Rating: 
Summary: What's the Point?
Review: The Dress Lodger was a pathetic try at a book meant to make all of mankind question themselves. Instead of doing this; asking what we would have done without the stolen bodies and mistreated poor; the author digresses into frogs and evil secretaries and handsome prince charmings. This could have been the historical novel destined to rock the world of medical science. But it simply becomes a grocery store paperback with research to back it up.
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Summary: A Great Plot Buried By Frustrating Execution
Review: There's no denying the plot peeks your interest. It's the story of the novel that keeps you trudging through to the last pages to learn what happens to Justine, Audrey, Pink, Henry and the Eye. The problem lies in the narrative structure of the novel. Holman is clearly a talented writer; her descriptive abilities create a real world for these characters to populate. However, you can see the acrobatics of the writer at work. Often the reader is forced to step away from the action by Holman's decision to view the story from an unimportant character's perspective. It feels like we're being ripped away from the story to reflect on just how clever Holman can be. And are we really supposed to be impressed with the "narrator" of the story? The "revelation" does nothing to further or deepen the fiction; merely, we're asked by the writer to applaud her imagination. How frustrating that a story whose plot is so compelling, original and creative is kept from coming to life by the very writer who gives the story to us.
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Summary: This book has it all....
Review: .....from class struggle, to the dreaded Cholera Morbus, a strange invasion of frogs to body stealing in 19th century dark England. Sheri Holman knows how to draw you in to this story and keep you intrigued with it's main character Gustine, the strange Eye and of course, the doctor, always on a quest for new bodies for scientific research. A thrilling journey, you will not want to put this down.
Rating:
Summary: The Dress Lodger
Review: What a talented writer Sheri Holman is! Probably one of the best written books I've ever read. Holman transports her readers into the dark and depressing lives of our "Dress Lodger" Gustine, her trailing guard, "The Eye," and the "misunderstood" Dr. Chivers. I personally experienced many changes in emotions towards these characters as the story unfolded. Though the writing is fantastic, it is a rather sad and depressing story. But READ it! Excellent!
Rating:
Summary: The Dress Lodger
Review: This was a fantastic historical fiction! I could not put it down. The author was brilliant in her ability to take me to another place and time. I can't wait to read the next book!
Rating:
Summary: It falls apart
Review: The Dress Lodger, in the beginning, promises a wonderful literary adventure: the language, the nod to nineteenth century style, moral dilemnas of epic scope. However, the promise fails to fulfill. The author does not stay true to her characters, and the ending is far from satisfying. One gets the feeling the author just tired of the sadness that she portrays and let the characters dissolve into the worst of themselves, especially the doctor, whose moral dilemna becomes instead a descent into vileness. It is a shame, because the language is extraordinary. I would rather have seen some wider redemption for the doctor and the dress lodger. Chaos is never the best choice as an ending for a book, and it does not serve this story well either. Which was a great disappointment to me, because the first part of the book had me turning pages late into the night. I wish Ms. Holman had told us less of the Eye's history, less of the landlord's, and kept us focused on the doctor and the dress lodger, whose story this is. Too many people die in the end to make this initially well-crafted book work. In addition, her medical facts need some checking. Contagion as a cause of disease was not well-known until Lister, in the mid-nineteenth century. The modern notion of infection misplaced in historical context ruined the book for me. She would have done well to let us wallow in the medical misconceptions of the time--it would have made us feel their dilemna more acutely. It pains me to write this review since the book started out so beautifully. And, if pressed, I might reccomend it for the first part alone. But the end fails, and in that failure, I was sadly disappointed.
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Summary: History and horror are a great mix
Review: Welcome to Sunderland, England. It's 1831. Rats are everywhere. Frogs are invading from the filthy river. A cholera epidemic is killing the poor. It's a great time to be alive. OK, not really. But it is the setting Sheri Holman chose for her wonderful new novel, "The Dress Lodger," a historical thriller that isn't afraid to horrify. Think of it as Dickens with a touch of Stephen King. Cholera is killing the poor of Sunderland, a city placed under a economically crippling quarantine. Henry Chiver, a doctor whose reputation was almost destroyed by a grave-robbing scandal, struggles to understand the epidemic, but his work is stymied by the superstitious townspeople. The other principal character, Gustine, offers to help Chiver find the corpses needed for his medical research. Gustine is a factory worker by day, but, at night, slips on a blue dress and sells her body to rich men. She also is the mother of a remarkable baby born with an exposed heart. Gustine's relationship with Chiver is strained by the doctor's growing fascination with the baby. An ominous chorus narrates the story. The identity of the chorus is ultimately revealed, adding to the novel's haunting atmosphere. The book also teems with beautifully written sequences that are shocking, amusing and moving. A 6-year-old girl emulates her only positive role model: a ferret. A cruel, cyclopean hag melts at the sight of Gustine's baby. "The Dress Lodger" is about science and commerce, rich and poor, and the sacrifices made in the name of progress. Holman writes in a modern voice that make the issues examined in "The Dress Lodger" seem relevant today, which is exactly what they are.
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Summary: Disappointing to say the least
Review: I've had such great luck getting book recommendations from Amazon based on previous books that I've purchased (The Reader, The Mark of An Angel, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Girl with a Pearl Earring) I thought that I couldn't lose with this recommend. How wrong I was.I found this book unengrossing, slow and tedious. The story just drags. I wanted to scream GET ON WITH IT. I didn't care about Gustine, the Eye, Pink or Henry. Why would I? These characters were completely undeveloped. Similar to some of Anne Rice's books in which Anne goes on forever with some historical description (but interestingly, I might add) the author of this book puts the reader to sleep with her writing. Help! I need a really great book after this one. But on a positive note, I guess four out of five ain't bad. Thanks for the mostly wonderful suggestions, Amazon.
Rating: 
Summary: Compellling - and grisly - page turner
Review: Here's what I really enjoyed about "The Dress Lodger": the complex lead characters -- the depth of detail about everyday life (the past is a foreign country, as Holman well knows) -- and most of all, the plot mechanisms that kept me reading well into the night. Holman's best skill, I think, is plotting - slowly revealing or building relationships between characters and crafting the story so that the narrative seems funny and tragic and inexorable and startling all at the same time. But I didn't like: the cartoonish secondary characters (Audrey, Pink, etc.) - Dickinsian in that they existed only to manipulate the reader's emotions -- and the cloying, psuedo-19th century narrative voice (we find out more about that later on, doesn't make it any less annoying). -- also the author's treatment of some of the more grim subject matter [such as grave robbery and (detailed) autopsies and also child abuse and the pain that lingers on from childhood trauma and grief over lost loved ones, etc] stuck me as a little bit - I don't know - graphic. The author seems to savor every nasty scene, to dwell on pain a few seconds longer than is necessary. I've read much darker, grislier novels - that sort of thing rarely bothers me - but something about this telling seemed just too delighted about it all. If you read to the end, you'll find out a possible reason WHY the narrative voice seems to feed upon the suffering of the characters. But it doesn't make it any less distasteful. Overall, though, this is a well-plotted book by a strong writer that delves the reader into the past as few books can. I bought it in hardcover and, after reading it, wish I'd waited for the paperback - but this is without question worth a trip to the library.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Engrossing
Review: I read Sheri Holman's The Dress Lodger from start to finish all in one sitting. I could NOT go to bed until I had finished, it was that good. It was a true, rare page-turner which at the same time was intelligent, shocking, informative and thought-provoking. If you're interested in mysteries, or history, or just plain good books, you will love this one.
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