Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
Published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House
Mary, Isabella, and Lauren are in their mid-twenties and it seems like all their friends are getting married. Every weekend they had to bridal showers and weddings, ooh and ahh over kitchen gadgets and sheet sets, and dress up in bridesmaids dresses they’ll never wear again so someone else can have the perfect day. But during the week, each woman must navigate the tricky world in between college and married life, the time when best friends are everything and bosses rule all. Although all three of them scoff at their wedding-crazy friends, each one is secretly hoping that their guy will end up to be The One.
I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to read Girls in White Dresses. I had heard great things about it and I figured I would probably be able to relate to much of the story, as I am also in my twenties (late-twenties, really, but whatever) and have experienced that mad rush of my friends getting married. Unfortunately, the book didn’t do it for me like I had hoped. I’m not certain exactly where the disconnect was but there were a few things that didn’t work for me.
For one thing, I found it impossible to relate to any of the three women. Their lives were so drastically different from my own that I couldn’t understand or relate to many of the things they were dealing with. In addition, I didn’t really believe the relationships between the three of them – I wasn’t convinced of their best friendships. I think overall, the characters were kept at arm’s length from me and that seriously tampered my enjoyment of the novel.
I also didn’t particularly enjoy the way Girls in White Dresses was structured. To me, it felt like a series of chapters, completely unrelated to one another, rather than a cohesive novel. The order of chapters in relation to one another was quite confusing for me and I just didn’t feel like things were pieced together in a way that made sense.
Plenty of readers have loved Girls in White Dresses but it just didn’t do it for me.
Book Addiction 
Good to know, because I’d heard good things about this one also. But I clearly remember when freaking EVERYONE was getting married…thought I’d go broke over all the wedding gifts. Then all the baby gifts. I figure maybe perhaps I am through these stages for the most part? Maybe now I get to attend retirement parties?
P.S. Missed you last night!
Too bad this one didn’t work! It sounds like a promising subject. Like Sandy said, there are times when everyone you know is at the same stage and it would be fun to read a book you could relate to on that!
I listened to this one and didn’t care for it much either. I thought maybe I was too old.
I have heard some less than flattering things about this book, and can’t say that it’s one that I’ve been dying to read. It sounds as though it was a little hard to swallow for a few reasons, and I imagine that it would be a really tough read for me. I guess I just would have a hard time relating to the characters and to their plights, as I never really felt that much of a compunction to get married, until my husband came along and changed all that! This was a very honest and thoughtful review, and I think you did a great job with it.
I’m sorry you didn’t care for it but I’m glad to hear, too, that you didn’t love it because I had heard sooo many wonderful things… then I borrowed it from the library and really didn’t get very far before I just stopped reading it. I didn’t connect with anyone either.
It’s always disappointing when a book I’ve been waiting to read fails to live up to my hopes. I’ve read similar reviews.
I won this one a few months ago and love the cover, but your review doesn’t make me want to read it any quicker 🙂
[…] Other thoughts: • Cover To Cover • S. Krishna’s Books • Book Addiction […]