Review: The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

Hardcover, 336 pages

Released: January 20th 2011

Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

ISBN: 9780399157226

The three Andreas sisters grew up in the cloistered household dominated by their Shakespearean professor father, a prominent, eccentric academic whose reverence for the Bard left its imprint on his daughters' names: Rosalind (As You Like It), Bianca (The Taming of the Shrew), and Cordelia (King Lear). The siblings eventually left home and escaped their ponderous monikers with nicknames, but their mother's medical maladies brings them back. Before long, their unwelcome reunion reveals that they all have problems: Rose is force-feeding a troubled relationship; Bean is entangled in a big city case of embezzlement; and unmarried Cordy is pregnant. Eleanor Brown's first fiction has justly won praise as "thought-provoking... poignant... sparkling and devourable."

My Rating: 5 / 5

My Thoughts:

I am confident to say this is going to be one of my top reads for 2011...it's THAT good. A book about a family that loves to read is win, win! Ok, so now you've been warned this is going to be a gushing review :)

After returning home to care for their ailing mom, we get a glimpse into the lives of three sisters. In The Weird Sisters Eleanor Brown has captured what it means to be family - both the love and the frustration. I must admit it was odd at first having the story be told in first person narrative from three different perspectives, but it works as each character is so unique making it easy to follow along. Within each sister, you will find a bit of yourself: Rose the mother hen, Bean the party animal and Cordy the easy going one. Maybe it is the fact that I am in the same age group, but I found it comforting to read about their struggle in finding the perfect life they had expected. What sets this book apart from anything else I have read is how the author seamlessly weaves Shakespearean lines throughout the story and thankfully one does not have to be a scholar to enjoy them all. (Can you guess what I am buying later today? The Collected works, thank you Eleanor for reminding me how beautiful his plays are.)

There were two simple messages that I was reminded of after reading The Weird Sisters: not all families are perfect and things always work out in the end. This is a story to savor and leaves you warm that fuzzy feeling of satisfaction, go read it now!

Join me again tomorrow for an interview with Eleanor Brown!