Scan barcode
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Set in cholera-stricken England in about 1830, the book deals with the needs of medical students to procure bodies for dissection, the lack of choices available to the poor and underclass, and moral dilemma.
The story follows Gustine, a 15-year-old "dress lodger" prostitute and her relationship to Dr Henry Chiver, a surgeon and anatomy professor. They strike an unlikely bargain born of frustration and desperation. Their hopes are ultimately shattered.
The writing isn't perfect, but the author shows promise. The writing style is somewhat strange and different. The story is compelling in a macabre way. One person I recommended it to really liked it. Another avid reader couldn't get past the first few pages.
The story follows Gustine, a 15-year-old "dress lodger" prostitute and her relationship to Dr Henry Chiver, a surgeon and anatomy professor. They strike an unlikely bargain born of frustration and desperation. Their hopes are ultimately shattered.
The writing isn't perfect, but the author shows promise. The writing style is somewhat strange and different. The story is compelling in a macabre way. One person I recommended it to really liked it. Another avid reader couldn't get past the first few pages.
nderiley's review against another edition
3.0
Reading this book directly after The Knife Man was an extremely intersting experience thanks to one of the main characters in the Dress Lodger being an anatomist! I even recognized a few name drops in the later. Although I'd have to say after reading those two books, I've certainly had my fill of reading about disections
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
3.0
Gustine is a dress lodger (lower class prostitute in an upper class dress) in Sunderland, England in the 1830s. One night she meets Dr. Henry Chiver, a surgeon in disgrace who has promised his small group of students that he will find a human body for them to dissect and study. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of superstition about medicine and doctors and finding a body isn’t so easy. Gustine and Henry enter into an agreement to help each other get what they so desperately want.
I tend to be a character-driven reader, and I found that I didn’t really like any of the characters in this book. There were probably one or two that I could have liked, Gustine being one, but that didn’t really seem to be what the author was going for.
I think Holman was trying to paint a picture of what life would have been like for the lower classes in that time frame in England, and she truly succeeded with that. She put me inside the story, and I read her well-written, picture-perfect descriptions of the working conditions, living conditions, ignorance, fear, hostility, brutality, and just general misery that described the lives of the working poor of this town and shuddered in revulsion and felt alittle lot more grateful for what I have, where I live and when I live.
She also succeeded in turning my expectations for the novel and where my sympathies would lie upside-down. I have a bachelor’s degree in biology and work in a hospital: I should have been rooting for Dr. Chiver and the triumph of science all the way through. But slowly, insidiously, I found myself being led in another direction without really even realizing it. Let’s just say that I have a greater appreciation for what earlier scientists were up against, and the cost their discoveries exacted, both from some of them personally and from society. Related to that, I’ll say that I loved her choice of narrator.
I didn’t love this, but I do feel like I learned something from it. The descriptions of life for the lower classes in England in Victorian times alone made this a worthwhile read. I just don’t really think it’s a book to fall in love with, but it is a novel to make you look at your life with new eyes.
I tend to be a character-driven reader, and I found that I didn’t really like any of the characters in this book. There were probably one or two that I could have liked, Gustine being one, but that didn’t really seem to be what the author was going for.
I think Holman was trying to paint a picture of what life would have been like for the lower classes in that time frame in England, and she truly succeeded with that. She put me inside the story, and I read her well-written, picture-perfect descriptions of the working conditions, living conditions, ignorance, fear, hostility, brutality, and just general misery that described the lives of the working poor of this town and shuddered in revulsion and felt a
She also succeeded in turning my expectations for the novel and where my sympathies would lie upside-down. I have a bachelor’s degree in biology and work in a hospital: I should have been rooting for Dr. Chiver and the triumph of science all the way through. But slowly, insidiously, I found myself being led in another direction without really even realizing it. Let’s just say that I have a greater appreciation for what earlier scientists were up against, and the cost their discoveries exacted, both from some of them personally and from society. Related to that, I’ll say that I loved her choice of narrator.
I didn’t love this, but I do feel like I learned something from it. The descriptions of life for the lower classes in England in Victorian times alone made this a worthwhile read. I just don’t really think it’s a book to fall in love with, but it is a novel to make you look at your life with new eyes.
labgirl14's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting read. Seemed well written. Not quite my cup of tea though.
darastar's review against another edition
3.0
this was another one of those books that I had had on my bookshelf for a very long time - but this one because it was a book i'd stolen from my mom, who got it from a family friend.
when i finally got around to reading it, i was really fascinated - the story centers around a physician and a prostitute in early-to-mid-19th century Northern England, and the lengths that the physician is willing to go to obtain bodies for anatomical study, and the lengths that the prostitute will go to provide for her family. Quite interesting.
when i finally got around to reading it, i was really fascinated - the story centers around a physician and a prostitute in early-to-mid-19th century Northern England, and the lengths that the physician is willing to go to obtain bodies for anatomical study, and the lengths that the prostitute will go to provide for her family. Quite interesting.
wrentheblurry's review against another edition
3.0
If I finish a book and am somewhat unsure how much I enjoyed it, a helpful measure is how long it took me to finish. What began as a 4-star book ended up a 3. I read it faithfully, a bit every day, yet I never yearned to read it, and didn't especially look forward to it. Perhaps the writing was a bit heavy, though I did enjoy the use of the narrator that speaks to the reader.
The story takes place in England in 1831, in a small town that is being struck by Cholera Morbus. We follow a doctor that is experiencing difficulty procuring bodies for his anatomy students to work on, and a teenage dress lodger that works two jobs to support herself and another. I learned that a dress lodger is a prostitute, basically, who wears a dress owned by her pimp. This dress helps her appear to be of a higher class than she is, and attract richer clients. To ensure the woman (girl) does not run away with the dress, she is followed by another woman, in this case, the Eye.
There are many odd characters and the story is quite intriguing. I liked it enough to finish it, though instead of that familiar melancholy that arrives with the end of a really good read, I just felt relief.
The story takes place in England in 1831, in a small town that is being struck by Cholera Morbus. We follow a doctor that is experiencing difficulty procuring bodies for his anatomy students to work on, and a teenage dress lodger that works two jobs to support herself and another. I learned that a dress lodger is a prostitute, basically, who wears a dress owned by her pimp. This dress helps her appear to be of a higher class than she is, and attract richer clients. To ensure the woman (girl) does not run away with the dress, she is followed by another woman, in this case, the Eye.
There are many odd characters and the story is quite intriguing. I liked it enough to finish it, though instead of that familiar melancholy that arrives with the end of a really good read, I just felt relief.
alyssabookrecs's review against another edition
4.0
From September 2016:
This was the first required reading for my Topics in British Literature Class (subtitled Diabolical Doctors, Patient Proponents, and Infectious Intrigue in Victorian Fiction). While I'm pretty fed up with the structure of English classes, I found myself loving this book. It was published in the early 2000's, but it's a historical fictionalized look back at pre-Victorian sanitation, cholera outbreaks, and the position of doctors according to the rich vs. the poor. We get all of this through multiple characters, but especially our heroine Gustine the "dress lodger" or sex worker and our doctor Henry, who is trying to run away from his past with bodysnatching, inspired by Burke and Hare. I recommend reading this; the language is rich and the characters are fully developed. The writing style is quirky and fun to read (despite the horrors that transpire)!
This was the first required reading for my Topics in British Literature Class (subtitled Diabolical Doctors, Patient Proponents, and Infectious Intrigue in Victorian Fiction). While I'm pretty fed up with the structure of English classes, I found myself loving this book. It was published in the early 2000's, but it's a historical fictionalized look back at pre-Victorian sanitation, cholera outbreaks, and the position of doctors according to the rich vs. the poor. We get all of this through multiple characters, but especially our heroine Gustine the "dress lodger" or sex worker and our doctor Henry, who is trying to run away from his past with bodysnatching, inspired by Burke and Hare. I recommend reading this; the language is rich and the characters are fully developed. The writing style is quirky and fun to read (despite the horrors that transpire)!
bupdaddy's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, what a ride. A ride that did not go well for the riders.
Don't pick this one up if you need a Dickensian happy ending where money and a charitable spirit cures cholera.
But do pick this one up. Great read. Get over your whole Dickensian 'everything turns into magical happy pancakes' mindset.
Don't pick this one up if you need a Dickensian happy ending where money and a charitable spirit cures cholera.
But do pick this one up. Great read. Get over your whole Dickensian 'everything turns into magical happy pancakes' mindset.
novahkiin's review against another edition
2.0
Kind of strange, reading this during a time when thousands of people are in quarantine.
inspiretruth's review against another edition
1.0
A friend recommended this book to me saying that is was worth the read, but about half way through it, I knew that this wasn't a book for me. I wasn't a fan of the story because, honestly, nothing truly happened. The ending was alright but not something I could have lived without. In my opinion, this book was a waste of time though I'm sure others found it fascinating...