Monsieur Claude Reynaud is famous throughout France for making fabulous clothes. Living in the quiet village of Senlis, he thinks himself too old to change, too old to find love. Then, in a cloud of spring blossom, Mademoiselle Valentine de Verlay arrives on his doorstep.
Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck has worked in book and magazine publishing, contributed a regular column to Cosmopolitan, and written for Travel and Leisure, Glamour, and Working Woman, among other publications. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with her husband and four sons. The Dressmaker is her first novel. (from the publisher's website)"
This was possibly one of the worst books I've read in recent times. I picked it up initially because I liked the premise, but really - the writing was fairly poor, and I actively disliked the main characters for being so spineless and also creepy.
Some time ago I read a review in a magazine and wrote the title down in anticipation of a future trip to the library. I wish I could remember where I saw the review because I wouldn't follow that reviewer's advice ever again. If you're into high fashion you might find this interesting but I can't imagine anyone else thinking it is worth the time. Characters are undeveloped and not at all likeable. Other than the the main character's nephews, I really couldn't even generate any feeling or compassion toward any of the characters. The best part about this book is the cover. I guess I'm still looking for this summer's good read.
I enjoyed the first third, but then it dragged with the dreary moping around of the main character. Just as the story seemed to get going again, and began to gather a little pace, it all of sudden ended, without much resolution. I'd still be happy to loan it out as some of the writing was quite interesting, just be prepared for it get bogged down in the middle.
The only thing that got me through this book was the idea of giving it one star when I finished. A wise previous reviewer accurately described the characters as 'creepy.' I completely echo this and add that their motivations are impossible to discern given that there was zero in the way of character development. In its stead we are left strictly with lengthy descriptions of the love interest's coloring. This book was riddled with plot holes - an assistant who disappears never to be heard from again, an NYC fist fight that was impossible to follow and, just to mix it up towards the end, the sudden death of an angelic, young side character. For a previous one star book, I recommended it *only* should you find it on the floor while stranded in an airport. For The Dressmaker I would add: only pick it up if you need paper to sanitize your tray table.
This was a book I picked up on the shelves of the break room in my clinic in the desert purely based on the cover. It is kind of an odd story about a romance between a French fashion designer (the male) and an art lover (the female). I just couldn't buy into the romantic hero as a French fashion designer. I guess its just not the romantic hero I can really dig my heels into. Also, he seemed ultimately sort of obsessed, whiny, and weak. I guess all humans have their weaknesses. Still...a fashion designer, really? There was definitely too much discussion and description of high fashion for my taste. Also, the romance seemed to be based on a very superficial attraction (how she looked, what she looked good in, what she was wearing). Additionally, the female character was not well developed and very 2 dimensional. Most of the time, I didn't really understand her motives or actions. The dialogue was also less than natural although that didn't bother me quite as much because I just figured that's how French people talk. Overall, Oberbeck is actually a decent writer, but just not my thing. I should have guessed, she is apparently a fashion writer for Vogue in her day job.
This is one of my favourite books. I can’t completely quantify why, but the story and character have stayed with me. Not sure why the ratings for it on Goodreads are on the low side. Seek it out and see what you think!
Claude Reynaud is a skilled dressmaker in a small town in Senlis, just outside of Paris, and is known for his quick turnaround. One day, Valentine de Verlay comes in for a fitting for a wedding dress. He is immediately interested in her.
Pros:
•It reads very quickly.
Cons:
•I love how Claude is so enamoured with Valentine that he doesn’t see the flaws she has that were unforgivable in his wife. He fumes about Rose-Marie using “her voice, words, and body” to manipulate him, but is lovesick at the idea that Valentine had WANTED to call him. Not that she DID, but that she WANTED, and yet, alas, was too busy! He wouldn’t move to Paris for his wife for his career but is willing to drop everything and move for Valentine if that’s what she wants!
•I don’t like the instant-love plot; I never have. Claude saw her and was immediately drawn to her and needed to see her more, and again, and beyond the dresses. I can understand HER angle, feeling pressured into marrying someone you’ve been around since a kid, but he’s just instantly fixated on her. I thought it would be more gradual, as they were working together on her wedding dress, but of course it really can’t be when the man is known for doing dresses in three to four days and only needing two sittings. They’ve barely known each other, had only a few conversations, but they’re already kissing.
•Why would I even root for Claude? Admittedly I don’t like infidelity, but in some instance I can put myself in the character’s shoes. In one passage, Claude notes that Victor “hung on each of Valentine’s words”, meanwhile he’s not listening to her, pretending as he takes in her “face, her gestures, her demeanour.” Literally he just cares about her appearance—that’s obvious from how immediately he “loves” her—but it makes it ENTIRELY difficult to get invested in this love story, especially when there’s someone already there and wooing her!
•Many of the characters are unlikable. Claude with his insta-love; Valentine for jerking Claude around and cheating on poor Victor; Rose-Marie for trying to use Claude now that he’s a known name, refusing to divorce, hassling him in public; his boss Lebrais claiming the credit for the dress being done in his salon and mocking Claude residing in a small town; Victor turning into a drunken, abusive lout; even Claude’s family sucks. His mother has a stroke and they all race to the hospital to berate her as she’s lying unresponsive. His sister Juliette asks if she ever loved her father; Agnes holds pictures of her children up to her mother’s face “whom you didn’t care enough to visit”; Juliette’s children complain the fridge is empty and the house is a mess. THIS WOMAN’S PROGNOSIS IS POOR AND THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT HER?? She literally DIED.
•Time passes really quickly; weeks go by with only a brief mention. At one point it’s mentioned that Claude has taken to following Valentine after work, hiding near her office to watch her without her knowledge. Such a good love story! Does he know anything about her? Her hobbies? Interests? Likes and dislikes? Well, no, but he knows what clothing would fit her well, and the intense blue of her eye, and how she walks with her left hip “a little too high”.
•Claude is EXCEPTIONALLY spineless. Wife shows up and lets herself in and sleeps in his bed after EIGHT YEARS? He’ll just stay with a friend! When he relocates to Paris, she appears, goes to his office and starts talking to people there, and then goes to his rooms at the hotel, where she invites people over and makes appointments for him. And he just rolls over and allows it because he’s hungry and fatigued. He literally starts fucking his wife again because he’s “too weary to fight”. He lets her get them an apartment eight times his annual salary. All this man needs to do is say “fuck off, bitch” until she gets the message. Doing it in public might do wonders. Instead, he decides to try to make her super attractive so he can catch someone else’s eye and pawn her off on him. That feels not dissimilar to being a pimp.
•Pascale and her death are clearly meant to parallel Claude’s relationship with Valentine and how recklessly she acted, but it would have been better if it was done earlier in the book and if Claude had sobered after experiencing it and then ended their relationship with each other.
•This book is just NOT what I expected. I thought it would unfold gradually, through many sittings and shared experiences, and it would culminate in some showdown before the wedding, but the wedding happens before the halfway mark. Claude just wallows and goes back and forth whether Valentine loves him or not, even when it’s very, VERY clear she does not. She doesn’t call him when she has opportunity to do so; I think he is always, always the one reaching out to her? Calling her, following her, grabbing her on the street. She did once invite him to her apartment but abruptly changed her mind. As I said before, there’s basically nothing other than how Valentine looks to explain why Claude would be so utterly fixated on her to the point he thinks of essentially nothing else. He is jealous that she wears perfume because that means other people can smell her!
It’s a story of obsession, maybe, but this is no love story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I thought this book was like a coke left open too long. The contents were still good, but the fizz was gone. I would like to have seen more development between Valentine and Claude.
What a hot mess of a book. Very little plot and unlikeable characters. Not sure what the attraction was between the two main characters. About as much sexual chemistry as a Hallmark Christmas movie. I hope the author didn’t quit her day job to write this.
In the rural French town of Senlis, mild-mannered, middle-aged tailor Claude Reynaud fashions wedding gowns, dresses and suits for Parisian women in the know; for the locals, he repairs torn seams, sews on buttons and alters hemlines. Claude's predictable life turns upside down when the charming parisienne Valentine de Verlay commissions him to make her wedding dress, and he falls in love with her. Claude's wife left him eight years ago (but, we learn early on, no divorce papers have been signed), and Valentine's fiance, Victor, is a singularly unlikable, one-dimensional character (whose last name, of all things, is "Couturier"). Claude and Valentine couple early on, but, despite being in love with Claude, Valentine stays on track for the marriage to Victor. When Claude joins up with a major Paris designer to be closer to Valentine, former Cosmopolitan columnist Oberbeck cleverly portrays Claude's entr e into high fashion, but she makes a weak case for Claude's dislike of all the attention. An inexplicably tragic side plot involving the teenage girlfriend of one of Claude's nephews further derails the proceedings. Oberbeck successfully creates the intrigue one wants for a wedding gown designer who falls in love with his client and vice versa, but doesn't manage it all the way through to the principals' New York collision. ***Rate this a 3/5. Although this book started out so well, it sagged in the middle and totally fizzled out in the end. I don't know why I finished it..............disappointing!
I was not excited to read this book, but I did for a book club. The whole premise of the book did not appeal to me, and I had read some poor reviews on Goodreads.
First, let me say one nice thing about the book. Oberbeck is a beautiful writer. The words flowed well and she uses great descriptions.
Now everything I didn't like. I never felt any attachment to the characters. They were all shallow and superficial. I wasn't sure if you were supposed to like Valentine, but I thought she was stupid, selfish and irresponsible. I coulnd't stand her and I didn't understand why Claude fell in love with her. Yeah, she was pretty, but inside she was not a good person. I had a real problem with her cheating on her husband. I'm pretty liberal, but in some ways I guess I'm old fashioned - I did not like reading about people cheating on their spouses.
More time could have been spent developing the characters and subplots. A lot of events where mentioned in the book one time and then never mentioned again.
What a sweet summer read about a kindly tailor-turned-superstar designer who falls in love with the woman whose wedding dress he designs. Never mind that I love books about Paris and provincial France (this one offers glimpses into both); the characters are so alive that I wish I could spend an afternoon with them in a cafe eating croissants. Maybe I could shake some sense into them. The story is poignant, the writing just right, and the ending is tender. Highly recommended.
(LATER ... )
Wow, I didn't realize how many negative reviews there were of this book! I reviewed from my gut--love the subject matter (even though I'm not a huge fan of high couture) and yes, I do love the characters. I will admit the book took an oddish turn at the end, but I stand by my recommendation. Just FYI. Two more cents.
The thing that carried this book for me was the theme of sewing and the creation of original garments. The book overflowed with descriptions of line, style and fabric colours and textures and I am passionate about these! The story was gently told with sensitive descriptions of Valentine and warmly recreated family chaos full of love and muddles! I really enjoyed it.
By the end I no longer cared about the main characters. I think it was because I wasn't able to believe in their attraction to each other, which led to my not caring when they made decisions that invariably hurt each other.
I was never really able to connect with this book. The characters seemed a bit unrealistic and two dimensional. It isn't necessarily poorly written, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
I read terrible reviews about this book. Even though I can't give it a super high rating, it does not deserve the lowest of the lowest.
Things I did love about the book: the writing style of Oberbeck is actually very beautiful. It made me feel part of the French culture through the book, with the exquisite taste in the way she described everything: textures, colors, shapes, and even the food and the scenery. I loved the metaphors that take shape in Claude's mind, so melodramatic, so passionate. I also love Claude's relationship with his adorable nephews.
Things I did not love: Valentine de Verlay is simply trash. She is a terrible character and I am almost certain she never loved Claude and was toying with him. Her vague answers just really bothered me. In general, though I do love Insta love and I'm all up for it, I felt it did not work so much for me in this story. The way Claude falls in love with Valentine did not convince me. It was like he was simply being influenced by a publicity to desire and consume a product that looks shiny but is completely useless and a waste of money (If that makes sense).
About the ending...Pascale's death did not seem to work that well in the story for me. I don't know how to explain it. The entire plot moves around the melodramatic intensity of Claude's soul and his desire and love(if it can be called love) for Valentine, and even his inner conflicts. And Pascale's death just did not seem to move along the theme the story was already taking. As Claude would say, it was like a polyester dress in the middle of silky gowns.
But I will tell yo one thing: I am glad he did not stayed with Valentine, because I repeat, she was trash.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A nice story about a lonely tailor who falls in love. The story was entertaining enough but, for me anyhow, was just lacking something that meant it was just a "nice story" rather than being anything more.
For some reason from the back cover blurb I expected it to be set in the 1940's or 50's but something in the story seemed to indicate it was set coming up to the Millennium - however I can't find that reference now! The atmosphere to me anyhow suggested a setting of a few decades ago. Also the assumption I'd made about Claude was inaccurate! Again from the cover, "He is too old change and certainly too old to fall in love" I was expecting an elderly slightly decrepit individual - but he's 46!! Now that's not old in my book...
I couldn't really understand why Claude was so enamoured with Valentine, it seemed an odd relationship - as was his relationship with Rose-Marie...how could anyone let an estranged spouse walk back into their lives & take over - I wanted to slap her & give him a good shaking! On the whole I'll just stick with my first comments of it being a nice, if flawed, story.
This is a fun book with a thin plot of an incredibly talented small town tailor who falls in love with a client who comes to him to design her wedding dress.
Claude, the tailor, designs a wedding dress for Valentine who is to be wed to her longtime friend and love Victor. Claude and Valentine have an affair but Claude falls madly in love while Valentine loves him however more as a dear friend than a lover.
The best parts of the book are the descriptions of fabric, drape and color of his designs. Anyone who sews or has been involved with design will love these descriptions. This is a light, fun read.
This might be one of the worst books I have ever read. The characters are miserable and lack depth. Claude in particular is whiny and complaining. The pet parrot was just ridiculous and the part in the hospital with Claude’s dying mother and sister Agnes was shallow and silly. The beautiful cover art drew me to this book and the story line had potential, but it was an overall disappointment. The only positive of this book was the descriptions given about life in Paris and Senlis. Terrible disappointment.
As some of the other reviews state, if you’re into fashion, you’d probably like this book. I liked it. Not my favorite, and it took me a long time to read it, but reading about the intricacies of being a tailor/dressmaker: fabric choices, patterning, deadlines, styling, and high expectations only bring forth the reality that this is a dying art/profession. Characters were eh, I got lost in one part of the story and reread the chapter, but I could envision the dresses and the cobblestone streets and that kept me reading.
I am not going to lie, I chose this book 90% because of the cover, but the plot seemed intriguing as well. I liked the first few chapters, but got bored quickly. It took me a few weeks to read it, and I only finished because I've been trying to finish more books.
I personally really enjoyed the fashion aspects (I am a student studying fashion) that some other reviewers seemed to dislike.
I felt like the whole time I was reading it, I was just waiting for something to happen....which I have experienced a lot recently :/.
Oh dear, this really was awful, a bit like a badly acted play. I only kept reading it because a reading challenge I'm doing required two books of the same title. It had me shout out a few times, I couldn't possibly repeat what those words were! I usually drop my read books at our village cafe where they have a bookcase full of books to swap. I'm rather reluctant to leave it there, I'm not sure I could put another person through that kind of torture!
This book was a gift from someone who thought it fitting because I enjoy fashion....the thought was nicer than the book. Unfortunately I could not sink into the pages and enjoy it for what it possibly could have been. I found it trying to be too technical in a rather classroom sort of way with characters just as board as I was. It’s one thing to enjoy fashion, another to write about and different still to try and create a limp story around it.
Wow, was this a tough book to finish. The protagonist, Claude, was a brilliant designer, but alternately so mild and unassuming, and then so stubborn, that he was difficult to relate to. The object of his obsession, Valentine, was too quixotic - now affectionate, now remote - which is, I suppose, why Claude continued to pursue her. And the ending? I'm still shaking my head in disbelief at the (unnecessary?) tragedy.
Sorry to tell you, but this book was a disappointment to me. I hoped to read the most amazing lovestory, but it was not more than one man's infatuation with a woman and some things about fashion. The writing was average, nothing outstanding. I guess the cover made me anticipate for better than I eventually got. Such a shame.