perfect dress.
The Women in Black, or now more commonly known as Ladies in Black, is an Australian novel. This story is set in 1950’s Sydney and focuses on the women who work in the Ladies Frock section of Goode’s department store. We primarily follow the lives of Patty: a woman who is in desperate need of a child and a sober husband, Fay: who wants to settle down and find the perfect partner for herself, Lisa: a young lady who has walked into a refined temporary job at Goodes and is awaiting the results of her leaving certificate and finally Magda: A Slovenian immigrant who rules the rose coloured model gowns section of the store. As the title suggests all female sales assistants must wear black dresses. Ladies in Black navigates the good and the bad for each woman and how not every dress is the perfect fit.
The history intertwined throughout this story is amazing! When I started
reading this novel I was opened up to a world of 1950’s fashion, opinions,
language and hobbies that I had never heard of before. This book taught me so much about how different everything was for women back then and how they were regarded when it came to their decision making. Without a doubt, I recommend The Women in Black for anyone wanting to learn about life in Sydney for not only women but men as well, the contrast between then and now is astonishing.
St John has a very interesting writing style, she uses metaphors and tropes to dive deeper into each character and did it so well that she forced me to hate some characters. Now I know hate is a strong word but hear me out, what I mean by this is that I feel as though St John wrote in Patty's husband (Frank) and Lisa's dad (Mr. Miles) in such a way that made it impossible for me to find any redeeming qualities within them. The way they
spoke and their actions throughout the novel especially to their family members continually frustrated me and that's what made me hate them so much. However, I could tell from the writing style that their pure purpose
in this story was to annoy the reader. And by doing this I remembered the characters long after I read the book. Their arrogance, rudeness, and pettiness stood out to me so much that I continuously recalled back to them. I’m not going to spoil anything but I am going to warn you that you will love to hate these characters!
If there was anything I did not like about this novel is that at some points in the story characters would have these massive conversations that would go on forever! I remember at one point Fay was talking to her friend Myra and Fay starts speaking and keeps going for at least 10-12 lines and I really feel as though those massive chunks of text broke the flow of the story and the conversation. In my opinion, it felt as if St John was trying to force a lot of character development by doing this and it was at some points frustrating to read because it was continuous talking and no break for the other person to speak. However, once I worked through these massive conversations the story began to flow just as it previously did.
Overall, The Women in Black is a fantastic novel that includes so much development and story about these 4 women and how each one of their lives intertwine at Goode's department store, a quick and easy read with love,
humour and life lessons.
Erin, Year 9
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