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utahmomreads's review against another edition
4.0
Nicknamed the Ms. Bradwells by a professor during their first year in law school, the four women become fast friends. For the next thirty years they will be there for each other through thick and thin. Bett needs their support now. She has been nominated for a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. During the confirmation hearings, an anonymous blog post turns up a scandal involving the Ms. Bradwells during their college days--a mysterious death. Now, thirty some years after law school, the women must pull together to help their friend and themselves.
Exploring the ideas of friendship, secrets, and the rights of women, not to mention the relationships between mothers and daughters, The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton will keep you reading late into the night. Clayton is skilled at creating believable and fascinating women characters. Each of the four women is unique and yet it made sense that their shared experiences during college would bind them as lasting friends. The conversations shared by the women, while much more dramatic, reminded me of the bantering that sometimes goes on between my own friends from college and me. And just like my friends even though we are so close, these friends do keep secrets from each other.
Each chapter of the story is told from the point of view of a different woman. While it was initially confusing for me, I caught on quickly and the style was really an ingenious way to tell the story. Each woman knew different things and had various perspectives about the other women and their history. As a reader, it was interesting to learn things from one character and then read from another character who didn't have a knowledge of these things and see how her reality was skewed because of a lack of the entire truth. So very realistic.
The plot is also well crafted. The women's history unfolds slowly but with enough mystery and emotion to keep the reader and even the Ms. Bradwells guessing and doubting each other until the very end.
If your book club does not mind excessive swearing (which unfortunately is quite prevalent in some sections--not used simply as filler, these swears pack a punch in a very emotional and dramatic scene), there will be plenty of ideas to discuss about this book. Not the least of which, is the consequences we must eventually face for our choices and actions and the choices and actions of others with whom we are close.
Ms. Clayton obviously has a deep understanding of human nature and relationships. She weaves this gift into her characters and tells a most fascinating story full of pain, drama, emotion and ultimately redemption. Well done.
I received a free copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for my honest opinion. No additional compensation was received.
Exploring the ideas of friendship, secrets, and the rights of women, not to mention the relationships between mothers and daughters, The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton will keep you reading late into the night. Clayton is skilled at creating believable and fascinating women characters. Each of the four women is unique and yet it made sense that their shared experiences during college would bind them as lasting friends. The conversations shared by the women, while much more dramatic, reminded me of the bantering that sometimes goes on between my own friends from college and me. And just like my friends even though we are so close, these friends do keep secrets from each other.
Each chapter of the story is told from the point of view of a different woman. While it was initially confusing for me, I caught on quickly and the style was really an ingenious way to tell the story. Each woman knew different things and had various perspectives about the other women and their history. As a reader, it was interesting to learn things from one character and then read from another character who didn't have a knowledge of these things and see how her reality was skewed because of a lack of the entire truth. So very realistic.
The plot is also well crafted. The women's history unfolds slowly but with enough mystery and emotion to keep the reader and even the Ms. Bradwells guessing and doubting each other until the very end.
If your book club does not mind excessive swearing (which unfortunately is quite prevalent in some sections--not used simply as filler, these swears pack a punch in a very emotional and dramatic scene), there will be plenty of ideas to discuss about this book. Not the least of which, is the consequences we must eventually face for our choices and actions and the choices and actions of others with whom we are close.
Ms. Clayton obviously has a deep understanding of human nature and relationships. She weaves this gift into her characters and tells a most fascinating story full of pain, drama, emotion and ultimately redemption. Well done.
I received a free copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for my honest opinion. No additional compensation was received.
mareswoodbury's review against another edition
2.0
I was a bit disappointed. After loving The Wednesday Sisters, I think I had overly high expectations for this book.
megancrusante's review against another edition
2.0
Did not like. Too many character nicknames and over referenced inside jokes that took away from a really good story line.
michelev40's review against another edition
1.0
I didn't like this book at all. Too much switching between characters and too hard to follow.
wuchea's review against another edition
4.0
a bit heavy handed, but interesting look at female friendship and second wave feminism
4 friends who graduated Michigan Law in 82 reunite to face down past trauma. I thought I knew the ending, but I was wrong!
4 friends who graduated Michigan Law in 82 reunite to face down past trauma. I thought I knew the ending, but I was wrong!
karieh13's review against another edition
3.0
The strong themes of “The Four Ms. Bradwells” for me were the re-examining of past choices and their consequences and the mother/daughter relationship seen in a new light as the daughter becomes a mother as well.
These four women, Mia, Laney, Betts and Ginger, have a decades long friendship – filled with wonderful memories…as well as a few terrible ones that haunt them to this day. Choices were made whose consequences are truly only now coming to light.
The book plays out over a long weekend – but constantly jumps back to the past. For much of the beginning of the book, this made it difficult for me to follow – it seems like the story went back in time practically mid-sentence and I kept getting lost. Because the same people are involved and the incidents happen mostly in the same place, I was confused as to what events happened when.
This review is difficult for me to write because I very much enjoyed “The Wednesday Sisters” and have Meg Waite Clayton on my list of writers to follow – but I just couldn’t fully enjoy this book. Beyond the time confusion, I kept having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter I was on to see which of the women’s perspective we were in. The voices just weren’t different enough for me to keep track.
And yet – there were such lovely scenes and such beautiful turns of phrase. “Lonely. I feel it worse here at Mother’s empty house, even with Laney’s arm warm against mine, with Max beside me and Mia on the other side of him. Was Mother ever lonely like this? Behind the frantic activism she lived and breathed for all the world to see, did she ever feel anyone knew her? Did she ever wonder if the person she’d grown up to be was the person she meant to become?”
And, “I’m not sure which surprises me more: Laney lashing out at Ginger, or the fact that our friendship has survived so many years of this boiling under the surface, all this second guessing about the choices we never did really agree upon.”
I think there are a few very strong stories in the book. They just didn’t come across as clearly or as powerfully as I expected.
These four women, Mia, Laney, Betts and Ginger, have a decades long friendship – filled with wonderful memories…as well as a few terrible ones that haunt them to this day. Choices were made whose consequences are truly only now coming to light.
The book plays out over a long weekend – but constantly jumps back to the past. For much of the beginning of the book, this made it difficult for me to follow – it seems like the story went back in time practically mid-sentence and I kept getting lost. Because the same people are involved and the incidents happen mostly in the same place, I was confused as to what events happened when.
This review is difficult for me to write because I very much enjoyed “The Wednesday Sisters” and have Meg Waite Clayton on my list of writers to follow – but I just couldn’t fully enjoy this book. Beyond the time confusion, I kept having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter I was on to see which of the women’s perspective we were in. The voices just weren’t different enough for me to keep track.
And yet – there were such lovely scenes and such beautiful turns of phrase. “Lonely. I feel it worse here at Mother’s empty house, even with Laney’s arm warm against mine, with Max beside me and Mia on the other side of him. Was Mother ever lonely like this? Behind the frantic activism she lived and breathed for all the world to see, did she ever feel anyone knew her? Did she ever wonder if the person she’d grown up to be was the person she meant to become?”
And, “I’m not sure which surprises me more: Laney lashing out at Ginger, or the fact that our friendship has survived so many years of this boiling under the surface, all this second guessing about the choices we never did really agree upon.”
I think there are a few very strong stories in the book. They just didn’t come across as clearly or as powerfully as I expected.
orygunn's review against another edition
4.0
I preferred this one to the Wednesday Sisters, but that may be because I'm an attorney. A wonderful tale of the strength of female friendship.
kiterature's review against another edition
2.0
As a future law student, I thought this book would be a fascinating read. This book follows 4 women who became best friends in law school, but as one of them is nominated to the Supreme Court, a scandal is revealed that they have to learn how to cope with. I found the book unrealistic and bland. Each chapter was in a different woman's point of view, but all of their voices sounded the same. And really, even law school students don't speak to each other in Latin and have books of poetry memorized. The scandal was sort of interesting, but seemed to drag on. By the end, I was very ready for it to be finished.
hellokeila's review against another edition
I wanted to like this book, especially based on the premise. But it was soooo boring. The plot moved slow (if at all), the characters took a long time to develop, and following each woman's storyline and point of view got kind of confusing. I hate the idea of not finishing a book, but this one got returned to the library incomplete.