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Three Girls and Their Brother: A Novel |
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| Author: Theresa Rebeck Published: 2008-04-08 |
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List price: $23.95 Our price: $16.29 |
Usually ships in 24 hours As of: January 07th, 2009 05:31:16 AM |
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Customer comments on this selection. A great beach readTHREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER by Theresa Rebeck September 4, 2008 Rating: 3.5/5 Stars I read THREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER a few months back. It is the rather auspicious fiction debut by Pulitzer finalist Theresa Rebeck. In short, the story revolves around a family of minor celebrities that becomes front page news after a provocative photo shoot of the three sisters, Daria (age 18), Polly (age 17) and Amelia (14). Brother Phillip (age 15) is left out, and all throughout the story, it is shown how left out he is not only in their professional lives but also in their personal lives as well. The siblings get the attention of the media mainly because their grandfather is a famous writer but they are beauties and it makes for a sensational story. Phillip is overly protective of the youngest sister, Amelia, and this shows in the first section of the book. By the second section, their mother has gotten rid of Phillip and has sent him to live with his father, to get him out of the way so he doesn't continue to influence Amelia. In the meantime, Amelia gets into some trouble involving a famous actor who becomes smitten with her (the age gap is one problem) but she tries desperately to thwart his attentions. She also winds up getting a part in an off-Broadway play that this same actor is starring in, and things go downhill. The other two sisters seem jealous of Amelia's popularity, at least that is how it appears to the reader. I'm not going to go on and on with the plot. It's a very involved story with each sibling taking turns at narrating, giving the reader a very different viewpoint of what is actually happening. I found it very refreshing to go from section to section, only to find that what I thought was occurring was really not happening at all. You get a different perspective each time you move on to another section of the book. While I can't give THREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER a 5 star rating or even a 4, I am recommending it because this is one of those books that you can't put down. I can imagine this book being made into a movie, easily. The story to me read like a movie script. The reader does need to remember that this is a satire on the life of actors and those wannabes who crave fame and notoriety, so a lot of the action was over the top, including the ending, but that made sense after reading the book. However, I guess that over the top ending was one of the reasons I didn't give it as high a rating as I could have. A beach read for sure, THREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER might even make my top list for 2008. It's a book I will not forget easily.  I couldn't put it downI picked up this book on a whim and I'm really glad I did. The first night I read 88 pages and I finished it two nights later. Maybe it's because I do enjoy a bit of gossip (dlisted anyone?). It was interesting to see scandal from the other side, I guess I won't be so quick to judge from now on. I thought the author was really able to capture the voices of the 4 main characters so well, I got very attached to them. I was sad when the book ended and that hasn't happened to me in a long time. Thank you Ms. Rebeck, I needed that.  Dull and uninspiredI really struggled to finish this novel. It wasn't terrible, but it was quite slow and not terribly interesting, funny or noteworthy. The characters were generally unbelievable and unlikeable, and I didn't really care what happened to them. I also found the premise pretty hard to believe - red hair makes 3 girls the most famous people in the country? I agree with the other reviewer who said the 4 voices were all the same. What's the point of a novel in 4 voices unless they have something different to say? Even Daria, who was shallow and vacuous throughout the book and basically outcast from her sisters and brother, suddenly sounded just the same as the rest of them when it came time for "her" chapter. Parts of the book were slightly entertaining, but mostly I just wanted to get it finished.  entertaining fluffI loved this book. It's totally lightweight fluff, yet there's enough fsmily dynamics in it to hold your interest. It reminded me of J.D. Salinger and also of early Jay McInerney.Bright Lights, Big City. I don't think you choose a book like this looking for deep psychological insights. It's just fun to see what's behind the glamorous photo spreads in the glossy magazines, and it does give a good idea of the mechanics and manipulations of the PR business. The author is a successul playwright; that explains the snappy dialog. I'd love to see one of her plays. fluffy nutterthis book is what it tis. Just fluff and good at it. It held my interest and Rebeck kept the story going. I would read more by this author. |
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