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• There is nothing more delightful than reading a new author and falling in love with her novel. Amy Einhorn Books, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, a member of Penguin Group, has a fabulous track record of introducing me to such new authors as including Kathryn Stockett (The Help), Mark Mustian (The Gendarme), Sarah Blake (The Postmistress) and Kelly O'Connor McNees (The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott).The newest release from Amy Einhorn Book from Eleanor Brown, The Weird Sisters, and she emerges as one of the brightest new voices in literature. The tag line of the novel is "See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much." That line alone on the cover just grabs the reader right away.Rosalind (called Rose) is the eldest daughter, a math professor who has finally found love after many years alone. Her fiance is living in England temporarily for a teaching position, so Rose is living at home in their small town in Ohio, taking care of her mother who has just been diagnosed with cancer.Rose is the dutiful daughter, the one who had always kept the entire family in line. Bianca, (called Bean) the glamorous middle daughter, was living in New York City and slunk home after her employer caught her stealing money from them. The youngest free spirit daughter, Cordelia (called Cordy), also turns up home with a secret after years of living from hand to mouth, traveling the country following itinerant bands.Their father is a Shakespeare professor, thus the girls names. He is pretty much the absent minded professor, and I loved the fact that his character functions as almost a Greek chorus, tossing in Shakespearean quotes to comment on the plot. You didn't need to know Shakespeare to appreciate this book, and most of the quotes will be familiar to anyone who read it in high school (ie- all of us).Early on in the story, Bean's boss says to her after he catches her stealing,"You may have lost your way more than a little bit, but I believe you can find your way back. That's the trick. Finding your way back." And that is the theme of this amazing book- the Weird Sisters finding their way back. (The Weird Sisters were the name of the witches in MacBeth). The sisters spend the summer figuring out how they got where they are, and how to get where they should be.Rose has to decide if she can leave the only home she has known to be with the man she loves. Will her family survive without her holding them together? Bean left the excitement and loneliness of the big city; can she admit her shame and start over? Cordy has always been the baby of the family; can she take responsibility for her own life?Brown's does a terrific job with her characters. She describes the mother as"capricious, likely to be struck by a whim to prepare a four-course meal on an ordinary Wednesday, and then struck by equally strong whims to wander off in the middle of that preparation and take a soothing bath, or pick up the book that she had been reading earlier and involve herself in that world for a while until the pasta water boils away and the smoke alarm (hopefully) brings her back to reality."The sisters are the best drawn characters, but even the minor ones- the coffee shop owner, the professor Bean has an affair with, Rose's fiance, the pastor- all are well developed. Sometimes in novels like this, the male characters are stock, but not here. Care is taken with each of them.The writing is gorgeous. What makes the voice unique here is that it is written as if one of the sisters is the narrator, but she is an omniscient sister. I don't recall reading another book with this specific point of view, (I've seen it called a plural narrator) and it works so well here."In love too, Cordy has always been compliant. While Rose searched and Bean made herself available, Cordy had rarely bothered to seek anything out."Voracious readers will relate to the fact that everyone in this family reads constantly. There are books all over the house, in every room, dropped wherever the reader last read a page. No matter where they are, each of the sisters will pull a book out of her respective purse to steal a few precious moments of reading. These are my people.The complex sisterly bonds are explored with great depth here."Sisters are supposed to be tight and connected, sharing family history and lore, laughing over misadventures. But we are not that way. We never have been, really, because even our partnering was more for spite than love. Who are these sisters who act like this, who treat each other as their best friends. We have never met them."The better I like a book, the more sticky notes I have in the book, and my copy of The Weird Sisters looks like Don King's head- stuff sticking out all over. I love this book!Anyone with sisters will relate to this stunning novel, but even if you don't have a sister, or you wish you did, you will still enjoy the beautifully crafted story, with lush words and characters whom you wish you knew in real life. Give yourself a Valentine's present this year and buy The Weird Sisters.

  5.00 out of 5

  bookchickdi

• The three Andreas sisters have all come back to the small town they grew up in and moved back in with their parents under the pretense of helping their ailing mother. However, they're really all running away from something: Rose, the caretaking, controlling oldest sister is avoiding her increasing stressful relationship; Bean, the middle sister struggling to form her own identity is running from troubles at her job; and Cordy, the vagabond youngest sister, is unmarried and pregnant.Shakespeare references are found throughout the book. The sisters are all named after characters in Shakespeare plays and their father, a college professor, prefers to communicate by quoting Shakespeare instead of using his own words. I don't know much about Shakespeare beyond Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of this book. (Although if you are a Shakespeare expert, you will enjoy it that much more I'm sure.) Sometimes the sisters didn't even understand what their father was trying to say!This book was just wonderful! The author did a fantastic job of making each sister a believable, sympathetic three dimensional character. I could relate to some aspect of each sister. The author tells us their story in a unique way - the book is narrated by all three sisters in first person at the same time, as if they were one person. It sounds strange but it really works to show how close the sisters are and how intertwined their lives are whether they like it or not. Overall, this was a beautifully written engaging story.

  5.00 out of 5

  mcelhra

• “We came home because we were failures.”So begins this wonderful novel by Eleanor Brown. It is the story of three sisters Rosalind, Bianca and Cordelia. Any resemblance to female Shakesperian characters is entirely intentional. Their father is a Professor whose love of all things connected to the Bard is a complete obsession. The three women have gathered at their parental home, ostensibly because their mother has breast cancer, but their reasons are not as clear cut as it seems. Rosalind (Rose) has never strayed far from home and, as the eldest, is the one who always takes charge and believes herself to be indispensable. Her fiancé has gone to England to work and Rose is wrestling with the decision to stay or to join him. Bianca (Bean) has been fired from her successful position at a lawyers’ firm in New York for stealing from her employers. Cordelia (Cordy) is a free spirit who exists on little money and often without a home……and now she is pregnant.This is an absorbing read and, set against the backdrop of small town life and the mother’s illness, I found it hard to put down. The writing is fluid and often amusing with Shakespeare’s prose scattered among the dialogue. Each one of the sisters come to terms with their past during the story and by the end, the reader is willing them on. Other characters are well drawn and contribute much to the novel. All in all a great read.“There are times in our lives when we have to realise our past is exactly what it is, and we cannot change it. But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it, and by doing that, we can change the future.”How true! This book was made available to me for an honest review.

  5.00 out of 5

  teresa1953

• Read this book. Do yourself a favor and read this book. And if you have sisters, READ THIS BOOK. I used the Goodreads description but it really doesn't do this story justice. It's so much more than Cordy's pregnant, Bean's in financial trouble, Rose's relationship isn't working, and their mother is sick. It's about the fundamental gifts and curses of family. It's about how sisters fall into roles and how we hate and love them for it. It's about all the reasons you don't like your siblings very much may just be the reasons you love them.I spent equal amounts of time loving and being driven crazy by the Andreas sisters which is very much the way I feel about my own sisters (and I'm sure they feel about me). They make choices that make me scratch my head, they miss what's staring them right in the face, they assume without knowing. In short, they are very, very real. And I love them for it. But before you think they're maddening women you can't like, think again. The thing about these sisters is in the end they try, to be more open, more loving, to be better.But, hands down, without a doubt the thing I love about this book is every member of the Andrea family are readers. Big time readers. There is never a moment in their lives it seems where they don't have a book. Last week's Teaser Tuesday I used a quote from this book about reading I just love. I have said before I'm always surprised more characters in books don't read. After all, aren't most writers readers? I would think there would be more reading in reading. I feel a special connection to characters who read and in this book boy do these girls (and their parents) read. I've had the privilege of speaking with Eleanor Brown through who website (ain't the internet grand?) so I was able to tell her how much I loved this book but let me take the opportunity here to say it again. Thank you Eleanor for becoming a writer and for writing this book. I am eternally grateful. And again thanks to your parents for making you a reader.Oh, one more thing I almost completely forgot about. She writes this in the first person plural. As if all three sisters are telling the story at once. Isn't the wild? I don't know if I've ever seen that before and I loved it. It made perfect sense and made the story so captivating.

  5.00 out of 5

  bremmd

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