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The Funeral Dress (2013)

by Susan Gregg Gilmore(Favorite Author)

3.92 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0307886212 (ISBN13: 9780307886217)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Broadway Books

review 1: I have to admit that I was looking for a similar sweet story based on Gilmore's previous book, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen. What I found was a much more complicated book - addressing complex themes such as extreme white poverty in the Appalachian hills, teenage pregnancy, socio/economic class distinction, and social welfare. I won't lie to you, fellow reader, when I say that these themes make me feel sad and hopeless and I spent a better part of this book with tears streaming down my face. These characters and their stories (fictional in this story, but based on real life people) highlight several uncomfortable statements about our american society and I appreciate Gilmore's well written story involving these women's lives. I'm surprised this book didn't recei... moreve more acclaim as it is far better than several popular fiction books released at the same time. Overall, it was a nice "bittersweet" taste to balance my overly sweet beach reads summer. I gave it four stars only because it made me feel so sad and disjointed and I expect it's going to take several more neutrally themed books to raise me out of this funk.
review 2: I think what ruined this book for me is that Leona died early in the narrative. While Gilmore tries to salvage the story by flashing back to Leona's earlier life, the sadness of Leona's death prevailed. I would have rather read more about Leona and Emmalee's burgeoning friendship in those intervening three years (skipped over by the author) than one chapter in the present tense with Emmalee, one in the past with Leona. less

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