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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
What a wonderful read. The story of two sisters' lives with strong themes of feminism and its evolution. I really enjoyed reading about how each character struggled throughout their lifetime with what it meant to be a woman and the complicated family relationships. A great read - 4.5 stars.
This book expertly explores sisterhood, motherhood, and womanhood! I love how the novel travels across time to reveal the realities of being a woman in America starting in the 1950s and continuing to the 2020s. Weiner carefully paces the novel to give us snapshots of Jo and Bethie's lives that only made me want to keep reading. After every chapter, I couldn't stop myself from wanting to hug both Jo and Bethie and comfort them.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book isn't something I would have picked up but it was surprisingly good. There are some parts where you didn't quite need to know ALL that detail but overall, it was a good story about two sisters who go through life sometimes on opposite sides of one another and at other times, side by side. There were moments I felt like I had something in common with one, and then a few chapters later, something in common with the other (I, too, have a sister). The book also has a unique female empowerment aspect to it that I enjoyed throughout.
I really can't decide whether I liked this or not. Definitely parts I liked and the overall message is good, but I think it tried to do too much. And some characters were left unresolved.
I really liked this book. Some of the folks that reviewed it with 3 or less stars were upset by the number of hardships or issues faced by the characters in the book... the book spans almost 70 years of life and you know what? Bad stuff happens to everyone at some point. I thought the book showcased the struggles and changes of the women's movement very well, the characters were believable and I couldn't put it down.
This was very slow to get going - 2 stars for the first 300 pages and 4 stars for the last 140 (aka the interesting part).