Review: Girls in White Dresses

Girls in White Dresses

By Jennifer Close

Alfred A. Knopf August 2011

292 pages 

Girls in White Dresses revolves around the wedding years. Do you know what I mean by that? If you do, you are likely in your twenties just like the protagonists in this novel, Lauren, Mary, and Isabella. During this time in your life, you spend a lot of time attending bridal showers and then weddings and then baby showers. This season of life elicits many different reactions – jealousy, boredom, anger, drunkenness, the desire to beat a bridezilla over the head with her bouquet…

Isabella is frustrated to be working under a woman who is younger than her and puzzled as to why friends set her up with truly bizarre men. Lauren wonders what to do with herself during the days when her friends work and she waits to work the dinner shift at the bar/restaurant with that sleazy bartender she definitely should not sleep with again. Mary is finishing law school, and wondering if school and then her job will leave her any time to spend with her friends or to date.

“No one had told her it would feel like this. She’d gotten so much advice about her first year at a law firm, but no one had ever said, “You will be constantly afraid.” And that’s what she was. She was afraid that someone would come to her with work to do, and she was afraid that no one would come to her with work to do. She was scared that she was missing something in her research. She went over each assignment she was given, and then she was terrified that they would all think she was slow. Whenever someone said ‘case law’ or ‘document review,’ her first instinct was to hide under her desk.

Sometimes, just as she was finishing up one project, feeling like she’d accomplished one thing, someone would come to her office to give her a new task. She was sure she was failing.”

I could refer to this novel as smart chick-lit, but does anyone even call it chick-lit anymore? The good news – this book is easy to read. Breeze through it in a weekend afternoon sort of easy to read. The other good news? If you are somewhere between the ages of 22 and 32 and of the female gender, you will likely find yourself nodding your head in recognition many, many times throughout this book. Ms. Close has written a really good debut and I’m excited to see what she will do next.

The only complaint I have is that while the novel is anchored by Mary, Lauren, and Isabella, the chapters often revolve around their friends. It sometimes takes a while to figure out who this person is and which girl or girls she is friends with, and by the time you have figured these things out, the character will show up in the book no more.

This leads to a sort of jumble in your head of names and situations, which is ok. I don’t think this is the sort of book you read over and over again, whilst referring to your favorite character. Instead, this book confirms the desperate hope that you are not alone in this bizarre adventure known as your 20s. This book is a really good quick read - the women are all relatable as they look for their dream job (or any job), the love of their life (or just a stinking date!) and try to hold on to their friendships as they are pulled in a million different directions. 

It's Monday - Hooray?

How was the weekend, everyone? Lots of turkey and pumpkin pie leftovers? Setting up Christmas trees? This weekend, we helped decorate at my parent's house, but we have not done our place yet (sad face). We are getting ready for the little man's fourth birthday this weekend, which should be lovely...if we don't ship him off to Siberia before then. (I have great hope for the age of four - the end of three seems to be rather wild and insolent.) 

This week, I finished reading:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

By Michael Chabon


Girls in White Dresses
By Jennifer Close

Here are the posts from this week:

It's Monday

Wednesdays with David

Review of Before I Go to Sleep

Happy Thanksgiving

Book Snippets: Half the Sky 

Here are the books coming up this week (yay!):

The Marriage Plot

By Jeffrey Eugenides

The Matisse Stories

By A.S. Byatt 

Tomorrow, I shall tell you all about The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay or maybe it will be Girls in White Dresses. We will see which one gets written first! Until then, please avail yourself of the most excellent comment button, and tell me what you are reading, what you have been up to, and any other interesting things I should know. Happy Monday! 

Book Snippets: Half the Sky

This Thanksgiving week, I have been listening to Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. It has been really flooring me, to the point that I have to stop listening for a while to take in everything I have just heard.

On this day when people in this country waited in lines miles long to get a good deal on a new flat screen TV, we need the reminder that there are more people in forced labor and sex slavery today than there were people enslaved at the height of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. While college students enjoy sleeping in today, we need the reminder that many children in the world do not have the opportunity to attend any school ever. While we gather with our families and neighbors this weekend, we need the reminder that honor killings and rape as warfare are still happening in our world.

Can I ask a favor of you, readers? As you start your holiday shopping, would you consider giving a gift to someone you don't know? Would you check out one of these organizations and think about giving them a very basic privilege that we take for granted? In the midst of the craziness our economy and Occupy Wall Street, it's easy to forget that the 99% of us here in the US (even those of us who are careful each month to make sure that ends meet), are some of the wealthiest in the world.

These are some resources I find really awesome. Would you think about it? Let me know if you gave a gift to someone through one of these organizations - I want to hear all about it.

World Vision (I love this one because they have an entire gift catalog. You can choose to give malaria nets to children in Africa, clean water to a rural village, or a small business loan so that a mother can support her children.)

Love 146 is working to end child sex slavery through prevention and aftercare. You can donate directly or order one of their nifty T-shirts.

The Half the Sky website will direct you to a ton of resources to to help women in the areas of education, preventing violence against women, stopping sex trafficking, maternal health and economic improvement.



Have an amazing weekend, friends. I will be back next week with lots of books reviews, promise!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Readers,
May your day be filled with family and friends, pumpkin pie (my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner!), and an excellent book.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Love,
Literary Lindsey

Wednesdays with David: Elves for a Day

I have to apologize, friends. I know that standard decorum dictates that I should not start talking Christmas-like stuff until Friday. But when we went to Disney, it was already decorated for Christmas and they played Christmas music...so we are already sort of there. We beg your forgiveness.

Still here?

Awesome.

Without further ado, here we have Mickey and Santa in one charming book.

Elves for a Day

Mickey and Friends Visit Santa's Workshop

By Joanne Barkan

1993 The Walt Disney Company

(A note - Amazon and the inside cover inform me that this book was made exclusively for Disney store. It might make finding it a little interesting, but I know you are up for the challenge!)

The Story: Donald makes bad choices, such as taking his friends for a leisurely airplane ride in a blizzard, getting lost, and running out of gas. Thankfully, the intrepid group is found by one elf named Jitters who whisks them away to Santa's workshop. The elves are way behind (slackers) and if they can't finish all of the toys in the next few hours, the jolly man is calling off Christmas. Our heroes rise to the occasion and Christmas is saved! Hooray. 

Mama opines: Predictable? Of course. Cute? Yup. The best thing about this book is finding the little Disney touches scattered throughout the book. Keep an eye out especially in Santa's workshop. Homages to many Disney movies can be seen. Also, yay for Christmas and Christmas stories.

Thoughts from David: I love when the plane crashes (quite mildly, the mama must add) and when they see Santa Claus.

What is your favorite part? I love them all!

Happy Reading, friends and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Review: Before I Go to Sleep

Before I Go To Sleep

By S.J. Watson

Harper June 2011

Christine wakes up with no memory of the past twenty-five years. She doesn’t know the man sleeping next to her or where she is. Each morning, her husband Ben has to explain to her who he is and that she has had a terrible accident that resulted in seemingly permanent amnesia. Christine discovers that she has been seeing a doctor behind her husband’s back and keeping a journal to help her remember the details of her life. When her journal and her husband’s story don’t match, she has to discover the truth. But how can you know the truth when you forget everything as soon as you go to sleep?

This was a great read. I was hooked from the beginning when Christine opens her journal to find the words “Don’t Trust Ben.” The whole premise is terrifying. Could you imagine waking up each morning with no memory of the last 25 years? How do you know who is telling you the truth or what the truth is to begin with? Watson shows a great deal of talent in his debut novel. The suspense holds from first page to resolution.  I found his reflections on memory and perception to be spot-on as well.

“I feel like I am going mad. Everything is fluid, everything shifts. I think one thing, and then, a moment later, the opposite. I believe everything my husband says, and then I believe nothing. I trust him and then I don’t. Nothing feels real, everything invented. Even myself.

I wish I knew one thing for certain. One single thing that I have not had to be told, about which I do not need to be reminded.”  

With many suspense books, I find myself with an unsettled feeling at the end. I enjoy reading them, but often finish them feeling unsatisfied. This was not the case with Before I Go to Sleep. I appreciated that Watson concluded the novel, but not neatly. After all, if this is representative of real life, who knows what could happen the day after the book ends? This is a captivating thriller that you don’t want to miss. 

It's Monday and it's almost Thanksgiving!

How was your weekend? We had a Thanksgiving dinner with the church youth group and co. on Friday night. Then we spent the rest of the weekend reading, catching up on TV, taking a nap or two, and making up lots of boxes for Operation Christmas Child. 

This week, I read:

Before I Go to Sleep

By S.J. Watson

Posts from this past week:

It's Monday

Some of this and a little of that

Reviews of Sister and The Midwife's Confession

I am currently reading:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

By Michael Chabon

I'm going to start listening to:

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into
Opportunity for Women Worldwide
By Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

On the schedule for tomorrow? A review of Before I Go to Sleep. See you then! And don't forget to leave me a comment and tell me what you are reading this week.