21 Apr / The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
Eleanor Brown‘s eponymous “weird sisters” – introduced with a quote from the good Bard’s Macbeth: “I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters” – are perhaps the most erudite characters I’ve encountered in a long time. Trained by a professor father who speaks to them mostly in Shakespeare quotes, their literary prowess sprouts early. That said, the sisters’ are not just passive receptors for pretty words; they certainly know how to think for themselves: “Here’s one of the problems with communicating in the words of a man who is not around to explain himself: it’s damn hard sometimes to tell what he was talking about. Look, the sheer fact that people have banged out book after article after dramatic interpretation of this guy should tell you that despite his eloquence, he wasn’t the clearest of communicators.” [Surely one of the best Shakespeare comments ever!]
In spite of all that book learning, real life for Rose (yes, Rosalind from As You Like It), Bean (Bianca from The Taming of the Shrew), and Cordy (Cordelia from King Lear) doesn’t seem to be following the right script. When their mother is diagnosed with cancer, the family reunites in the sisters’ childhood home in small-college-town Barnwell, Ohio. Ostensibly home to offer assistance, the true reasons are somewhat different: Rose who has never strayed from home has to demonstrate once again she is the most responsible sister, even if that means putting her own life on hold and sending her fiancé solo across the Pond to teach at Oxford; Bean’s glamorous Manhattan life has come to an ignoble, sudden end when she’s caught embezzling from her too-generous employer who is willing to quietly let her slink away with promises to repay her sizable debt; and Cordy has run out of options living an aimlessly peripatetic existence now that she has to think for about-to-be-two rather than only her self-indulgent self. Their relationships with each other? “See, we love one another. We just don’t happen to like one another very much.”
How will these “weird” sisters fare? Brown hints early on, “But it is worth noting, especially now that ‘weird’ has evolved from its delicious original meaning of supernatural strangeness into something depressingly critical and pedestrian … that Shakespeare didn’t really mean the sisters were weird at all. The word he originally used was much closer to ‘wyrd’ … ‘Wyrd’ means fate … that we cannot fight our family and cannot fight our fates.”
Written from a unique plural second person omniscient perspective (such that I’ve never encountered before) which invites you immediately into the learning-to-be-sisterly coven, Brown’s novel is one of those thoroughly enjoyable, easy reads that a weekend deserves. Stick the book in your ears (narrator Kirsten Potter provides excellent company) and join the family on their pre-prandial walk. Readers and listeners will be well-rewarded: Sisters proves to be quite the tribute to books and learning. We might not all be able to go home again, but we can always find comfort and shelter in our nearest libraries: “‘…you’ll need a library card, won’t you?’ … as though that solved everything (which, in our family, it nearly did).” Truth!
Readers: Adult
Published: 2011
A wonderful read with so very many layers. There are 4 siblings in our family and I am the middle of 3 sisters, the second child. This past Easter, March 31, 2013 our dear Mother left our midst. She was 87 years-old and for 10 months our family was able to care for her in her home with minimal professional assistance. The last 4 weeks of Mother’s life were spent in assisted living, hospital and hospice. She remained alert and engaged and we continued our commitment to the woman who had given birth to and nurtured 4 very unique individuals.
THE WEIRD SISTERS wove their way into my life over the course the past year. Eleanor Brown’s stories of the Andreas sisters enhanced my life immeasurably. The tangible evidence is the flour in my pantry that I knead into artisan dough as needed. Beyond the baking is the insight into family relationships, most particularly among the sisters. I will not, cannot assign the various roles as I see each of the sisters in myself and in my two sisters. There is love above and beyond all. To say, “it’s complicated” is merely an introduction. Brown’s craft of present the points of view through the eyes each sister began my reminiscences of resentments and more importantly admirations, no longer expressed as we advanced into womanhood. Our mother’s family is indeed Anglo i.e. suppressed in our communications among ourselves.
Kudos and gratitude to the author for preparing me for life’s biggest transition, we are now orphaned. My brother will be the first to remark that sisters are a mystery, a perspective that served his daughters and their mother well.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a heartfelt response! And for sharing your recent loss. I’m so sorry to hear about your dear Mother. I’m sure she’s enjoying all those wafting artisanal bread smells wafting from your kitchen from above. Who knows, perhaps she’s the one who took that missing bite from your last perfect loaf!
Thanks, too, for being the one to tell me about this book! I would never had discovered the book without your recommendation!!!
Take very good care. And keep baking … and sharing.