The Woman in the Movie Star Dress

Hollywood isn’t just about movies. It’s about the glamour and the gossip, of fancy clothes and A-list parties. It also entails aspiring artists and crushed dreams, and scandalous lives marred with drugs, alcohol, and a dissatisfactory life. All this and more has been perfectly captured in the title The Woman In The Movie Star Dress by Praveen Asthana.

Genevieve has always found movies fascinating, in how closely the stars and the plot capture human emotions. She compares every man she dates with her Hollywood heartthrobs, such as Marlon Brando and Montogomery Clift. A small-town girl with big dreams, she works in a vintage Hollywood clothing store. Genevieve believes that each dress carries some part of the wearer’s personality, termed its ‘chi;’ hence takes a chance at a glamorous dress worn by Ava Gardner for a night out. Multiple trials later, she figures out that, indeed, the dresses do transform her into one of her Hollywood divas, but, at the same time, she becomes overpowered by their questionable traits. Questioning the morality of selling a dress of an ex-murderer to a woman, Genevieve goes on a search to right her wrongs, and even those of her past.

Mr. Asthana has done an excellent job on every aspect of the novel. The abundant references of Old Hollywood, from the movie plots to the scandals of Marilyn Monroe, clearly show how much effort he has put in his work. The character development is also commendable, with Renzo, Todd, and Cameron getting equal weight in the novel. The central character, Genevieve, has been penned with such brilliance that the reader actually empathizes with her, not only as a girl plagued by her choices, but also as the only sane person in her household. The novel is a cross between supernatural and thriller genre, the mystery making it a page-turner. Highly recommended.