The Dressmaker's Gift | Fiona Valpy

Title: The Dressmaker's Gift
Author: Fiona Valpy


This is a perfect example of a book that could have been great but ended up being just okay. I love books centered around World War II, but something about this one just didn't resonate with me the way I expected it to. I found both Claire and Harriet to be completely unlikable--flighty and immature. In the beginning, Claire only seemed to want to join the resistance because of having her heart broken by a Nazi officer. She was completely willing to throw away relationships with her friends and family for this guy prior to that. And Harriet is a horrible friend to Simone, continuing to see Thierry even though she knows her friend has feelings for him. I don't care if she said it was okay or not--it wasn't okay.

Also, when she's in a medically-induced coma for a week, does she really bounce back that easily? If her injuries weren't that severe, why did she need to be in a medically-induced coma? Something isn't adding up here.

I will say that the concentration camp scenes were written almost exactly as they should have been. My one complaint is that if the author was going to take that much time to go into the details of what each triangle meant, then she should have really included all the different triangles instead of just a handful. Some notable groups of persecuted people were glaringly missing.

Most of this book was really boring to me, and I found a lot of the text to be repetitive. The most interesting character in this book is Felicity--except we don't ever really get to meet her. If this book had been about her and Claire instead of Harriet and Claire, I think I would have liked it a lot more. That said, it had some really strong moments, and that is its real saving grace.

I give this book three out of five stars.

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QUOTE

 "It is the loss of those you love that is unbearable."

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READING PROGRESS
Gerald's Game by Stephen King: 99%
Ammey McKeaf by Jane Shoup: 14%
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson: 53%
In the Heart of the Fire by Dean Koontz: NOW STARTING

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