Customer Reviews

Sima's Undergarments for Women

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Sima's Undergarments for Women, Sima Goldner is a 65 year old woman, who runs a lingerie shop out of the basement of her Brooklyn home, which she shares with her husband, Lev of 46 years.

(Chapter 1- first paragraph......

"SIMA SURPRISED HERSELF BY BLUSHING AT THE ROUND perfection of the young woman's breasts. For thirty-five years, after all, breasts had been her business: she knew the slight curve of the preteen breast, its nipple rigid when unveiled in the cool air of her basement shop; the aching breasts of pregnant women, skin shiny and striped from stretch; the parchment breasts of the elderly, liver-spotted, soft with down; she knew breasts with pink nipples, olive nipples, brown nipples; nipples pushed in and pulled out, tiny as dimes, large as the ringed stain of a coffee cup; she knew heavy breasts on thin women and thin breasts on heavy women; breasts 28A, 52K, and breasts with a cup size between them. She even and of course knew the knotted red scar of the breast that was no longer there, the twisting keloid marker of what science had stolen away".

Sima teaches women to appreciate their bodies, even though her own body has disappinted her. Childless, Sima is saddened by the fact that she was never able to have a child. One day Timna, a beautiful Israeli woman wanders into Sima's shop in the Jewish Orthodox neighborhood. Sima becomes fascinated with this lovely woman. Timna is just out of the Army, and here without a visa, while waiting for her boyfriend to get out of the Army. When Timna learns that Sima is looking to hire a seamstress for the shop, she convinces Sima to hire her. Timna is like a breath of fresh air; she brings new life to the shop.

Sima quickly seems to become obsessed with the young, beautiful Timna, and through her she is forced to think about the regrets she's faced in her own life. A non-observant Jewish woman, who feels shame about her own infertility, she reassesses her life, her marriage and how to spend the remaining years she has left.

(p310)..."How many others like her, she thought, how many others lonely within their walls? And then one day realizing that every room has a door, and opening it".

A beautiful story, filled with colorful and sometimes flawed characters, it is much more than a story about an underwear shop. It is a story about love, loss, regrets and finally acceptance. I'm so glad I decided to read this endearing story. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This is a book that I didn't want to end. I found myself trying to slow it down, taking breaks so as not to finish it in one sitting, and then finally giving in and staying up late into the night, sometimes so caught up that I would read two sentences at once. Other times, I would reread a sentence several times marveling at the beautiful detailed imagery.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this novel. Having read the synopsis in advance, I thought I knew what to expect. But it was so much richer than the frame story would suggest. It's one of those books where the author does not rely on major plot twists to make things happen, yet everything changes dramatically, in a gradual and subtle way. The way Sima lived for decades was no longer possible anymore once she let desire into her life.

I especially liked the way the story unfolded, the past and the present interwoven. And in the end, not everything is revealed. I liked that too. For me it means the story doesn't quite end. I can continue to think about the characters I got to know so intimately.

I was moved by this wonderfully written novel. The character of Sima is so rich - flawed but true - and her story unfolds with so much depth and emotion. Themes of motherhood, longing, regret and desire interweave beautifully - and in such a unique setting.

The writer crafts her story - her sentences even - with such lyrical and evocative language, it's truly a delight to read.

This really is a gem of a book!

In Sima's Undergarments for Women, author Ilana Stanger-Ross tells a unique story about a little shop in Brooklyn, which catered to the undergarment needs of the local women. Without advertising, Sima ran a successful business totally by word-of-mouth in the little community.

Everything changed when Timna entered the shop. The beautiful - no, perfect-looking - Israeli woman bought her lingerie and came back because Sima had mentioned needing a seamstress. With her flair and style, Timna changed the little shop and, in doing so, changed Sima's world.

Throughout the book, the reader also learned about the 65-year-old Sima's horribly failed attempts at conceiving a child in her youth. The story is heartbreaking, and will resonate with a lot of women. Perhaps this is why Sima was so taken with the young Timna, a woman that Sima felt needed mothering.

Sima's Undergarments for Women is an excellent, well-written story about a little shop in Brooklyn, about a woman and her best friend, a woman and her husband and how they've grown apart over the years, about a woman and her slightly unhealthy need to take care of her seamstress and, above all, about a little neighborhood. While I found Sima's interest in Timna slightly creepy, I still think that this is a great book for someone who's just looking for a story - no romance, no mystery, no history, just a good book.

There must be something about this book I'm not getting, because I don't agree with the rave reviews here.

As others have noted, this is a book about a middle-aged shop keeper named Sima who runs an "intimates" store for women in her close-knit Jewish community. One day a young Israeli seamstress named Timna walks through the door and Sima's life radically changes because of Timna's daily presence.

First of all, at the heart of this book is a very emotional story about Sima's life-long struggle with infertility and a stale marriage that sort of feel apart because of the inability to have a child. The book covers the experience in detail, and it is well-written, but I think unless you have some experience with the struggle to conceive children, Sima won't be a relatable character. I can't speak from that point of view and I'm wondering if that's why I never "connected" with Sima. I sympathized very strongly with her, but to me, her infertility could not excuse her very odd behavior throughout the book.

Second of all- Timna is supposed to be a ray of sunshine, but she's really just a one-note character. I've read many books where a secondary character comes in and CHANGES lives, but Timna doesn't do anything extraordinary. In fact, she's really just an average young 20-something who does average 20-something things- goes out with friends to clubs and bars, has on-again-off-again relationships with her boyfriend, struggles over whether to stay put or travel. There's no insightful "other-worldly" wisdom or serenity that comes from this woman at any point in the book.

I suppose Sima looks at Timna in two ways- as both the daughter she never had and a second chance at a life without infertility. But Sima is a very odd woman- she takes to stalking Timna for no apparent reason other than to monitor her daily life. Sima takes a little too much pleasure in describing Timna's body, and touching her. Sima agonizes over her every word and action around Timna. And Sima feels absolutely entitled to all her strange behavior. In this way, the book was exhausting. I'm a fairly liberal person, especially when it comes to fiction, and I don't tend to read into very close female relationships at sexual in most of what I read, but Sima's just fetishizes Timna in a very creepy way throughout a lot of the book.

It was very readable, and I did look forward to picking up the book every night and reading it, but overall, Sima made me want to reach through the pages and give her a good shake. Timna seemed vapid, and the entire book didn't really go anywhere. I don't really care what happens to either of these characters, which is *very* rare for me since I tend to get too emotionally invested in the books I read.

I guess, your mileage may vary on this one.

I felt like I was in the book, buying lingerie, spying on Sima and Timna. It was hard to like Sima because of all the anguish she created in her marriage. She redeems herself eventually with the help of a young Isreali girl who comes in looking for a job. The two women each fill roles that the other one needs in their lives. Loved hearing about the "underground" society of shopping in the neighborhood. I wish I knew women like this..:)

By all appearances, Sima Goldner has it all - a thriving business and a solid marriage, but she's missing the one thing she wanted the most - a child. When she didn't conceive early in her marriage to Lev, Sima went to a fertility specialist and discovered that her fallopian tubes were blocked because of a mistake she made as a sixteen year old. When a young Israeli, Timna, enters her life - first as a customer and then as an employee - things change for Sima. Sima is fascinated by Timna, almost to the point of obsession and comes to love her as if she were her daughter. While Timna is quite fond of Sima, and enjoys working at her lingerie shop, she doesn't feel the same way. Through all of their ups and downs, Sima and Timna teach each other a lot about life.

I really enjoyed Sima's Undergarments for Women. Ilana Stanger-Ross does a marvelous job of developing the characters in the book, particulary Sima. The characters are flawed, but believable - most of us have known people just like them. I could sympathize with Sima and I was so afraid she was going to get her heart broken. The characters learned a lot about love, friendship and life from each other and ultimately become better people for having known each other.

I love love love this book, I couldn't put it down! It's beautifully written, alternating the humor and the tragedy of lives lived. Stanger-Ross has crafted rich, genuine characters - I felt Sima's silent emotional struggle as though it were my own, while Timna felt like so many young women I have known.

Sima is a local wonder in her tiny basement lingerie shop, where "in a glance she could see their size, the back and the cup combined. '36-D,' she'd say ... In vain the women protested, 'but I'm a 34. I've always been.' [But] when on her advice they slipped back on their shirts to evaluate the shape a new bra gave, they inevitably agreed." Her loyal customers rely on her to fit them, their sisters and their daughters with the perfect underwear while at the same time hearing their joys and sorrows and providing meaningul advice. This role has been Sima's for so long that she has completely forgotten how to think about her own problems, her own needs -- until Timna arrives, a breath of fresh air for the shop and the daughter that Sima and her sad husband Lev never had.

Watching Timna explore New York and her own freedom and youth, Sima is forced to examine her own life and the secrets and shames she has held since adolescence - and ultimately to accept her husband and begin the task of rebuilding their love. With graceful, unselfconscious prose Stanger-Ross brings to life the hidden stories all around us. I give this book a rousing 5 stars -- read it and you'll want to share it with all the women in your life.

Ilana Stanger-Ross's first novel is a gem. The setting of a lingerie shop in the basement of a house in Boro Park, Brooklyn is realistically and lovingly evoked, and Stanger-Ross treats her characters as a benevolent parent, with an open heart and patient understanding they don't always exhibit toward themselves. This is a world in which family and friends and marriage matter, without apology or embarrassment, and yet it is not idealized either. Notably, the protagonist is a woman is her mid-60's, not beautiful or glamorous, but observant and receptive to the beauty and life around her. That receptivity ultimately allows her to put aside disappointment and re-inhabit her life.

This book goes so much further than the synopsis captures, though it is hard to say too much about that without spoilers. In the very beginning, it was hard to connect with Sima, but the narrative quickly reveals the depths of her pain and her tragedy. I though this would be a novel about friendship, but it isn't really- it is a story about love and loss and small decisions that have lasting consequences.

Stanger-Ross has created a moving tale of one woman's battle with infertility, and as Sima's story unfolds, my heart ached for her. This is sad book, a picture of how easy it is to withdraw from life and love, and how hard it is to ever make your way back. I highly recommend this book; four strong stars.