Girls in White Dresses Review




The book Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close was published in 2011 by AA Knopf Publisher, and has been loved and read by millions of teenagers and adults across the world. Jennifer Close was born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago, and was a graduate at Boston College. She received her MFA in fiction writing from the New School in 2005. She also worked in New York magazines for many years, and then in Washington D.C, as a bookseller. Girls in White Dresses is her first book. Girls in White Dresses is a book to show the journey of a group of friends that are struggling through the young and later years of adulthood.

Although Girls in White Dresses is written in third person, it is based on the all around main character, Isabella. Isabella is a girl who is having trouble finding love, a decent job, and is trying to get through the countless numbers of weddings and bridal showers that seem to be happening Saturday after Saturday. Isabella and her friends, Mary and Lauren, are the characters that you feel you’ve known forever, and they trek through the struggles and the unexpected joys of modern life, together. Girls in White Dresses is a positive read that will surely lift your mood up by the pages, and will make you laugh continually.

Now, onto the what the book is really about. This book really tells the story of Isabella, Mary, and Lauren grappling with heartbreak and career change, family pressure and new love--all while suffering through an endless round of weddings and bridal showers. Isabella, Mary, and Lauren feel like everyone they know is getting married. They collect the ribbons to tie to the plate, eat miniscule sandwiches and doll sized cakes, they wear pastel dresses and drink champagne by the case. But amid the celebration, these woman have their own lives to deal and contend with: Isabella works at the mailing-list company, and claims that she will quit one day, Mary finally finds a nice guy who loves his mother, but might never love her as much, and Lauren is having trouble with resisting the sleazy bartender at the restaurant she is a waitress.

With a wry sense of humour, Jennifer Close brings us through those thrilling and bewildering years of early adulthood, where really no one has a clue what they are going to do with their life. These are the years where everyone else seems to have a plan, a great job, and an appropriate boyfriend, but Isabella goes on blind dates with people who will never be interested with her, Mary has a what she believes a crush on her boss, and Lauren has a goldfish named Willard from a guy she might not even like that much. Through boozy and judgy family holidays, disastrous ski vacations, relationships that are lost to someone else, and relationships that are found in pet stores; Girls in White Dresses pulls us perfectly into the circle of friendship of Isabella, Mary, and Lauren and captures the wild frustrations and joys of their lives through those troubling years of adulthood and finally having to grow up.

Personally, I enjoyed this book very much and would give it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. It was serious at points, but the author knew when to add in the humorous moments to lighten the mood. During the process of reading this book, I felt many different emotions, it was like a rollercoaster ride. I went from feeling gleeful, to intrigued, and then to disappointment, but it was an amazing experience. All in all, this book really showed you that with friends, you can make it through life’s difficulties, no matter how hard it gets. But, if you read this book, and enjoy it, you will probably like novels or stories that are carefree. What I mean by that is, you will like books that show the simplicities of life, and “girly” stories that aren’t too serious. I also liked that this book had flashbacks, and would reflect back on each persons life meaningfully. Anyways, if you are a fun-loving, humorous person, you will absolutely adore this novel by Jennifer Close.