#BestsellerCode100: The Weird Sisters A Reader’s Review

Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown, is next up on our 100 Bestsellers List reading challenge.  For a synopsis of the book, check out Roberta’s Writer’s Review.

This post contains spoilers.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

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Women’s Fiction

Weird Sisters is categorized as Women’s Fiction, a genre I normally do not read much of, and this book reminded me why that is so.   If you like reading a book that leaves you with a vague sense of feeling good and some gentle moral reinforcement, then this might be the book for you.  I expected more from a bestseller.  Here’s just a bit of what disappointed me:

– The main characters – the three sisters, Rose, Bean, and Cordy – were stereotypical.  Why was it the youngest who was irresponsible and became an unwed mother?  Wouldn’t it have been more interesting for the eldest, responsible Rose, to make some crazy mistake and be the unexpectedly pregnant daughter?

– The plot was slow and boring (was there a plot?).  Mom has cancer, so all the sisters come home ostensibly to take care of mom, but in actuality to hide from and ultimately resolve their secrets.  There were small moments of despair and moments of success, but nothing momentous.

– The ending was predictable (halfway through it I guessed correctly how things would end up for 2 of the 3 sisters).

Sisterhood Voice

Also, as Roberta mentions in her review, the narration is written in the omniscient first person plural, as the voice of the combined sisters, which I found confusing.  I was never quite sure if just one sister was speaking or if they were narrating as a combined sisterhood.  It was unique, but just didn’t work for me.

Time For Another Read Through

As I was reading, I kept asking myself why this book was chosen by the computer algorithm from The Bestseller Code.  I certainly wouldn’t have considered it a bestseller.  Since I seem to be having similar thoughts about several of the books we’ve read, I’ve decided to reread The Bestseller Code.  Hopefully now that I’ve read 12 of the books on the list, reading the book another time and reviewing how the list was created will make more sense and lead to a better appreciation of the subsequent books we plan to read here at The Bestseller Code Reading Challenge.

Related posts:

  1. Book-beginnings, a discussion of the first few lines of the novel
  2. Karen’s review from a reader’s perspective
  3. Roberta’s review from a writer’s perspective

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What are we reading next?

If you ever have questions about what we are reading next or when we’re starting the next discussion, check the 100 Book List tab in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

The next book is number 87. World War Z by Max Brooks (2006) – Discussion begins May 8, 2017.   This book is categorized as Horror or Apocalyptic Horror.

4 Comments

  1. Shan

    Interesting review. I was trying to figure out how to categorize this, and “women’s fiction” didn’t occur to me as a genre. That’s a good description for it. I don’t read a lot of this genre either – I’m more of a science fiction and mystery gal – but I do read some, usually at the humorous end of the genre, when I just want something light and entertaining.

    I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts after you reread The Bestseller Code.

    • Karen Gibson

      I don’t mind some lighthearted, amusing Women’s Lit or Chick Lit (is that the same genre?), but Weird Sisters certainly wasn’t amusing. I read a lot of historical fiction (some romantic, more not), some adventure/spy/thriller, and am a newbie to science fiction, so this 100 Books Bestseller List is proving to be quite a stretch for me.

      • Shan

        I was in an in-person book group a couple of years ago and the first year’s theme was decades, as in every month we read a book that was set in a different decade, working our way up from the 1910s to the present. I ended up reading a lot of books I would never have picked up on my own. Some of them were awful; they fit into a category I think of as “pretentious misery” (see Continental Drift by Russell Banks for a prime example). Others were better and I was glad to have read them.

        • Roberta

          Pretentious misery? I love it! Definitely should be a category of literature.

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