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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
Really lovely lyrical story about friendship and family set in 1980s small town Australia. A slow-moving story for the most part but reader interest is kept by having each chapter framed by a future mystery that doesn't bode well for our main characters. Really gorgeous writing, a well-developed and unusual setting, and a compelling narrative. Loved it.
There was some swearing, so that was disappointing.. But the book itself was pretty good. It was kinda confusing and really weird, but I enjoyed it fairly well.
I was anxious to get to the end of the book to figure out exactly what happened. With the story previewing the future at the beginning of each chapter, it built anticipation for what was going to happen. The twist at the end was perfect and the reason why I give 4 stars instead of 3/3.5!
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wasn't sure I liked this at first but then it drew me in. Not so sure about the ending. More complete review to come.
Full review:
At first, I wasn't sure The Midnight Dress and I were going to get along, but after a rough start, I found myself falling under the spell of this novel. By weaving disparate threads together, Foxlee has crafted a compelling novel that builds to a devastating tragedy, but I'm still not convinced about that ending. Some spoilers to follow.
My initial inability to get into the book was entirely due to the writing style. I don't read many Australian authors, so I'm not sure if this is a commonality amongst them, but the writing felt blunt and repetitive at first. Many sentences start in the same way, and while I'm not looking for purple prose, I felt like the prose lacked a certain beauty. After a while, though, I started to appreciate its starkness more. It has a sort of matter-of-fact beauty that crept up on me and caught me unawares. However, I do take issue with the way tenses are done in the book because while much of the novel is written in present tense, there were times when it did a strange shift to past tense, and I had trouble ignoring my inner grammarian.
Normally characters are something about which I expound at length, but the characters in this book felt unknowable in a way. There's a certain distance between them and the reader, but it doesn't lessen the impact of the events that end up taking place. I didn't feel like I was in their heads, more like I was a spectator, so I didn't have strong feelings for most of them, yet I still found the dynamics between them to be lovely.
My favorite thing about the book, really, is the way Edie's tale is woven into the tale of Rose and Pearl. Much of what kept me reading was my desire to know more about Edie's story, and that makes this book a sort of novel within a novel, but not at the expense of either narrative thread. Edie's story isn't the same as what happens to Pearl and Rose, yet the book seems to draw to an inevitable conclusion for which Edie's story has set the tone. The dress she and Rose make is a sort of metaphor for the way people's lives can be pulled apart and stitched back together, joined in ways none of them had ever anticipated.
The one big downside was that I had figured out the twist long before it's revealed, but I hadn't yet picked apart the reasoning for it. I don't want to talk about it much for fear of spoiling it, but I do want to say that the reasons why the crime happens aren't the ones I'd anticipated, but I still felt satisfied by them. This book is a classic tale of tragedy.
My beef with the ending is that it just seemed to abrupt. It does leave room for interpretation, and I like to think my own has some meat on its bones. In the end, this is a strangely beautiful novel that is quite unlike the YA books I typically read.
Full review:
At first, I wasn't sure The Midnight Dress and I were going to get along, but after a rough start, I found myself falling under the spell of this novel. By weaving disparate threads together, Foxlee has crafted a compelling novel that builds to a devastating tragedy, but I'm still not convinced about that ending. Some spoilers to follow.
My initial inability to get into the book was entirely due to the writing style. I don't read many Australian authors, so I'm not sure if this is a commonality amongst them, but the writing felt blunt and repetitive at first. Many sentences start in the same way, and while I'm not looking for purple prose, I felt like the prose lacked a certain beauty. After a while, though, I started to appreciate its starkness more. It has a sort of matter-of-fact beauty that crept up on me and caught me unawares. However, I do take issue with the way tenses are done in the book because while much of the novel is written in present tense, there were times when it did a strange shift to past tense, and I had trouble ignoring my inner grammarian.
Normally characters are something about which I expound at length, but the characters in this book felt unknowable in a way. There's a certain distance between them and the reader, but it doesn't lessen the impact of the events that end up taking place. I didn't feel like I was in their heads, more like I was a spectator, so I didn't have strong feelings for most of them, yet I still found the dynamics between them to be lovely.
My favorite thing about the book, really, is the way Edie's tale is woven into the tale of Rose and Pearl. Much of what kept me reading was my desire to know more about Edie's story, and that makes this book a sort of novel within a novel, but not at the expense of either narrative thread. Edie's story isn't the same as what happens to Pearl and Rose, yet the book seems to draw to an inevitable conclusion for which Edie's story has set the tone. The dress she and Rose make is a sort of metaphor for the way people's lives can be pulled apart and stitched back together, joined in ways none of them had ever anticipated.
The one big downside was that I had figured out the twist long before it's revealed, but I hadn't yet picked apart the reasoning for it. I don't want to talk about it much for fear of spoiling it, but I do want to say that the reasons why the crime happens aren't the ones I'd anticipated, but I still felt satisfied by them. This book is a classic tale of tragedy.
My beef with the ending is that it just seemed to abrupt. It does leave room for interpretation, and I like to think my own has some meat on its bones. In the end, this is a strangely beautiful novel that is quite unlike the YA books I typically read.
At times this read like a song, a beautiful, haunting, atmospheric melody that was impossible to stop listening to. The Midnight Dress is about a lost soul trying to find purpose, basically any teenager out there, and instead finding self-worth, friendship, and understanding. It's a gorgeous piece that's entirely hypnotizing in every way - you won't want to put this down, and may not be able to.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
This book broke my heart :( beautiful writing, loved the magical realism