STORY SUMMARY
Phil and Naomi have been married for 10 years. Phil is Naomi's 2nd husband and the father of her youngest daughter Ruthie, age 13. Julia is Naomi's oldest daughter....16 years old. Her biological dad, Matt, is re-married to a southern conservative Christian woman named Peggy. They have a young son named Sam. They live in Virden, Virginia. Phil, Naomi and the girls are wealthy and live in a large home in an affluent section of Atlanta, Georgia. Their Aunt Mimi and Uncle Roger (Mimi is Phil's sister) live in a wealthy area of San Francisco, California.
Naomi and Phil have always been very romantic with each other. One spring break, they take a vacation alone. Julia is supposed to be on Pawleys Island with her friend Marissa and Marissa's family. Ruthie will be staying at the house with Mother Martha, Phil's stepmom. All seems ok for Naomi and Phil to go on a romantic getaway to Las Vegas. While they are out there, they take a plane trip to the Grand Canyon. THe small plane crashes. All are dead on impact.
After the funeral, Ruthie and Julia learn that they will be living apart per Naomi and Phil's will. Julia is to go live with her father until she turns 18. And Ruthie will be in the care of Aunt Mimi and Uncle Roger in California. Life is changing. The girls are shocked by the provisions of the will.
Over the next 2 decades, the sisters and their respective journeys take them from their familiar home in Atlanta to the sophisticated bohemian San Francisco....to the mountains of rural Virginia and the campus of liberal Berkeley (where Ruthie falls in love with Gabe, a Jewish boy who converted to Catholicism), and the lofts of Brooklyn where Julia lives with her partner while trying to make a life as a memoir author.
The girls will heal from their losses and will search for love. They will begin careers and their sisterhood will be tested by anger, resentment, and jealousy. It seems as though their parents' deaths will never stop reverberating around them.....until another shocking accident changes everything once again.
MY THOUGHTS
This is an excellent story about family relationships, particularly that of sisters. It's about how complicated the love between two sisters can be...can evolve from childhood into adulthood.
There are some very funny moments, as well as profoundly sad moments in this story. The author does a fantastic job with character development, setting, and tieing in some historical events/facts for the culture of the book.
The book is very endearing without being sappy. The look at life in San Francisco, was to me, very refreshing after the southern look at Atlanta. It was, in my opinion, the best part of the story....the things Ruthie experienced there. And when Julia and she had a falling out there and Ruthie walked away from Haight street, leaving Julia to fend for herself, the loss wasn't a deep one. The girls had already been drifting apart.
What was eye opening (yet not surprising) was the memoir Julia wrote. The shocking allegations (again, no surprise there given the setting and the fundamentalist attitudes) about The Center (the place where addicted teens go for "rehab"). I kind of wish the author had opened up this part a bit more and had Julia press charges for abuse or something along those lines....to really show that these kinds of places are dangerous and not ok. But the story didn't unravel that way.
The ending is sweet.....and important.....I love that the sisters did re-connect and that the author shows that love wins.
The other themes in this story, other than the relationship between half-sisters are: sudden death of parents, divorce, separation of the family unit; blended families, drug and alcohol addiction; teenage/unwanted pregnancy; abortion; betrayal, forgiveness, love, acceptance.
This book is one that I highly recommend especially if you are in a blended family or have a sister(s).
I'm going to look for more books by this author. The notes indicate that this is her 2nd novel.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to some mature content but I would allow a 14 year old to read this)
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
2 comments:
Heading to my library's website to see if they have this book.
I will see if the library out here has it. Thanks for the review!
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