The Women in Black
Madeleine St. John
1 ratings • 1 reviews
The Women in Black
Madeleine St. John
1 ratings • 1 reviews
Sydney in the late 1950s. On the second floor of the famous F.G. Goode department store, in Ladies' Cocktail Frocks, the women in black are girding themselves for the Christmas rush. Lisa is the new Sales Assistant (Temporary). Across the floor and beyond the arch, she is about to meet the glamorous Continental refugee, Magda, guardian of the rose-pink cave of Model Gowns. With the lightest touch and the most tender of comic instincts, Madeleine St. John conjures a vanished summer of innocence. The Women in Black is a classic.
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A sort-of character study of a group of women in the late 1950s who work in a department store in Sydney; they have normal lives with normal events over 6-8 weeks.
THIS BOOK WAS SO BORING! If it'd been more than the 141 pages, I'd have DNF'd. But I kept hoping it'd get better/actually have plot? And I didn't want to be the only one not finished for my book club, though ultimately 2/4 didn't finish!
-we follow these random women, seeing glimpses into their lives; one has a row with her stupid husband, gets pregnant; one is looking for love and finds it; one is just coming of age and blooming... but there's not any real plot, nor great wisdom or commentary on these topics
-was written/published 1994 and set in the 50s, so the language wasn't great, leaned sexist and old fashioned and annoyed me
-was barely amusing, not the 'comic masterpiece' as the back of the book claims
-I've thankfully already forgotten most of it
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