Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Martha Aguas is living her best life. She travels, works in a job she enjoys, has the greatest best friend, and always does the most to help her family. But her peace is swiftly shattered when her cousin returns from London engaged with the only boy she’s ever loved. Suddenly, the family is all coming together for the big day, but for Martha, it’s slowly coming undone.
If The Dress Fits was brilliant, character-driven story. I have nothing but utmost love for this story, even with some little discrepancies. It was exciting and touching. Martha is very self-deprecating and depending on the person, you either love her or hate her. Max is a sweetheart and another fictional male lead you will desperately wish existed.
This story, at its core, promotes self-love. I see myself in Marta, struggling with my own weight, and facing comments from our similar south-east Asian background. Despite different cultures, the weight issue is very much the same. Martha meets some insulting comments from about appearance, and I really enjoyed that she didn’t take it. Sure, she makes a little comment about her own body, but it’s her own body, and it’s clear she loves herself despite what everyone else says.
Considering it’s quite short, the various plotlines we get seemed a little mashed together, so the fake dating that sounds like a massive part of the novel from the book’s description doesn’t happen until quite later on. I think we deserve a full-on Crazy, Rich Asian- style book of the Aguas family.
Family is an essential part of this story. Martha loves her family and will do anything for them. And I absolutely love the role her extended family played in this novel, but what bothered me was how quickly everyone seemed to brush off Regina’s comments and actions. She had previously bullied Martha in the past, and quite frankly, it was terrible to read. It is somewhat acknowledged, but I was indeed uncomfortable with the way her appalling behaviour is brushed off because the novel ends that that family-means-all kind of ending. This also applies to the rest of her family as well. And I wouldn’t consider this a proper criticism but for me, since I wouldn’t invalidate this experience just because it didn’t align with my feelings. But I just found it quite difficult to accept that whole “in the end, we’re family, and that’s all that matters,” when it came to the fat-shaming comments Regina and her family had made about her. But I did enjoy the family scenes, most aspects of her relationship with her family were very heart-warming, and I did appreciate the moments where they are honest with each other.
Overall, this is my second read from Carla, and I’m pretty sure she’s now an auto-buy author for me. If The Dress Fits was adorable and romantic.
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as told by zaheerah 