A Modista

4★A strange story indeed. Quirky characters in what appears to be a typical, very small, country town in Victoria. Tilly (Myrtle) has returned from The Big Wide World to take care of her mother, Mad Molly Dunnage. She arrives one night at the train station with her bags and Singer sewing machine, and the only character I liked, Sergeant Farrat, drives her home to the smelly house on The Hill by the tip.Tilly was bullied at school as a bastard and is snubbed by everyone now. Mum is all she has. [...]

After twenty years, Tilly Dunnage returns to Dungatar, the small Australian town she grew up in, to visit her ill mother. Returning brings up memories of her unhappy childhood and the tragic accident which resulted in her leaving Dungatar as a child. Trained as a dressmaker at the couture houses of Paris, Tilly's beautiful gowns entice the prim and judgemental women of Dungatar and she becomes grudgingly accepted, until another accident causes the townspeople to turn on her. The thing I disliked [...]

2.5 starsLoved the idea but not the execution it was hard to keep track of all the characters sometimes and they weren't portrayed in a flattering way. An air of prejudice and bitterness hangs over alot of the town and it made me want to shake the people there.The plot moved slowly but methodically it had its interesting points but most of the time it was blah. I don't mind slow moving books most times but this one was painfully slow. I did like Tilly but it was hard to understand her at times, [...]

What a delicious book! I loved the dark humour of this Australian novel. The characters in the small down of Dungatar are so awful that you just have to love them. I loved the writing, the links with fabric, fashion and sewing, and could picture it all in detail. I'm sure I read this with a permanent smile on my face and I didn't want it to end. Highly recommended.

The Dressmaker was undoubtedly the surprise of the year.From the blurb:A darkly satirical novel of love, revenge, and 1950s haute coutureMyrtle and Molly Dunnage were the outcasts in Dungatar, Australia. Paying for other people's sins were more like it, but the town did not find it difficult to make these two people the culprits of the town's many secrets, meanness and bigotry. Openly so. With no remorse of any kind.Myrtle returns from Europe with her special dressmaking talents and turns the wo [...]

2.5★sWhen Tilly Dunnage returned after twenty years to Dungatar, the small Australian town she used to call home, she knew she would be shunned by the same people who had banished her as a child. She needed to check on the welfare of her mother, and then she would leave again. Tilly had been trained as a dressmaker in Paris; her skill was second to none – but that would mean nothing to the bitter and vengeful women of the town.Tilly’s mother, Molly was in a dreadful state – demented and [...]

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، این داستانِ زیبا، در موردِ انتقام گرفتنِ زنی به نامِ <تیلی دانیچ>، از مردمِ پست و خاله زنک و دروغگویِ شهرِ کوچکی به نامِ دانگاتار میباشد البته فکر نمیکنم این کتاب ترجمهٔ فارسی داشته باشد‎تیلی دانیچ که در داستان هرزگاهی او را با نامِ <مرتل> نیز میشناسی [...]

The premise of this book is good; however, the novel involves too many characters and too many plots. Really struggled to get into this book at the beginning but did get better. Look forward to the movie.

An interesting book for sure. I was initially intrigued about it when I learned Kate Winslet and a Hemsworth were going to be in the film adaptation. But I really hope the film changes some aspects of the story because when I got to a certain plot point I wanted to throw the book across the room I was so upset! I love the idea of this awful little Australian town and all its oddball characters that Tilly returns to. But I struggled to follow all the characters and understand Tilly's motivations [...]

A gothic tale set in the Australian outback, the Dressmaker tells the story of Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage on how she came back to her old town of Dungatar after being cast out and how she carried out her revenge on the people who wronged her and her mother.For a short novel, this was a bit slow because of the descriptive writing style of Rosalie Ham. A lot of characters were involved in the story which made me lose track of the narration quite a few times but I got the hang of it as the storyline pr [...]

This book was chosen by a local book club I'm part of and had very mixed reviews from the group. Some really enjoyed, loving the quirkiness of the prose and the characters but some found the story a little dull. A complaint from a few was the plethora of additional characters, which I personally felt were almost part of the scenery adding layers to the feel of the storyboard. The third person narrative combined with the excessive amount of characters, at times, made the story lose focus for my p [...]

what a hoot! what a period piece! it's a slice of 1950s country town Australia. which makes it a slice of pavlova. you'll slap the laminex table in mirth. you'll settle back with a shandy in the banana lounge and chuckle your way through it. the descriptions of the gowns are divine! particularly one number that the author assures us "flattered her fridge like form". the humour may be lost on the foreigners, so proceed with caution if you're not from the antipodes

The cast was overwhelmingly large and, even having finished it, I'm still having a hard time getting everyone straight. Ms. Ham's attempt at memorable characters was a letdown and, instead, every person in this book was a complete caricature: there's the frumpy spinster, the highbrow mother-in-law, the crossdressing sheriff. By the end of the book, there's an odd veer into a town production of a Shakespeare play and a baffling moment when Tilly gets her revenge that left me scratching my head. W [...]

Wow, I love this book! It has so many things that I like about it, ie. it's an Australian story which beautifully evokes the central Victorian countryside in which it is set; it is a great yarn, it's imaginative, darkly funny, enthralling and just so darn satisfying; I highly recommend it to anyone whether you've seen the film or not. I read the book after seeing the film and am glad I did it in that order because inevitably changes must be made in bringing a book to the screen and while the fil [...]

I really did not enjoy this novel.I found the characters clichéd and one-dimensional; parodies of themselves. The prose was cringe-worthy at times and unremarkable at others. The references to 1950s Australian brands were nice for me as an Australian to recognise, but nothing more.Rosalie Ham appears to me, an un-fashion aware person, to know her stuff when it comes to dresses and dressmaking. Unfortunately, this does not translate to an enjoyable book.

Η Τίλη επιστρέφει μετα απο χρόνια στη γενέτειρα της για να φροντίσει τη μητέρα της. Οι κάτοικοι του χωριού δεν βλέπουν την επιστροφή της με "καλό" μάτι. Όταν εκείνη ράβει το νυφικό της Γερτρουδης, οι κύριες του χωριού, αρχίζουν να ανηφορίζουν το λόφο, ζητώντας της να τους αναν [...]

I admit it, I'm a sucker for a novel thats been noticed enough to be adapted into a movie. Most of the time I will read the book then see the film adaption to see where it differs. I decided to read The Dressmaker because I think Kate Winslet is a phenomenal actress; she usually picks very interesting roles to play hence why I thought this would be an ideal book to get my teeth sunk into. Unfortunately, it was an underwhelming experience.Myrtle, now known as Tilly, has returned to her small home [...]

I had to stop in the middle of this, partly because the story was unpleasant but mostly because it was confusing. Ham had too many characters, too many time lines, and too much insanity going on in the plot.Tilly, raised an outcast and abused by everyone, comes home to her Australian outback town, a successful dressmaker. Her mother, the town whore, has gone so crazy you wonder why no one's locked the old bat up in an asylum. Anything would be better than the filth she's living in now. Tilly daz [...]

It is rare, but sometimes one comes across a book, read it and then think: I wish I'd just watched the film.This might be one of the worst books I've actually finished reading. And I finished reading it because it is relatively short and I wanted to see if at any point it would get any better. It didn't.It was very chaotic. Both in plot and in style. The style seemed to vary within paragraphs and sometimes I got confused at the order of the narrative, it seemed totally illogical at places. It al [...]

This is a reread of this book for me as I had read it in 2000 when it first came out. After seeing the movie recently I realised that aside from a few details I couldn't remember anything about the book. I don't often feel this way but I think in this instance I enjoyed the movie more than I did the book. It may not have helped that I was probably influenced by the movie and kept picturing the actors who played the characters, whilst reading which is not always a good thing. I did enjoy Ham's wr [...]

A great book. I loved the dark humour and the descriptions of the mean spirited people of the small town. Beautifully written.

‘Travellers crossing the wheat-yellow plains to Dungatar would first notice a dark blot shimmering at the edge of the flatness.’Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage returns to Dungatar (a fictional small Australian town) after an absence of twenty years. Nothing much seems to have changed in the town – Tilly and her mother ‘Mad Molly’ are regarded as outcasts – but her mother is ill and Tilly stays to care for her. During her absence, Tilly trained as an expert dressmaker in Paris, and the gar [...]

Ενδιαφέρουσα ιστορία αλλά με αρκετά προβλήματαΓια αρχή, υπάρχουν πολλά ονόματα και χαρακτήρες που δύσκολα συγκρατείς. Η Ham στην προσπάθειά της να τονίσει την μικροπρέπεια και το κουτσομπολιό μιας μικρής επαρχιακής κοινωνίας,κάνει σχεδόν όλα τα πρόσωπα αντιπαθή έως αποκρ� [...]

Perfektní. Sice mi prvních pár stránek trvalo než jsem se začetla, ale potom to nabralo takovou energii a šmrc, že nešlo přestat. Na každou svini se vaří voda-skvěle vykreslené přisloví v celém příběhu. Určitě doporučuji, pecka! :-)

I didn't know what to make of this book at first. There was some slapstick falling face down in cream spunge kind of humour and then suddenly people were breathtakingly nasty. Just when you thought you knew where the story was going there was an unexpected turn. And then, bliss, sweet revenge.

What the actual?! Ok some one please explain to me what that was! I have an open mind, please explain. That was a disjointed gossip tale. It was a carcass without its soul. I don't know what happened. What curse? What banshee? What the?! Ok so Tilly was hated, no on liked her and then she burnt the town down. What in the world! This is a school book?! We should stop reading these so called classics and get with the times. Divergent has messages of belonging and sacrifice and bravery and friendsh [...]

Twenty years ago, following a tragic incident, Tilly Dunnage was sent away from Dungatar the small rural Australian village where she grew up. She spent the time wisely learning the art of couture dressmaking. Now, on the heels of another tragedy, she has returned home only to find that most things have not changed; the townsfolk still hate her, her mother has seemingly slipped further into senility and they are still considered the outcasts. But the one thing that is different? Tilly now has a [...]

I tried this book . . .I wanted to like it . . . but couldn't. WAY to many characters to follow . . . I felt like I needed to write them down and create some sort of diagram to follow to keep track of them. So many pointless references to body parts . . . I have never read so many references to scrotums and erect nipples . . . seriously seemed to have no point to the storyline . . . but granted I made it 1/3 of the way through the book and still hadn't found a plot. After reading a completely po [...]

You know, I didn't give this a favourably rating, but it's not because I didn't like it. It's rather, at the time when I read it, even though I read it as an English [not lit, but compulsory yr 11 reading list subject] book, I was a little disappointed. I suppose at the time I was still learning to separate two classes of books and further broaden my reading list. It was the year after I started really delving into YA too, so my mind was a little muddled about what I liked and didn't like about [...]

Loved the movie, as well!The DressmakerKate Winslet was captivating, as always.