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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of Susan Gloss's début novel [b:Vintage: A Novel|18053030|Vintage A Novel|Susan Gloss|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375116148s/18053030.jpg|25404561] as part of the Goodreads First Reads program; and I'm so glad that I did. The story revolves around the intersecting and separate lives of three women: Violet Turner who is the owner of the vintage retail store "Hourglass Vintage", Vintage has divorced her high school sweetheart who turned out to be a drunk and huge disappointment, in hopes of starting anew and finally realizing her dream to bring her love of everything vintage to those around her; April Morgan who at the age of eighteen finds herself pregnant and alone after her older boyfriend has left her and their unborn child just days before their wedding; and Amithi Singh, an older Indian woman who finds herself dealing with a daughter who wants nothing more than to turn her back on her Indian roots and a husband who betrayed her after over 30 years of marriage. Together these women come to know one another as more than owner, patron and customer in order to form a deep and meaningful friendship and partnership.
I absolutely devoured this book and found that I hated having to put it down when I had to go to work and I spent the hours at work counting down until I would be done with work and could resume my reading. I loved all the characters and how they all managed to overcome their various hang-ups and eccentricities with the help and companionship of one another. This is a book that I would recommend to book clubs looking for a fun read that looks at the various relationships one has in their lives from that of family to friendship and how helpful engaging strangers in conversation can be as a catharsis for both involved. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Gloss.
My overall rating is 4.5 stars, I would've given it a full 5 but there were some grammatical errors in the book, which I hope that since this was an advanced reading copy that those will be fixed in the official published copy.
I absolutely devoured this book and found that I hated having to put it down when I had to go to work and I spent the hours at work counting down until I would be done with work and could resume my reading. I loved all the characters and how they all managed to overcome their various hang-ups and eccentricities with the help and companionship of one another. This is a book that I would recommend to book clubs looking for a fun read that looks at the various relationships one has in their lives from that of family to friendship and how helpful engaging strangers in conversation can be as a catharsis for both involved. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Gloss.
My overall rating is 4.5 stars, I would've given it a full 5 but there were some grammatical errors in the book, which I hope that since this was an advanced reading copy that those will be fixed in the official published copy.
Loved all the descriptions of the vintage clothes but the story was waaaay too cutesy and predictable
I really loved this novel! The camaraderie reminded me a bit of The Friday Night Knitting Club, but with its own distinct personality. You get attached to the characters and their stories and I read it in less than two days - I didn't want it to end!
Despite the quickness of the read it dealt with a lot real-life problems and I appreciate that they weren't just glossed over but were actually solved. Would def recommend this book!
Despite the quickness of the read it dealt with a lot real-life problems and I appreciate that they weren't just glossed over but were actually solved. Would def recommend this book!
A nice romance about the owner of a vintage dress store.
This is the story of Violet, April, and Amithi, three women in various stages of life who form a friendship. Violet owns a store called Vintage, and she buys not just items - clothing, jewelry, dishes, etc. from people, but she also supplies the story of the item with potential buyers. April, young, pregnant, alone, becomes an intern at the store during her pregnancy. Amithi has been in Madison for 30 years, but is from India originally. Hers was an arranged marriage, but over the years she and her husband formed a bond of respect and comfort, until one day that bond is broken. All three women discover that family comes in a variety of packages, and does not necessarily have to include blood relationships.
I like the quirkiness of Violet, the sweet shyness of April, and I admired Amithi's strength and courage in attempting to change her life. The characters are well formed, and the story flows well. It was not a book I picked up and could not put down, but I still enjoyed reading it.
I like the quirkiness of Violet, the sweet shyness of April, and I admired Amithi's strength and courage in attempting to change her life. The characters are well formed, and the story flows well. It was not a book I picked up and could not put down, but I still enjoyed reading it.
It was okay. really predictable. and the ending way too tidy for me but still an enjoyable way to pass a summer day. :)
A very solid meh. I loved the location (natch!) and recognizing name places, but honestly I don't know why I read this otherwise. This is definitely not the type of book I enjoy anymore, and I wasn't very impressed with the writing. However, in the spirit of not being mean, this is definitely not the worst thing I have ever read and I'd say my low rating is more because the story didn't interest me rather than terrible writing. Again, not terrible, just...meh.
I read a pretty wide variety of books but one area I don’t read much in anymore is Women’s fiction or “Chick Lit” because when there was a huge amount out – around the time that Jennifer Weiner was huge – I worked at a Waldenbooks store. Which as a reader was so not a good idea, I pretty much wanted everything in the store and bought pretty much everything too. Anyways, Women’s Fiction was big then and I read a ton of it until the point that I could pretty much predict a plot twist and ending so I had to cease and desist before I started really hating the genre for being so formulaic. I’ve just now been able to get back into reading in the area.
This book definitely didn’t give me flashbacks to those older books in the genre that I remember reading so that was a good thing for me. Violet runs a vintage store that is a lifelong dream come true for her and something that she truly loves doing. She believes that every piece of old clothing has a story, and when she sells those old pieces she also sells those stories with them. She finds herself with lease issues threatening her livelihood and has no idea what to do. We are also introduced to a few of her patrons, April, Elizabeth and Amithi. All of their stories intertwine with the stories of the clothes to present a cohesive story of the vintage shop.
What really worked for me here was the different voices and different chapters being told from varying points of views. Sometimes that can be really jarring in a book but here it was interesting because while it was individual it was also relevant to the main story and wound together with the clothing as well. I liked how the clothing could really help the story come alive in a way that didn’t seem possible.
However, I wasn’t so sure about each chapter starting with a piece of clothing and who it was donated by. At first I liked this touch until it didn’t relate to the chapter and who was narrating at that time. It confused me after a while when I couldn’t connect the two. The other part that was confusing to me was the use of flashbacks. Between the different points of views we already got, the pieces of clothing and the various characters I thought the flashbacks were over the top and only served to jar me out of the scene. It seemed to me that the few that were included were not necessary.
I would say this was a sweet story and a quick read overall.
I received this ARC via Edelweiss in return for an honest review.
This book definitely didn’t give me flashbacks to those older books in the genre that I remember reading so that was a good thing for me. Violet runs a vintage store that is a lifelong dream come true for her and something that she truly loves doing. She believes that every piece of old clothing has a story, and when she sells those old pieces she also sells those stories with them. She finds herself with lease issues threatening her livelihood and has no idea what to do. We are also introduced to a few of her patrons, April, Elizabeth and Amithi. All of their stories intertwine with the stories of the clothes to present a cohesive story of the vintage shop.
What really worked for me here was the different voices and different chapters being told from varying points of views. Sometimes that can be really jarring in a book but here it was interesting because while it was individual it was also relevant to the main story and wound together with the clothing as well. I liked how the clothing could really help the story come alive in a way that didn’t seem possible.
However, I wasn’t so sure about each chapter starting with a piece of clothing and who it was donated by. At first I liked this touch until it didn’t relate to the chapter and who was narrating at that time. It confused me after a while when I couldn’t connect the two. The other part that was confusing to me was the use of flashbacks. Between the different points of views we already got, the pieces of clothing and the various characters I thought the flashbacks were over the top and only served to jar me out of the scene. It seemed to me that the few that were included were not necessary.
I would say this was a sweet story and a quick read overall.
I received this ARC via Edelweiss in return for an honest review.