Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
I am a fan of Weiner’s novels, but she has outdone herself with her best yet: a story of sisters, choices made, mistakes and ultimately, love. Starting in the 1950’s, until the present time, I can identify strongly with the experiences of girls growing up at a time of social change, demonstrations, women discovering new roles, etc. Jo and Bethie are as different as sisters can be, and as time passes, each makes her own good and bad choices. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC, but thanks to Jennifer Weinberg for this buildingsroman of two women. I loved it!
3.5 stars actually. Decided to round up because this is an ambitious work that tells the story of generations of women in the same family.
Jo and Bethie are sisters growing up in the Detroit suburbs. This story follows them from their childhood in the 1950s through their college years snd adulthood. Jo is athletic, tall, assertive and drives her mother crazy. Bethie is feminine, compliant- the perfect daughter to their mother, Sarah.
This story shows the unexpected twists and turns that life takes and how people don’t always become who they expect they will be. People change and somehow can lead many different lives within a lifetime.
Strong themes include family, death, rivalry, growing up, rape, women’s rights. There are some uncomfortable scenes that explore difficult topics.
I keep waiting for that book by Jennifer Weiner that will make me love her again. This wasn't it.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
I found this book to be absolutely amazing! It kept me up for two straight nights--I couldn't put it down.
This is a powerful story that spans decades. It tells the story of two sisters, and the different paths they chose, and the ramifications of those paths.
This is a powerful story that spans decades. It tells the story of two sisters, and the different paths they chose, and the ramifications of those paths.
This book is so wonderful. The way the book stretches over the narrators lives capturing the love and hate between sisters and families over the 20th and 21st centuries is captivating. I would listen to this book over and over again and not get tired of it.
Learning and loving are lifelong journeys. I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrators did a wonderful job bringing life to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend this book.
Learning and loving are lifelong journeys. I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrators did a wonderful job bringing life to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend this book.
I have read several of this author’s books, and I enjoyed them as light, escapist fiction. From what I’ve read, Ms. Weiner drew on parts of her own family history to craft a Big, Important Novel, but i felt she tried to cover way too much into a decades-long sisterly saga that covered a myriad of subjects — divorce, racism, childhood molestation, feminism, lesbianism, family values, personality clashes, role reversals, women’s equality, cancer, etc., etc., etc. I got exhausted reading this book. I gave it three stars, though, because, despite the contrived plot, the characters were interesting enough to keep me reading. I will say, that lately, I’ve become tired of points of view that alternate chapter to chapter from one character to another (just finished another novel with the exact same structure, “Freefall”). And I hate when the first chapter of a novel starts with a main character facing imminent death, then the next chapter starts 50 years prior. Sure, many readers will love this book, but after finishing it, I was actually happy to have it end, so I could move on to something different.
This book was EVERYTHING to me. It made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me angry... it was my sister and I on an older timeline and was one of the best books I have read this year.