The story opens as three sisters: Rosalind, Bianca and Cordelia – named after characters from Shakespeare’s infamous writings – head back to their childhood home, for three different reasons and with three very different internal issues to work out.

The book’s title – and three sister collective – derive their name from the witches, also known as the Weird Sisters, in Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Macbeth’. The girls were named purposely after characters from Shakespeare by their father – a great lover of the Bard of Avon – and the novel is sprinkled with quotes from dear old Willy.

‘We wear our names heavily. And though we have tried to escape their influence, they have seeped into us, and we find ourselves living their patterns again and again.’

The story chronicles the changes taking place in each sister, along with how the sisters relate to each other.  The story is written in a quirky first-person plural omniscient narrative style … meaning the narrator seems to know everything that happens and everything that is coursing through the minds of each of the three sisters, thus the text is largely peppered with ‘we should have known’ and ‘we thought’ and ‘we feel’.  As a middle sister myself, I found myself most drawn to Bianca – the promiscuous {which I am not}, attention-seeking {which I, at times, am}, fashion-loving {yes, please} sister whom, in my opinion, changes the most throughout the course of the book  and she does so with style and flair.

‘I’m just like this speed bump in the middle, slowing everyone down because I keep fucking up.’

The novel deals with sisterhood and life in brutal honesty. The sisters are not lovely-dovey, always there for each other, sniveling snots – they are real {believe me, I am one of three and great chunks of this novel rang 300 percent truthful to little old me.} And as you go through the story you are privy to happy memories, sad memories and bursts of wisdom.

‘Forgetting wasn’t the same as being happy. Being drunk wasn’t the same as forgetting … we were at our most miserable when we’re doing it to ourselves.’

WONDERPUG RATING: 4 stars; a very honest assessment of sisterhood in a novel that only puttered out at the end – the author attempted to wrap up the tale too tightly in a pretty, perfect little bow … a direct contradiction to the characters’ earlier joint statement: ‘Sisters are supposed to be tight and connected, sharing family history and lore, laughing over misadventures. But we are not that way. We never have been, really, because even our partnering was more for spite than for love. Who are these sisters who act like this, who treat each other as best friends? … See, we love each other. We just don’t happen to like one another very much.’ Nonetheless, a novel worth your time – if you have sisters or not.

I admit, this story is nothing if not exciting. But this is not a tale of love and happiness and light. This is a story of revenge and the evilness of man. Edmond Dantes (aka the Count) – throughout a large portion of the tale – exacts revenge on those who have wronged him. And in the large sense they had it coming.

However, there was one character that I feel was severely mistreated by Dantes himself, namely Dantes lover in youth – the lovely Mercedes. She is a seemingly innocent character who not only lost the love of her life TWICE, but she also was lied to and manipulated by her husband, left to fend for herself in near poverty by her son, and finally abandoned by Dantes – who instead chose a young and supple female replacement after (however unintentionally) causing his once love much pain, regret and loss. Maybe the feminist in me is rearing it’s ugly head, but I must say after reading this novel all I could think was, ‘Well, I guess the author is a bit of a misogynist.’

The novel ends with the Count avenged and happy; and with this little fable-like moral:

‘My dear,’ replied Valentine, ‘has not the Count just told us that all human wisdom is contained in the words, Wait and Hope!’

WONDERPUG RATING: 3 stars – exciting, exhilarating, enchanting. A quick read – which is saying something because my edition had over five hundred pages. But to be honest, a novel based around revenge left a sour taste in this bloggers mouth.

‘There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain … Or so says the legend.’

This bittersweet paragraph is the main reason why I purchased this novel {that and the fact that Amazon kept recommending it to me over and over and over; ad nauseum. So, apparently Mr. Amazon, your ploys and tricks work}. There were actually four books that have been repeatedly referenced in my sphere of life whether by friends, colleagues, amazon recommendations, news clippings …

•  The Thorn Birds
•  The Count of Monte Cristo
•  Emma
•  Anna Karenina

I have decided to give them a each perusal; let’s see what I can learn from these pages.  My goal is to have all four books read and reviewed prior to the start of my third decade. This being the first of my 30 Before 30 list, I was very disappointed at first because initially I hated this novel and the only reason I kept with it was because it is on said list.

I can not stand to sit through books where woman are abused or beaten or made to work like slaves or assumed as stupid – and then to add insult to injury these same women blindly sit around, grateful of their lot in life and accepting of this horrible treatment {my feminists proclivities are rearing their head … I feel them coming… }. If I read those types of books, I end up getting uber-sensitive to my own lot as a female and picking ridiculous fights with my husband, male friends, male co-workers, etc. – when my life is truly not oppressed any more than the status quo. Thankfully, my first impressions of this book were totally wrong.

Turns out these women aren’t weak little twits blindly accepting their lot as females; the characters work as hard as their men counterparts, recognize the restrictions placed upon them by the time and their sex, and quietly but resolutely rail against female bounds in their own way.

‘… her character, which he saw as the perfect female character, passive yet enormously strong. No rebel; on the contrary. All her life she would obey, move within the boundaries of her female form.’

And though this book is chock full of gentlemen – the story is really about three generations of women Fiona, Meghann, and Justine; and loves lost and found within their lifetime. It is an epic story filled with sadness and growth, love and pain; it is just an incredibly honest read.

‘No man sees himself in a mirror as he really is, nor any woman.’

WONDERPUG RATING: 4 Stars. It is actually a lovely read – once you get through the first semibland 100 pages or so.

Clancy’s newest book, ‘Dead or Alive‘ is the latest in the Jack Ryan series and continues the storyline with special emphasis on his son, Jack Ryan Jr. And in my opinion it did not have the same ‘je ne sais quoi’ as the past novels. The main storyline touches on radical terrorism – a fear that is alive and well in modern-day America, especially for us citizens who live near the WTC terror site – and military espionage. And while all past characters are present, the action is pumping, the military jargon is spewing like hot lava … the story just does not have that relatability and believability of the past novels. It ends predictably. It needs to be re-edited. But on the plus side, it sets up the next book in a big way and makes that next book sound eons better than this latest tome.

WONDERPUG RATING: 2 Stars – sadly not up to par with past novels.

 

This is a book about an American teenager and her attempt to navigate through the pains of growing – the path she takes to adulthood. She speaks of friendship, womanhood, abuse, feminism, sex, art, rape, suicide, paternal relationships, jealousy, loss, depression, apathy, fear, love and grief.

‘Grief works inside like bees or ants, building curious and perfect structures, complicating you. Grief outside means you want something from someone, and chances are good you won’t get it.’

You sit down with this book and feel yourself getting lost within the pages and the story. You quickly become a confidante of the main heroine, Eveline. And when you finish the 600 page novel, you sit back and wonder how you flew through all those pages so quickly.

You’ll thank me for sharing this life-changing book with you. Run. Run to the library to reserve a copy … or better yet purchase it because this is a multi-read novel. This is one of those books you will want to hand down to your daughter on her 13th birthday and say ‘ Welcome to womanhood.’  THESE are the types of books that should be read in high-schools … books that can shape teens into thoughtful and passionate souls.  Read it dear friends, read it because:

‘Sometimes a day is a symbolic day, and you behave symbolically. Sometimes you search inside for a feeling, and, finding none, you remember that no feeling is frequently the most possible feeling.’

WONDERPUG RATING: 5 Stars; passionate writing by an author who really understands womanhood in all its angst.

In fact, here is a list of novels that my daughters/nieces/goddaughters will get on their 13th birthday – books that will help shape their character, feed there souls, and remind them that they aren’t alone in their feelings:

•  ’A Tree Grows in Brooklyn‘ by Betty Smith
•  ’Little Women‘ by Lousia May Alcott
•  ’Lady Chatterley’s Lover‘ by D.H. Lawrence
•  ’Women in Love‘ by D.H. Lawrence
•  ‘The Opposite of Love‘ by Julie Buxbaum
•  ’Anthropology of an American Girl‘ by Hilary Thayer Hamann
•  ’Speak‘ by Laurie Halse Anderson
•  ’Summer Sisters‘ by Judy Blume
•  ’The Outsiders‘ by S.E. Hinton
•  ’Claudine à l’école‘ by Colette

‘If I should ever offend you, I will send a red rose to ask forgiveness. And if ever I receive one tendered for that purpose, I will return a white rose to say that all is forgiven.’

This book starts at the end of the story and thus, the end of the disastrous love affair between Mary Tolliver and Percy Warwick. {I am not ruining anything, you learn that right as you open the book}  Therefore, I knew as I was being taken through Mary’s and Percy’s flashbacks, that this part of the story was not going to end happy. Nonetheless, I found myself wishing and hoping that maybe this time, just maybe, Mary would make the ‘right’ decision.

Right? Hum, what is the right decision? I guess because I could relate to this story on a personal level – having married my high-school sweetheart – I feel ‘right’ would have been to live forever in love with Percy. They were soulmates. And they allowed other circumstances to keep them apart. It was the saddest, most aggravating, gut-wrenching book. It drove me insane.

But I couldn’t put it down, even though I knew this was not going to be a happy ending wrapped in a shiny pink bow. That in itself is the mark of a good storyteller. I was totally invested in this story. Even though Mary pissed me off, and I felt so sorry for Percy that I could have cried. And although horrible things kept happening to every character in this story, it at least was realistic. It was super far-fetched and ridiculous – like, for example, in Wally Lamb’s novel ‘The Hour I First Believed’ – both sad books, and both completely different. In ‘Roses’ you care about the characters and in ‘Hour’ you just want to wring the authors neck and tell him to stop exploiting American tragedies and leave those poor characters alone. {PS> don’t waste you money or time buying/reading that Lamb book}

WONDERPUG RATING: 3 Stars; for being just too darn depressing. Very well-written. A definite page-turner.

‘… the mean reds are horrible. You’re afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don’t know what it is.’

Everyone knows a girl like Holly. A girl who walks into a room and lights it up with her mere presence. A girl who has no real reason or validation to be so confident and assured, yet is the strongest woman in any group. She is coarse, she is uneducated, she curses like a sailor, her profession is not one most women chose for themselves – yet she is insanely likeable and enviable. And this is due entirely to how Capote portrays his heroine.

Capote’s writing reads like a poem and flows over and through you. He is honest, open, unyielding, and unpretentious. Capote allows dear Holly to exclaim:

‘… the army of wrongness rampant in the world might as well march over me.’

And you feel for her. You feel sorry for this lost and unconventional girl. Then at the next moment Holly will spurt out:

‘… my yardstick is how somebody treats me … and to be honest, that isn’t all. Certain shades of limelight wreck a girl’s complexion.’

And you realize that Holly isn’t always helpless but  at times extremely street smart, innately intelligent and just plain lovable.

Critics and biographers believe that Holly was modeled after a person Capote was acquainted with, and that the male character was a portrait of himself. After reading this short novelette I wholeheartedly agree. The author loves Holly’s character. He speaks of her as he would a soulmate. He loved her through her faults and saw straight through to the loveliness of her soul.

I could honestly sit here and retype most of the book into quote form. It looks like my yellow highlighter exploded all over my modern library edition, but instead I will leave you with this one last sentiment …

‘I don’t want to own anything until I know I’ve found the place where me and my things belong together. I’m not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it’s like. It’s like Tiffany’s …’

WONDERPUG RATING: 5 Stars {!!} beautiful, satisfying, emotional and heartfully written; B@T is a Wonderpug must read. And I have a feeling any story a la Truman may be the same. And for good measure, a little Audrey a la Holly.

Good morning! Good afternoon! Good day! And welcome to the true story behind ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and the domino effect the movie had on the modern woman by introducing a good girl yet still a prostitute to the big screen – or so the book jacket boasts.

“… There was always sex in Hollywood, but before ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s', only the bad girls were having it.”

I must admit, I always have had ‘un peu petit’ love affair with Audrey Hepburn. I must have read half a dozen biographies on Audrey. She is perfect in that not-perfect way. I even dressed like her for my junior prom … {a prom I attended with my now husband!}

This novel would best be described as an overview; a novel outlining the creation and dissemination of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’. Sam’s novel is written in a light, conversational way that was easy to flip through right before bed or during a slow moment of the day. I just wish the book was a little more in depth since every time I finished a chapter I wished for just a little bit more. Perhaps this is because I have read several tomes on Audrey, or perhaps I felt this way because I am a detail-oriented person. Or perhaps I am just nosey. Irregardless …

I don’t know if I was truly able to grasp how ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ changed the modern woman. I found myself laughing over the lengths the movie studio went to cover up the character Holly’s darker side – probably because of the total lack of shame or off-limits topics in today’s modern film era. And I understand that woman at this time just didn’t live a la Holly, but did this movie really change woman as whole … this novel just didn’t prove that to me.

Don’t get me wrong this is definitely a book worth reading and a pleasurable read. I am definitely interested in reading more about Truman Capote and his muse, a New York socialite named Babe Paley. But mostly, I sat wishing throughout the entire book that I had read the original ‘B at T’s’ sooooo … I am off now to read Truman’s original now. Be in touch soon, my lovelies!

____

The book looks old {well-loved is a more fitting term} doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it was published in 1832. It has the most fantastic smell – like libraries and experience. And I feel so excited to have it sitting on my shelf.

The book’s nameplate reads William F. Pell. After doing a google search, I was able to find this article {the last paragraph in the article} referrencing a William F. Pell – who even lived in the New York area. Plus, the dates seem to match. Do you think I have found my Willy!?!?

In the end, this contest made me think 1) a contest is always fun, 2) everyone loves a winner {!!} and 3) I want to host a contest. Well chickadees … stay tuned … because I have set up this terrific partnership and plan to do just that!

Over the past several months I have learned a lot about friendship. I have learned:

1. Real friends stay by your side through the good times; better friends stay by your side through the bad times
2. Mom was right in saying that if I can fill one hand with good, true friends then I am one lucky duck
3. Sometimes friendship hurts
4. To forgive is easy; forget impossible

Maybe that is why I was drawn to this novel.

The book cover masquerades as a novel on vintage fashion {which is definitely a part of the novel}, but at it’s core it is a book about friendship, growth, forgiveness and life. And it helped to heal parts of my own injured heart.

The main character, Phoebe, is plagued with grief over the loss of her best friend. She feels responsible. She feels unable to let go. She feels totally unable to move on … {and believe me I can relate.} I felt for her. I read along and wanted to pull her into a embrace and tell her it would all be okay – even when I wasn’t sure it would be for poor Phoebe. Phoebe not only needs to deal with her grief – but a broken engagement, a new career path, and her parent’s divorce. Sure this book sounds depressing – but lovelies it isn’t. This book is hopeful.

As Isabel navigates her readers through Phoebe’s story, and introduces us to vivid and delicate characters … you realize, in the end, it will all actually be okay.

WONDERPUG RATING: