Customer Reviews

The Art of Undressing

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story set in New York City begins as conservative twenty-something Ginger Levine moves back in with her uninhibited former exotic dancer mother, Coco. Though Coco is 43, Ginger finds men including her own boyfriend ogling over her mother. While Coco wears anything and everything that appears daring, sexy, and outrageous, Ginger goes to the opposite extreme, dressing plain and not sexy, and she doesn't like to reveal herself even to her boyfriend.

Ginger begins a new venture as she starts cooking school partly paid for by her uninvolved and unemotional father. Of course, she meets Tom in class and can't stop thinking about him, but the class ingénue has already claimed him. To make things more difficult for Ginger, the instructor verbally abuses her making her feel like a lousy student.

Coco no longer dances as she's old by dancer standards. She holds classes covering how to strip, dance, seduce, and generally feel good about being a woman. Ginger helps sell related wares at the end of class.

Her father's wife passes away and he asks Ginger to help with her things. She sees it as an opportunity to get to know her father and her 13-year-old step-sister. She learns a few things about her father and his other family during the process.

Women like Ginger hide their bodies and constantly doubt their looks, talents, or both. The characters in the story are diverse enough that a reader will connect to at least one of them.

Meanwhile, since Tom is dating another woman, Ginger gets to know a talented chef. This scenario ensures you don't figure out who she ends up with, if anyone. So it's not your typical, predictable chick lit. The only thing missing from the wonderful book is closure on the dead step-mother's journal. Lehmann includes humor, conflict, and warm-hearted moments in her easy-to-read and pleasurable story.

After finishing this third wonderful novel by Stephanie Lehmann, I've discovered a few things. First off, she is near the very top of my list of favorite writers. Second, there is a definite trend with her books. Not only do they all have daring titles that cloak true gems of the stories within the pages, but they feature main heroines that are flawed in some way, but are also seriously likeable.

In this third novel, "The Art of Undressing", we have Ginger Levine. She lives with her ex-exotic dancer mother (named Coco) in Manhattan, attends cooking school paid for by her wayward father, and has just broken up with her boyfriend Ian, who seemed more interested in her mother anyway. Ginger is the complete opposite of her beautiful, outspoken and feminine mother. She dresses much more plainly and is afraid to open up and be "sexy" around men. Ginger's main problem seems to be that she is overcompensating for her mother's outrageous activities. She feels that she is too plain and un-sexy for a man to like her, but she doesn't know what to do about it.

Not only that, but a guy she likes in her cooking class seems to be spoken for by a gorgeous girl, and the instructor Jean-Paul seems intent on making Ginger miserable enough to quit the class. Meanwhile there are issues to be dealt with at her father's house. Will Ginger give up on her cooking class, and men in general? Or will she realize the help she needed was right in front of her, all along, and that things aren't always what they seem to be?

I enormously enjoyed this novel. Lehmann has used her signature style of subtle humor, straight-forward storytelling and realistic characters to spin yet anther delightful and touching tale. She has a way of taking the most ordinary of characters and making them into someone that everyone can identify with on some level.

Overall, I very highly recommend this book!

On a plot level, this is the story of an insecure woman, Ginger, whose mother, Coco, has an overabundance of sexual confidence. A former stripper, Coco now teaches classes on how to be sexy. Ginger has to break up with one boyfriend who seems to be more into Coco than Ginger. Ginger is also a cooking student, and her teacher insults her abilities.

On a deeper level, this novel explores a lot of issues that are familiar to a lot of women: feeling uncomfortable in your own body, wondering if you're attractive enough, jealousy, faith in your talents. I walked away from it feeling as if I had learned something, about how you don't really need validation.

Also, the details are wonderful. Lehmann did her research on the sex industry, and it shows. The cooking school is also brought to loving life.

Recommended.

Yes, this book has a bright pink cover and it's a fun read. But Lehmann doesn't give in to the cliches of "chick lit." This novel is layered with psychological complexity, insight and humor.

It's a touching story about a young woman coming into her own -- with the twist that she has an exhibitionist mother who's made a living as a stripper, now sells sex toys, and teaches women how to be more comfortable with their sexuality. I loved Ginger, the main character, who doesn't want to compete with her mom and isn't even sure if she can. It's hilarious, but also so interesting, how the mother/daughter story is turned on its head, with a mom who wonders why her daughter doesn't want to be more of a sex object! I highly recommend this book.

I opened up this book and read the first sentence,"So you think I'm a whore!" My eyes lit up when I realized that this book was going to be nothing less than interesting. As I read from page to page I couldn't stop and would become annoyed when I had to put the book down. The novel tells the story of a girl named Ginger who is in a crummy relationship with a guy and she decides to move back in with her mother. Ginger's mom is a retired stripper who currently teaches striptease class and wishes her modest daughter would break out of her shell and be proud of the body she was born with. Ginger struggles with her insecurities, her vicious cooking instructor and a little thing called love. As if delicious food descriptions of food and alluring instruction about the art of striptease weren't enough, you can throw in an emotionless father, a hot love interest and a competitive female classmate. I laughed, I cringed at Ginger's embarrassing moments and I smiled. This book was wonderful and a must read for everyone.

I have to chime in with the majority and say that this was a great book. I like how she keeps the reader honestly guessing about who Ginger will end up with, and I also like the working-class aspect of this novel. Maybe I'm just a little weary of glamour-lit since I can't identify with expensive lifestyles.

The author really makes the reader identify with Ginger and her struggle about what it really means to be a woman, and she also makes you wonder if she's gonna sell out her feminist integrity by becoming a mere sex object. The ending was handled well and wasn't at all the cop-out I was secretly fearing.

The Art of Undressing had surprising depth, since the premise could easily turn flimsy and fluffy in the wrong hands. I'm looking forward to more of her work.

This is the third book of Stephanie's that I've read and once again I am thrilled. She has a gift of creating such vivid and fun characters. I enjoy her books so much, they just take me away from everything, I can't put them down. Keep writing Stephanie!

I enjoyed this book, it was funny and quirky. I thought the plot was well written and true to form. It seemed like the author did just enough research while blushing to write a main character that would blush appropriately in the right spots. I felt that the characters were well rounded and had enough believable characterization to float them the entire book.

Coco is a retired exotic dancer. She's now selling sex toys and teaching stripper classes. Her daughter, Ginger definitely has not emulated mom. She's in training to be a pastry chef. She disapproves and is a bit ashamed of her mother. Ginger's at the opposite end of the spectrum, straight-laced and well...sexually repressed. But when she discovers she's ill-equipped to entice the man she's after, she turns to dear old mom for some mother advice on the art of seduction. This book is a fast and fun read. It's a tad bit naughty...but just a tad.

Hot pink cover, provocative title, juicy opening line ("So you think I'm a whore!") - it's the perfect book to carry to the beach, right? Yes - and more. Our heroine is a complicated gal in the complicated world of life and love in NYC. Ginger is mortified by her ex-stripper mom's wild ways, but her own love life is paralyzed by self-consciousness and the rejection of all that is sexy. She also fumbles to define her own identity with her distant father and troubled pre-teen stepsister, with only her dear grandmother as solid support. We ache through Ginger's foibles, and we love her all the more for them. The near-loss of a nice Midwestern boy is just one part of her journey to integrating her practical, grounded nature with her own feminine allure - sneakers and high heels finally side-by-side in the closet, and her future as a pastry chef on the upswing.

Lehmann's playwright background is a gift to her fiction readers - snappy dialogue, and delightfully bold supporting character flourishes grounded in completely believable everyday challenges. Like one of Ginger's dessert concoctions, this novel is a confectionery delight: frothy consistency, glossy presentation and hearty ingredients. (But no extra calories you'll have to work off to fit in that new swimsuit!)