, she was never heard from again. It’s that kind of book.
I think Jennifer Close is a good writer and she could write a good book. This just isn't it.
I didn’t dislike these characters, but I never really connected with any of them either. That could be because the author kept switching points-of-view and after a while I couldn’t even remember who was who anymore. There was one character, Abby, who was introduced in the first half of the book that I thought was a little bit interesting and was looking forward to reading more about. But then the author finished with her vignette and except for a passing reference to her later, she was never heard from again. It’s that kind of book.
I think Jennifer Close is a good writer and she could write a good book. This just isn't it.
September 4, 2013
I really, really liked this book. I can understand why most might not, but it really resonated with my life right now. It follows the lives of women in their 20s and then 30s showing the reader the different transitions they each experience. I think one of the reasons why I liked it so much was it really reminded me of my friends and me. Those moments when we can't believe we have said, done, or thought something. Life is unexpected and each of the girls in the book are completely raw. There's nothing fluffy about the book, and its written in a basic, natural way. You almost feel like you are reading the conversation that you and a friend had the evening before. It's not a fancy book, it really just kind of shows what it is like for single, independent women growing up and trying to navigate their way through life.
August 13, 2011
This one isn't close to the hype. The prose is so plain that the narrative voice can only be described as journalistic, which doesn't suit a character driven story at all. Everything is told matter of factly instead of being shown through scenes and description. I found the characters generally sympathetic, but Close only scratches the surface of her numerous POV characters. If you are a single, urban, white woman in your 20s or 30s, the characters and situations feel familiar, which I suppose is their appeal, but everything incident is glossed over quickly. You get that "I know what she means" feeling, but you end up thinking more about your own experiences than the characters'. It's like an extended inside joke. Not my cup of tea, although it made for absurdly fast and easy beach reading.
February 6, 2017
3.5 stars
It was a realistic book, not a book I'd want to write a review about even though I enjoyed it.
It was a realistic book, not a book I'd want to write a review about even though I enjoyed it.
May 7, 2019
I started this book Feb. 24th 2019 but stopped reading it after chapter 1. I started over May 5th and I'm so glad I did. I was going to DNF it after the first 5 chapters if I couldn't get into it like the first time I tried to read it but after I got to chapter 3 I knew this book was what I wanted and I'm so glad I started over and kept reading.
So this book was cute and made me laugh quite a bit more then I had expected it to. I don't really know why or how it came about that I started to read it but I did. I think both the ebook and audiobook were both available and I wanted something light to read at night. I started it then left it a while ago and then decided to really read it the other day. I started from the beginning and I'm glad I did. Will I tell you it's the best thing I've read in a long time, no, but I think if you want something fun to listen to while laying by the pool or at the ocean or flying someplace this would be the kind of fun fluffy book that is great for vacations because not a lot of heavy thinking is needed.
It's about a group of friends that know each other from high school and college. It looks into each of their lives as they grow up. It's about the different relationship they each have and who is marrying whom and the bridal showers they attend. The babies everyone is having and just life. I love the friendships in this book. Isabella, Lauren, and Mary seem to be the core 3 and then the chapters will look into other women that the core 3 know. The majority of this book was the friendships and what they do for each other and how they are there for each other. Mary is the first of the core 3 to get married and have a baby. Others in the book have this first but the central 3 women Mary is first. It looks like Lauren may be alone for the rest of her life until she meets Mark and Isabella has Harrison.
There is Kristi, Shannon and Abby and a few others this book touches on and each of the women mentioned are friends with one of the core 3 so they all tie in somehow. I was never confused and I really cracked up a lot. I would recommend this for anyone who wants a good friendship book with some romance but the romance isn't the point of the book. I loved it. I did only give it 3 stars but there wasn't a lot of plot to it but yet I loved it. PERFECT summer book. I listened and followed along and it was fast, fun and easy to follow.
So this book was cute and made me laugh quite a bit more then I had expected it to. I don't really know why or how it came about that I started to read it but I did. I think both the ebook and audiobook were both available and I wanted something light to read at night. I started it then left it a while ago and then decided to really read it the other day. I started from the beginning and I'm glad I did. Will I tell you it's the best thing I've read in a long time, no, but I think if you want something fun to listen to while laying by the pool or at the ocean or flying someplace this would be the kind of fun fluffy book that is great for vacations because not a lot of heavy thinking is needed.
It's about a group of friends that know each other from high school and college. It looks into each of their lives as they grow up. It's about the different relationship they each have and who is marrying whom and the bridal showers they attend. The babies everyone is having and just life. I love the friendships in this book. Isabella, Lauren, and Mary seem to be the core 3 and then the chapters will look into other women that the core 3 know. The majority of this book was the friendships and what they do for each other and how they are there for each other. Mary is the first of the core 3 to get married and have a baby. Others in the book have this first but the central 3 women Mary is first. It looks like Lauren may be alone for the rest of her life until she meets Mark and Isabella has Harrison.
There is Kristi, Shannon and Abby and a few others this book touches on and each of the women mentioned are friends with one of the core 3 so they all tie in somehow. I was never confused and I really cracked up a lot. I would recommend this for anyone who wants a good friendship book with some romance but the romance isn't the point of the book. I loved it. I did only give it 3 stars but there wasn't a lot of plot to it but yet I loved it. PERFECT summer book. I listened and followed along and it was fast, fun and easy to follow.
February 25, 2016
Basic Info
Format: Audio
Pages/Length: 8hrs and 3mins
Genre: Chick Lit
At A Glance
Love Triangle/Insta Love/Obsession?: No
Cliff Hanger: no
Triggers: n/a
Rating: 2 Stars
Score Sheet
All out of ten
Cover: 7
Plot: 5
Characters: 4
World Building: 5
Flow: 4
Series Congruity: n/a
Writing: 5
Ending: 5
Total: 4
In Dept
Best Part: um...
Worst Part: Who are you!?!?
Thoughts Had: okayy; bored; bored!!!; who cares!; who are you!?
Conclusion
Continuing the Series: n/a
Recommending: no
Short Review: I !love! the movie 27 Dresses, so i was hoping for this book to have the vibe of 27 Dresses. It didn't. It has no vibe at all. The audio version is a horrible way to go with this one, good luck keeping track of who is who (thou all the reviews seem to say they had a horrible time keeping track of everyone), i felt like there was 10 different girls in this book! There is no real plot, just a bunch of single or recently singled girls complaining. Bad chick lit, bad!
Misc.
Book Boyfriend: None.
Best Friend Material: Well since i remember no one's name, none.
Review in GIF Form:
July 22, 2012
I read this book during a 6 hour car ride home from vacation. I finished the whole thing with almost an hour to spare. It wasn't terrible, and the writing was witty and almost entertaining... the story just wasn't great, or even good in my opinion. This book never really progresses. There is no climax or true plot. It just follows a few girls nearing the end of their young-adult stage who act way to young for their age, are incredibly insecure, and don't have any standards when it comes to dating. It was short and sweet, so it wasn't like I spent a week waiting for the book to get better, which was nice. It was a cute idea for a story, and definitely something any young woman can relate to (if going nowhere in life is your kind of thing), but I feel like there could have been so much more to it. The characters just drink constantly and have dead-end jobs and date losers the entire book, and then they whine about to each other about their other friends' happiness, and then they do nothing to fix their problems. I just feel like someone should tell the author that there are actually people who have found happy relationships, and give her a hug or something... it seems like she has no idea that that is even an option... I hope she doesn't actually feel that way about her own life :( haha.
September 13, 2011
First off, I received a promotional edition of "selected short stories" with a magazine purchase, not the full volume of stories. The four stories/chapters in this copy are: 1) The Rules of Life (Isabella), 2) The Peahens (Abby), 3) Black Diamond, Blue Square (Isabella), and 4) Flushing Willard (Lauren).
I guess the stories are like many of those between friends finding themselves in their young adulthood. I found some of these female characters to be a bit whiny, and all of them to be very insecure. Fine, we're all insecure in some way, but it's as if Close has put stickers across her characters with big red letters reading, INSECURE!! She then holds these struggling female characters up against male characters (boyfriends of varying degrees of compatibility and commitment to these young women) who appear to have no insecurities at all; as if they are naturally strong and confident. I came away from these short stories wondering how these whiny twenty-year-olds were going to handle their thirties.
Given how little I liked the characters - Isabella is whiny, clingy, makes impulsive decisions then whines about the consequences but does nothing to curb her impulsivity - I doubt I would read the full collection. At least I didn't pay for my promotional excerpted edition.
I guess the stories are like many of those between friends finding themselves in their young adulthood. I found some of these female characters to be a bit whiny, and all of them to be very insecure. Fine, we're all insecure in some way, but it's as if Close has put stickers across her characters with big red letters reading, INSECURE!! She then holds these struggling female characters up against male characters (boyfriends of varying degrees of compatibility and commitment to these young women) who appear to have no insecurities at all; as if they are naturally strong and confident. I came away from these short stories wondering how these whiny twenty-year-olds were going to handle their thirties.
Given how little I liked the characters - Isabella is whiny, clingy, makes impulsive decisions then whines about the consequences but does nothing to curb her impulsivity - I doubt I would read the full collection. At least I didn't pay for my promotional excerpted edition.
September 4, 2011
Did not love this book, not sure I even liked it. While the format (each chapter was like a short story) helped me finish it (I usually don't finish books I don't like) the format was also my one of my problems with it. I felt like the format kept me from really getting to know the characters. They were just this superficial group of girls who went to school together--I felt you never really learned anything more about them, or why the were friends and stayed friends for so long. My other problem is that I never grew to like any of them. I found them all to be a bunch of spoiled woman who never appreciated anything they had. The complained when they didn't have boyfriends, they complained when they had boyfriends (no matter how good these boyfriends were), they complained when they had jobs they didn't like, they complained when they had jobs they liked. They were suppose to be this group of great friends, but when one of them gets divorced and breaks down during a girls only weekend away, they all stand around and do nothing to support or comfort their friend. Not a book I would recommend.
March 14, 2014
The title is completely deceiving. I was looking for a humorous book about there being more to life than weddings and babies. All of the weddings in the book were about nonessential characters. The author introduced way too many women (I honestly couldn't keep the characters straight) in an interrelated book. Once one chapter started with a new character and it started to become just the slightest bit interesting, the chapter would end. By the time you are faced with the same character again, they've gone from almost possibly having an office affair with their boss to being married and pregnant to someone else never before mentioned. It also had no plot whatsoever. There was no climax or any type of character growth. So many female characters were introduced in the beginning only to never be mentioned again. Honestly, what was the point of going on for 20 pages about a girl and her on again off again boyfriend only to say she got married and is never mentioned in the book again? And the ending was *ahem* crap. Once you finally feel like it's getting somewhere the book ends.
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