MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE 7/23/12

"One must dare to be himself, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be."

SNARKY RESPONSE: Hmm, do the names Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ring any bells?

"One must dare to be himself,
however frightening or strange that self may prove to be."

I'm participating in the James River Writers Book Club, an informal book club for the months running up to the annual James River Writers Conference in October 20-21, 2012. We're reading books written by the featured speakers for the conference and our first book was The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.

One caveat – I am a genre reader through and through so this book was definitely outside of my usual aisles. That lack of familiarity with this writer's genre may create a level of naiveté to my review, but here's what I thought. And bear with me, I'll explain why I chose a book review for this Fortune Cookie.

Cover of The Weird Sisters
by Eleanor Brown

In The Weird Sisters, Eleanor Brown explores the lives of three sisters. Daughters of a professor of Shakespeare, they are named for three of the Bard's heroines and being three, the analogy of the Weird Sisters was a natural. However, the three women are facing personal crises when they are then brought together in a family crisis. How they deal with all these pressures on their lives and each other makes for a truly interesting read.

In a semi-spoiler, I'd have to say my impression of the story makes it tie in with today's Fortune Cookie. I feel that each sister is forced to face the reality of who she truly is instead of the "she" built on expectations or camouflage. As the Bard said "to thine own self be true" and I feel that The Weird Sisters is about the characters' discovery of who that "true self" is and how to accept it.

Oh, and as another "spoiler," the book is written in Omniscient First Person Plural (We not I), a format I was not familiar with and one that took some SERIOUS getting used to. I must say that about one-quarter to one-third through it became less annoying as I just fell into the story. I've heard some folks continued to be annoyed by it to the end, so be warned. Just don't let that put you off on it.

If you read literary fiction, I would recommend this book.  If you've read it, I'd love to hear your impressions.