The Dress Lodger

Rating:
Summary: A book that stretches the traditional boundaries of writing
Review: Dark and dingy though it may be, Sheri Holman's _The Dress Lodger_ completely changed the way I read and view novels. Inventive and well-crafted, it paints the gritty images of 1831 Sunderland with haunting accuracy and a voice that is neither modern or period - which, considering who performs the narrative in the story - revealed late in the book - could not be more perfect. This is also the first novel I ever read besides those Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books where you're sucked into the story by actually being personified as a character. You're not yourself, either - you're Fos, a matchstick painter whose tragic story gets overlooked in place of Gustine's. The narrative speaks to you, drawing you into the story with such gripping originality that it's nearly impossible not to be affected by it. Holman's narrative description and dialogue are also brilliant, creating very clear and definite pictures in the mind.

But besides the dark, surreal, but beautifully gritty narrative, the characters are what makes Holman's novel so special. From the very beginning I was prejudiced against Gustine, having a preconceived idea of what her character would be like, simply because she was a 15-year-old prostitute with a young son. I was prejudiced against Miss Audrey, simply because she was a wealthy young woman trying to do charity work in a harsh world that wanted nothing to do with her. From the very beginning, I was intrigued by the character of Henry, and felt that he would remain my favorite through the rest of the book. However, in a demonstration of Holman's genius, I went from loving Henry to hating him - without Holman ever -changing- anything about him. I went from being wary of Gustine and Audrey to caring deeply for them.

All of the supporting characters - Henry's uncle, Pink, Fos, the Eye, Whilky - are extremely well fleshed-out and all have their histories and quirks that make the book so real. _The Dress Lodger_ has also been heavily researched and based in historical fact. By the time you finish, it's almost impossible to tell which characters were fictional and which were actual people - because several of them, scattered throughout, really existed.

Possibly the greatest part of _The Dress Lodger_ is its intense and fast-paced climax, as well as the action leading up to it. Never have I read a book that plays over in my mind with the same intensity as a film. I -saw- these characters. I -heard- them. I -felt- their panic and their pain. Never have I read a book with so many unexpected yet bitterly realistic twists of fate. All of this is aided by Holman's masterful prose - she has a way of telling that very few authors have, if any.

At first glance, _The Dress Lodger_ is a sweet historical novel about a young prostitute trying to save her deformed infant son in a time and place when medical science was gravely distrusted, particularly in the lower classes. But it is not sweet. It is not wholesome. It is not warm and fuzzy. It is a heart-wrenching tale of obsession, justice, madness, lust, things not being what they seem, and labors in vain.

Do not read this book if you aren't ready to be taken for a ride. Do not read this book if you aren't fully prepared to let go of all your reservations and be swept away. This is not an easy story to read.

Read this book if you're willing to let your life be changed by it. Read this book if you're sick of warm-and-fuzzy historical novels, if you want something that will hit you over the head, suck the marrow from your bones, and leave you saying, "My God, I've never read anything like that."

If you haven't guessed, I highly recommend it. But not to the faint of heart.

"The greater good? Good and evil are opposite points on a circle, Dr. Chiver. Greater good is just halfway back to bad." - Gustine.

Rating:
Summary: A Game Effort
Review: Sheri Holman's "The Dress Lodger" is a historical novel set in the port city of Sunderland in 1830s England. Amid a plague of frogs and the threat of a terrible cholera epidemic, a young girl named Gustine leads a precarious life as a potter by day and a prostitute by night. Desperate for money and anxious to save her sick baby, she has the misfortune to come across a young surgeon who has fled Edinburgh after his involvement with a pair of gentlemen named Burke and Hare. What follows is a turgid melodrama of body snatching, Chartism and revenge that is unsatisfying as a thriller for want of plot and disappointing as a more serious work of fiction.

Ms Holman does a fair job of conjuring up the terrible conditions under which the urban proleteriat lived during the Industrial Revolution, and she also has some interesting things to say about the moral dilemmas inherant in the medical research of the time and by implication of today as well. But in the end, "The Dress Lodger" is a disappointment. The authorial voice is an uncomfortable blend of modern prose and Victorian construction speckled with anachronisms and the odd incongruous Americanism, falling well short of the standards for historical pastiche set by the likes of Anthony Burgess and Umberto Eco. As for the larger themes, in his brilliant "An Instance of the Fingerpost," Iain Pears does a much better job of describing the strange world of pre-modern medicine, and when it comes to documenting the life of the urban poor, who can beat Charles Dickens in "Bleak House"?

Rating:
Summary: Ninteenth century society
Review: _The Dress Lodger_ takes place in Ninteenth-Century England. The story revolves around a fifteen-year old prostitute, Gustine, her baby, and old one-eyed woman, and a medical doctor, who is forced to grave rob in order to study anatomy.

Gustine has an unusual edge in her trade, her pimp and landlord owns a beautiful blue dress, that she wears on her nights in the streets in order to attract wealthier customers. All of ther money, from her night job as a prostitute, and her day job as a potter's assistan, goes directly to her baby, who has a rare and deformative illness. Her pimp wants to insure the safety of his dress investment, so Gustine is followed every night in her dealings by an old one-eyed woman, only known as "The Eye".

Henry, the medical doctor, is a well-to-do man, with a lovely and charitable fiancé, Audrey. He relies on Gustine to find bodies for him to use for his classes, and for personal research. Cholera strikes in the town, and Henry needs to study the illness and its victims in order to find out more about a cure.

Holman's writing was very descriptive, and I found that oftentimes the characters suffered from over-development. I almost knew too much about the characters, and became disgusted by them. Cholera plays an interesting role in the novel, almost a whole character. The book begins with "Cholera is coming" and much talk swarms about the disease. When it finally strikes, and takes many people in the poor districts, it continues to play a major role.

While I found the book to be well-written, I did lost interest in the story about 1/2 of the way. I know I am in the minority here, but I thought the second half of the book was weak. However, I plan to read more of Holman's books. I particularly like her style of historical fiction.

Rating:
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.

Rating:
Summary: A masterful, haunting narrative
Review: The book has a rare, marvellous, even poetic style. It is extremely well crafted and constructed literature, and I can't wait for her next book.

The author masterfully re-creates England of the early last century, from the extreme poverty to the classist attitudes of the poor--something most period-pieces forget--as well as the rich. We are caught in a world of whores, disease, grave-robbers, and ladies. The author does not judge or euphemize: she simply re-creates and recounts. As a result, every detail of the book takes on a glowing vividness.

By far, the best aspect of the book is its narrative. One aspect that pleased me was the author's way of bringing us close to the characters and events and then distancing us at crucial moments, making the events seem hauntingly real. As such, the book has a sort of tension and a feeling of uneasiness that keept me reading anxiously, even in the happiest moments. It is in the book's masterful control of the plot, characters, and even of the reader--particularly in the second-to-last chapter--that you know that you are in the presence of someone who will become a great writer.

The Lodger is divided into two halves. In the first, we learn essentially not to judge a book by its cover; in the second, we learn that you cannot change what you are. These themes exist programmatically as well - in the first, the plot lures you into false conceptions about itself and in the second, the plot plays with the idea of a "historical novel" by leading you into several possible outcomes. Thankfully, though the author is aware of narratological and generic aspects, she does not use them as cheap gimmics, nor does she give them full keel. The author seems to know as much about controlling the author as about controlling the plot.

The one unpleasant aspect of the book is/are the narrators. Most of the work is written in a simple, third-person narrative, but there are occasional intrusions by first-person-plural narrators. These latter narrators exist in the past as well as in the present and detract from the period-authenticity of the book. These narrators feel free to mix contemporary and modern slang and use British together with American orthography (+neighbour+ and +jail+, respectively). Even when I understood their narratological function, I found they jerked me around too much. Then again, I am an editor and tend to be somewhat anal. There are also a few small things that were left unanswered, for example, did Dr. Clanny recognise Gustine as the body snatcher?

On the whole, the book is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and compelling historical novel!
Review: Sheri Holman has given us a fascinating study of the weakness of the human heart with this fascinating novel. Set in cholera stricken England, The Dress Lodger is an interesting and engaging tale of Gustine, a young woman forced to be a "dress lodger," who, in exchange for rent and the care of her frail, newborn child, wears an expensive dress and acts as an escort of sorts. She meets Henry Chiver, a doctor running from his past, and hopes that he may help her sick child. However, Chiver has his own agenda, first seeking dead bodies as his salvation, and then the live one of Gustine's son. There are various enthralling moments in this novel. The Dress Lodger is an excellent work of historical fiction filled with believable and heartbreaking characters. The story is wonderful and compelling -- full of twists and turns, minus the saccharine language that accompanies most historical novels. Highly recommended...

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing tale of desperation and death
Review: I've recently embarked on a historical novel kick -- a satisfying read with the added bonus of learning a little chunk of history, what could be better? I came across Sheri Holman's novel on the "paperback favorites" table when I was browsing in a local bookstore. It looked intriguing, so I thought that I'd give it a try. The book is about a 19th century cholera epidemic in an English town, and features Gustine, a poor girl with a very ill child who works as a potter's assistant by day and a prostitute by night -- she is provided with a fancy blue dress to attract higher-end clientele (hence the title). Also featured is Henry Chivers, a young doctor who is trying to escape a grisly past. It's really the secondary characters that make the book though -- Eye, the old woman who follows Gustine around to make sure she doesn't abscond with the dress; Pink, the daughter of Gustine's conspiracy-theory crazed landlord who is desperate for a little love; and Mike, the landlord's prize ferret, treasured above all, and much above Pink.

The novel is not a cheery one; death lurks around every corner and loathesome characters abound. Even each of the main characters is deeply flawed in some way, and the reader is left without anyone to truly cheer for. Dr. Chivers, especially, is hardly the hero the reader might have initially expected him to be. Holman employs an interesting technique to tidly wrap up the plot, leaving open the possiblity that it _doesn't_ get tidly wrapped up. She is a gifted writer; the novel is darkly humorous at times, and very well researched. Also recommended is The Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss, which I've also read and reviewed on amazon.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and Dingy
Review: Sheri Holman has crafted a wonderful poetic book for the truly pessimistic in The Dress Lodger. Gustine the 15 year old heroine of our tale lives in England in the 19th century during a cholera outbreak. She works as a potter's assistant during the day lifting 60 pound slabs of clay, at night she wears an elegant blue dress and sells herself to anyone handy. Always watching her is "The Eye" a ghoulish old woman whose duty is to see that Gustine doesn't make off with her earnings or the dress. Gustine is willing to sacrifice herself for a life for her baby. She hopes that Dr. Henry Chiver, a doctor she met while doing her rounds will be able to save her child.

Ms Holman is skilled with words and in parts of the tale you can feel and see the dreary English tenements. She has Charles Dickens like characters which are varied and interesting. Holman has an annoying (or at least I find it so) tendency for the modern narrator to but in and overtake the telling of the story. It makes it choppy and detracts from the story. It is not a device that is interesting or entertaining.

The story is so overwhelmingly pessimistic, that I forced myself to finish the book. I couldn't quite get past Gustine's age. For readers who want to find something redeeming and positive in a book, avoid it. For those who can withstand such a negative assault in lieu of poetic story-telling and fantastic imagery and characterization I can wholly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Grave robbery to advance medical science. Good story.
Review: This historical novel is set in 1831 in England and the voice reminds me a bit of Dickens, especially in the use of a narrator addressing "dear reader". However, it is written through modern eyes inasmuch as it describes the horrors of the industrial revolution, the cholera epidemic and the medical conditions of the time.

I was swept into the story and the deeply developed main characters and found I understood each one of their internal conflicts. This was a time of great poverty contrasted with great wealth. The poor labored under inhumane conditions. And the art of medical science depended upon cadavers to study. Hence, the doctors were turned into grave robbers, sometimes employing murderers to bring them bodies with no questions asked.

Lodging houses were awful places where people slept 30 to a room on beds of straw. Gustine is one of the lodgers. She is 15 years old and labors all day in a pottery factory. Later, she comes home and puts on a rented blue dress and goes on to the streets to sell her body in the world's oldest profession. Another lodger, an ancient old crone, is employed to shadow Gustine's every step, to make sure she doesn't run off with the dress. Dr. Henry Chiver is questing for knowledge of the human body that will ultimately serve humanity. When he meets Gustine, the plot thickens as she helps him in his quest. She doesn't want money from him though. She has something else on her mind.

There are many other characters too, all drawn with the expertise of a writer who really knows her craft. There are the other lodgers, the fiance of the doctor, the woman who runs the local pawnshop which doubles as a morgue, the patrons of a bar called Labour in Vain. We get to experience the filth and the rats and the frogs and the disease. This is not a comfortable book to read as this is all described in excruciating detail.

And yet the story moved along with lightning speed and often surprised me as something new seemed to happen on every page to change my perceptions of the characters. But yet there was not a wasted word. The book wasn't perfect of course. It certainly was very morbid. And the maudlin ending was definitely contrived. But yet, it was good read.

Rating:
Summary: Book of the Year, absolutely amazing!!
Review: Another nomination for "book of the year" falls to this indefatigably entertaining historical fictional novel, _The Dress Lodger_. The novel touches on so many fascinating subjects, it is practically stunning in it's content alone.

There are going to be many readers perhaps unfamiliar with what a "dress lodger" is. The concept is based primarily on capitalization of the poor, and in more basic terminology, it occurs when an amoral, despicable landlord (who also rents to borders) negotiates payment for rental fees in the form of prostitution. In the bargain, he invests in an eye-catching, expensive high society gown that beckons richer clients and higher prices, places it on a wisp of a very young child/woman, and revels in the profits. It is best to take advantage of a very young lady, one in the most dire straits, such as our protagonist, Gustine (not Justine). Gustine is forced to accept no other option but to do this pimp's bidding. Not unexpectantly, she becomes pregnant in the normal course of her "job" and gives birth to a beautifully defected child afflicted with ectopia cordis, also known as a heart misplaced to the outside of the thorax, and literally visible to the world. Noticed immediately as a baby destined to die at any moment, the landlord suffers this inconvenience and sticks his 8 year old mentally handicapped kid as it's main caretaker. (You can see the train wreck coming...)

Overseeing all the the chaos is the bizarre old one eye woman that exchanges the favor of board and care for body guarding the prostitute. This is an assignment she takes quite seriously, and never, ever allows this young charge to leave her sights. Everything the young woman does is observed, (yes, everything) and it is all done to protect what is important.......the life of the dress. Once home, the dress is groomed diligently and restored prominently in the front room as a reminder to Gustine that after she is home from her miserable pottery assistant's job, she has one more job to fulfill.

The year is 1831, in England, and historically relevant for the cholera epidemic that struck and arrived in Sunderland, England. Medical Information was primary at best and generally distrusted and ignored by the population. The government correctly instituted quarantines, but these were largely violated and unsupported by most of the neighboring towns, cities,and especially rejected by the buisnesses that met the basic needs of these neighboring areas. When coupled with the need for furthur medical investigation and infection studies it was a most difficult period in human history.

The medical community required studies of the disease processes, and this in layman's terms meant they needed the bodies of dead people suspected of dying from not only cholera but other diseases as well. Because cholera was wiping out entire towns, it was imperative that the focus be on this disease entitiy. There was no other way to determine how the disease was spread, and to differentiate it from other diseases unless the doctors performed anatomical post mortem exams. Unfortunately, the general population, especially the poor, seriously mistrusted all physicians and suspected them of stealing their bodies for their demonic curiosities. This was the gravest of sins (no pun intended). The government was trying to furthur the work of physicians, as it understood the necessity of post mortem study and was short of passing the Anatomy Act, which would allow the doctors to obtain corpses legally. The rumor of this Act alone, generated rage amongst the poor, certain that they would be the bodies targeted and subjected to all sorts of disgusting experiments. Of these social complexites comes Dr. Henry Chiver, a very progressive, dynamic physician with an intense interest in cardiology. He, amongst other physicians became embroiled in a conspiracy to obtain cadavers in the infamous case of anatomist Hare and Burke who were socially indicted for murdur and grave/body snatching. Unfortunately, the conspiracy was involved in a despicable scam to murder poor and underpriviledged people which became exposed and caused the virtual lynching of the doctors involved. Dr. Chivers escaped, but with a load of remorse and internal conflict for which he ultimately paid dearly for. Despite the risk, he continues to need the necessary subjects..he must have bodies to study the human heart and with his desire comes the possible answer to saving the critically ill infant of Gustine. With such a promise, Gustine meets Dr. Chivers, and each use each other to meet their requirements. Gustine invests all her hope, and assists her doctor to obtain his necessary subjects.

And, so, Dr. Chivers and Gustine and becomes complicated by attraction and need. When Dr. Chivers discovers she has a son suffering with ectopia cordis the situation and relationship changes dramatically. The events become climatic as the cholera plague envelopes the city and the poor take to the streets in a rage against medical advancement.