Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: "The Weddign Dress" by Virginia Ellis deals with three sisters from the South, who had to deal with their losses, after the Civil War. When the war was over, Julia, Victoria and Claire had to get their lives back together as they had suffered tremendously and worst of all, without hope for their future. So, Julia, got together with her elder sister Victoria to make this wedding dress for Claire who felt that she did not have future or any prospects. Unlike her older sisters, Claire was young and unmarried. The wedding dress was their hope for future and Julia was determined to find someone for Claire despite the fact that the aftermath of war, such as poverty was lingering. This book is very slow, and the plot is very thin. I understand the author's intention of depicting the wedding dress as the hope for the sisters in an extremely bleak future. However, I find it hard to believe that after the war, with shortage of food, friends and neighbors losing their loved ones, that these problems did not seem to affect the Atwaters at all. There is definitely a bigger problem than what the author portrayed. I was disappointed that the author did not deal a whole lot with the aftermath of war and made the Atwaters seemed, at times, very vain and shallow. At the end of the book, you feel like you didn't get a whole lot out of the book and it is one of those books that you forgot you actually read before.
Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful Read
Review: Based on the jacket cover description, I purchased this book to take on a vacation... I read it in about 2 days! I was so pleased with the quality of the writing. Ms. Ellis is truly a talented writer who writes from the heart (she, herself, lost her husband in a war) and has the skill of keeping you so engrossed that you can't put the book down. When I returned from my vacation, I searched for other books by Ms. Ellis and was disappointed that there were no others at that time. I have recently, however, discovered "The Photograph", bought it immediately, and should have it finished in a couple of days! Keep up the outstanding quality, Ms. Ellis... I will keep buying!
Rating: 
Summary: tremendous work of historical fiction
Review: By 1865, the war is over, but Virginia still has to recover. Sisters Victoria and Julia Atwater mourn the losses of their husbands, Confederate soldiers who died fighting, but have little time to grieve as survival is a daily chore. However, their seventeen-year-old younger sister Claire is depressed because she has no future as there are no men to marry and no prospects of starting a new life. Julia persuades Victoria that they must find a way to make Claire dream again. They decide to make their sister a wedding dress though she has no suitor. Though they cannot afford the money wasted on so frivolous an activity, the sisters dive headfirst into the tasks. As they work on THE WEDDING DRESS, word spreads that Claire is marrying a returning soldier. The neighbors needing escape from the dismal aftereffects of the war join the three sisters as this event provides a bit of solace. THE WEDDING DRESS is a tremendous work of historical fiction that demonstrates the need for hope in the future even when the present is so dark that there looks like there is no tomorrow. The story line is cleverly written so that the audience feels the deepest emotions of the sisters struggling with their lot and the symbolism represented by the dress. The use of "ghost riders" though exciting and a metaphorical representation of the loss still seems an unnecessary diversion from the prime theme. Virginia Ellis provides a strong tale that is mindful of Viktor Frankel's classic Man's Search for Meaning as the community desperately needed something to live for. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Awesome read!
Review: In this amazing book, Ms. Ellis clearly shows the strength of women, even in the face of the enormous problems they must deal with in the aftermath of the Civil War. At times, the reader may wonder how the simple act of making a wedding dress could possibly improve the lives of these women, and in fact, it isn't the making of the dress that does it, but the determination and strength of character of the women themselves. The book includes a supernatural element that could have seemed intrusive, but instead blends in naturally with the plot and setting. Reading this book is like stepping back in time and getting to know the men and women who survived this dark chapter in American history, came through it, and managed not only to survive but eventually to florish.
Rating:
Summary: Just Okay (possible spoiler)
Review: It's a sweet and gentle story, but perhaps too sweet and gentle. I found it hard to get engaged in the book and in the end I really couldn't bring myself to care what happened to the three sisters. The girls remain sheltered in their plantation home and the book only skims the surface of the war, the Reconstruction, slavery, and all the other violate issues surrounding that era. It seems to have been written with very little passion, intent only on narrating day-to-day events. Even the one action scene over the horse's grave isn't very exciting.
The author explores several tangents only briefly (the ghostly soldiers, James's story, how the Atwater's parents died, their belief or non-belief of God) and when I finished the book, I felt unsettled, like there were too many issues still unresolved. When compared with other Civil War novels such as "Gone With the Wind," "The Wedding Dress" is rather pale and washed out (Ha! pardon the pun).
Rating:
Summary: A thought provoking read.
Review: Ms. Ellis has penned a powerful message regarding: "Give and you shall receive." Her unselfish depiction of love - for those living, and those lost, is the best I have read in recent times. Her writing is gentle, but it clearly reflects suffering and sacrifice, both external and internal. A sample of her strong and accurate writing is found on page seventy-five. I quote - "There's some of us that are young, and some like me, who only look young, ma'am. None who fought for three years can claim the former." If you ever have pictured yourself in the story you reading, you'll have no trouble getting right in the middle of this one. Several years ago, a table mate at a community dinner said he had never read a book written by a woman. My retort was that he had missed half the story. Re: THE WEDDING DRESS, men/women who don't read it will have missed the whole story. Any sensitive man will enjoy this novel as much as any woman. Probably more! It's my understanding that the film rights to THE WEDDING DRESS have been purchased by someone familiar to us all. My hope is that this story will soon be available for viewing in our neighborhood theater. This MAN can hardly wait. Great work, Ms. Ellis.
Rating:
Summary: A thought provoking read.
Review: Ms. Ellis has penned a powerful message regarding: "Give and you shall receive." Her unselfish depiction of love - for those living, and those lost, is the best I have read in recent times. Her writing is gentle, but it clearly reflects suffering and sacrifice, both external and internal. A sample of her strong and accurate writing is found on page seventy-five. I quote - "There's some of us that are young, and some like me, who only look young, ma'am. None who fought for three years can claim the former." If you ever have pictured yourself in the story you reading, you'll have no trouble getting right in the middle of this one. Several years ago, a table mate at a community dinner said he had never read a book written by a woman. My retort was that he had missed half the story. Re: THE WEDDING DRESS, men/women who don't read it will have missed the whole story. Any sensitive man will enjoy this novel as much as any woman. Probably more! It's my understanding that the film rights to THE WEDDING DRESS have been purchased by someone familiar to us all. My hope is that this story will soon be available for viewing in our neighborhood theater. This MAN can hardly wait. Great work, Ms. Ellis.
Rating:
Summary: A thought provoking read.
Review: Ms. Ellis has penned a powerful message regarding: "Give and you shall receive." Her unselfish depiction of love - for those living, and those lost, is the best I have read in recent times. Her writing is gentle, but it clearly reflects suffering and sacrifice, both external and internal. A sample of her strong and accurate writing is found on page seventy-five. I quote - "There's some of us that are young, and some like me, who only look young, ma'am. None who fought for three years can claim the former." If you ever have pictured yourself in the story you reading, you'll have no trouble getting right in the middle of this one. Several years ago, a table mate at a community dinner said he had never read a book written by a woman. My retort was that he had missed half the story. Re: THE WEDDING DRESS, men/women who don't read it will have missed the whole story. Any sensitive man will enjoy this novel as much as any woman. Probably more! It's my understanding that the film rights to THE WEDDING DRESS have been purchased by someone familiar to us all. My hope is that this story will soon be available for viewing in our neighborhood theater. This MAN can hardly wait. Great work, Ms. Ellis.
Rating:
Summary: The Wedding Dress
Review: One of the things that first impressed me about The Wedding Dress was the authenticity of the language for that time period. While reading, the visualization of the characters and their surroundings was so realistic that I felt as though I was a voyeur who had just stepped off of a time machine constructed by Virginia Ellis. Then, each time I would start to put the book down I could not because the author skillfully brought about another remarkable turn that kept me on the edge of my seat. This book's mixture of strength, pain, sentimentality, and humor delivered to me an experience of the war torn south that was fresh and new. In totality, I highly recommend The Wedding Dress because of its realistic portrayal of the strength of women who bond together. You will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical Historical Novel
Review: Reminiscent of a nineteenth-century journal, Ms. Ellis' tale of three sisters in 1865 Virginia is a nostalgic novel of war's devastation and triumphs. Young war widows Julia Atwater Lovejoy and Victoria Atwater Whitmore are determined to elevate the spirits of their seventeen-year-old sister Claire. They decide to spend their fall and winter days at Oak Creek Plantation piecing together a wedding dress for Claire with the hope that by spring, she will find a beau. The arrival of Sergeant Monroe Tacy, wartime friend of Julia's deceased husband, William, elevates the spirits of the elder Atwater women as they see in Monroe a potential husband for Claire or an escort to the women's Savannah cousins. But Monroe is more than the deliverer of a message from William as he helps the women of Oak Creek survive the winter with his hunting and repairing skills. As the approach of spring brings new surprises, the Atwater women prove that they are no simpering southern belles. This lyrical first person account of Julia's post Civil War life is enlightening of the emotional and physical repercussions of war without subduing the read with gory details.
Ghostly images give an ethereal quality to this novel highlighting the value of family and friendships, proving that love can survive even amidst the most difficult of circumstances.
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