Sima’s Undergarments for Women unfolds like the relationship between two lovers; from the initial chance encounter to the giddy delights of flirtation and to the heartbreaking trauma of the final goodbye.
But Ilana Stanger-Ross’ debut novel is not your ordinary love story. It’s about the relationship between a woman in her mid-60s and an Israeli in her 20s.
And it’s set in a bra shop.
Sima Goldner owns a lingerie shop in the basement of the home she shares with her husband of 46 years, Lev. It is tucked deep in the Orthodox neighbourhood of Boro Park in Brooklyn, where mothers walk down the street with an army of children in tow.
Sometimes these mothers stop into the shop with their daughters to buy them their first bra, perhaps, or, when they’re older, underclothes for their wedding dress.
Sometimes they just drop by to gossip or exchange recipes.
That’s pretty much Sima’s life up to now, and she’s been running her business for so long, she can tell a woman’s bra size just with a casual glance. But something is missing. Her marriage is loveless and she has no children of her own.
But Sima’s life is transformed overnight when Timna, a beautiful young Israeli woman, walks into her store seemingly to buy underwear but is really looking for work. Seduced by her youth and charm, Sima makes Timna her new seamstress and assistant.
Sima admires Timna’s beauty and perfect body, wishing she admired her own body more when she was young. She envies everything about Timna, and we get the impression there is much regret in Sima’s life.
Sima quickly becomes enamoured of Timna. Her days at the shop become richer and more joyful. She loves to hear Timna talk about her boyfriend in Israel, Alon, and the way her face lights up when she mentions him.
Like a teenage girl smitten by a boy, Sima talks about Timna non-stop to her best friend, Connie. And like a jilted lover, she becomes possessive over her, frustrated that Timna consumes her whole world, while she is only a small piece of Timna’s life. Soon Sima starts to follow Timna after work to find out what she does outside the shop, and she also starts to interfere directly in her life.
The story, told in an easy, conversational style, segues nicely from the present to Sima’s past, and we learn that Sima underwent fertility tests shortly after her wedding to determine why she couldn’t have children.
Timna becomes the daughter Sima never could have. Like a mother, Sima worries about her all the time and always suspects the worst has happened to her.
The story is told from Sima’s point of view, and there is much about Timna we don’t know. And some of the things we do know are only conjecture and suspicion on Sima’s part. Is she cheating on Alon, for instance? We never do find out. There is a mystery to Timna that the book unfortunately never fully resolves.
But this is Sima’s story after all. We are meant to sympathize with her. She wanted nothing more, when she was younger, than to bear children and instead finds herself in a loveless marriage and carrying a secret inside her for 46 years.
But Sima is not without fault, either. She is meddlesome, suffocating even, at times.
Like Sima, Stanger-Ross’ debut novel, published by Overlook Press, is not without fault, but there is much to enjoy as well. Because it is set in a women’s undergarment store, I am trying really hard to avoid calling this book uplifting.
But it is that and much more.