The Weird Sisters

By Eleanor Brown
(Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, Hardcover, 9780399157226, 336pp.)

Publication Date: January 20, 2011

Other Editions of This Title: Paperback, Paperback, Compact Disc, Paperback, Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback

Categories: Literary, Contemporary Women

Selected by Indie Booksellers for the February 2011 Indie Next List

“The sisters in this funny and touching book are not 'weird' in the modern sense of the word; the title refers to the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Headed by a father who was a professor of Shakespeare and his loving wife, the Adreas family was certainly unusual, and the three daughters grew up speaking in couplets, quoting Hamlet, and reading constantly. When their mother develops breast cancer, all three sisters return to their Midwestern home to aid in her care - and end up caring for each other as well. This is a wonderful tribute to literature, the bonds of sisterhood, and the importance of family.”

-- Ellen Burns, Books On The Common, Ridgefield, CT

Description

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A major new talent tackles the complicated terrain of sisters, the power of books, and the places we decide to call home.

There is no problem that a library card can't solve.

The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home, ostensibly to care for their ailing mother, but really to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there. See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much. But the sisters soon discover that everything they've been running from-one another, their small hometown, and themselves-might offer more than they ever expected.

About the Author

Eleanor Brown's writing has been published in anthologies, magazines, and journals. She holds an M.A. in Literature and works in education in South Florida but will be living in the Denver area, Colorado at pub date.

'Weird Sisters' Quote Shakespeare To Communicate

Sunday, Feb 6, 2011

Eleanor Brown speaks with Weekend Edition Sunday host Liane Hansen about her new novel, The Weird Sisters, which imagines the lives of three sisters and their obsessive Shakespearean scholar father who prefers iambic pentameter to normal, everyday conversation. More at NPR.org

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Conversation Starters from ReadingGroupChoices.com

The Andreas family is dedicated to books, particularly Shakespeare. Would the family be different if their father were an expert on a different writer? Edgar Allan Poe, let's say, or Mark Twain? What if they were a family of musicians or athletes, rather than readers? How might that change their dynamic? Is there an interest that unites your family in the same way that reading unites the Andreas family?

The narration is omniscient first person plural ("we" rather than "I"). Why do you think the author chose to write the novel in this way? Did you like it?
Which sister is your favorite? Why? Which sister do you most identify with? Are they the same character?
Do you have any siblings? If so, in what way is your relationship with them similar to the relationship among the Andreas sisters? In what way is it different?
Each of the sisters has a feeling of failure about where she is in her life and an uncertainty about her position as a grown-up. Are there certain markers that make you an adult, and if so, what are they?
In what ways are the sisters' problems of their own making? Does this make them more or less sympathetic?
The narrator says that God was always there if the family needed him, "kind of like an extra tube of toothpaste under the sink." Is that true, or does the family's religion have a larger effect on the sisters than they claim? How does your own family's faith, or lack thereof, influence you?
In many ways, the Andreas sisters' personalities align with proposed birth-order roles: Rose, the driven caregiver; Bean, the rebellious pragmatist; and Cordy, the free-spirited performer. How important do you think birth order is? Do you see those traits in your own family or in people you know?
Father Aidan tells Bean, "Your story, Bean, is the story of your sisters. And it is past time, I think, for you to stop telling that particular story, and tell the story of yourself. Stop defining yourself in terms of them. You don't just have to exist in the empty spaces they leave." Do you agree with Father Aidan? Is it possible to identify one's self not in relationship to one's siblings or family?
Is it irresponsible of Cordy to keep her baby?
How does the Andreas family deal with the mother's illness? How would your family have coped differently?
The sisters say that "We have always wondered why there is not more research done on the children of happy marriages." How does their parents' love story affect the sisters? How did your own parents' relationship affect you?
What do you think of the sisters' father, James? Is he a good parent? What about their mother?
Why do you think the mother is never given a name?
The narrators' mother admits that she ended up with the girls' father because she was scared to venture out into the world. Yet she doesn't seem to have any regrets. Do you think there are people who are just not meant to leave home or their comfort zone?
Bean and Cordy initially want to leave Barnwell behind, yet they remain, while Rose is the one off living in Europe. Do you think people sometimes become constrained by childhood perceptions of themselves and how their lives will be? How is your own life different from the way you thought it would turn out?
When you first saw the title, The Weird Sisters, what did you think the book would be about? What do you think the title really means?

Praise For The Weird Sisters…

"Even if you don't have a sister, you may feel like you have one after reading this hilarious and utterly winsome novel. Eleanor Brown skillfully ties and then unties the Gordian knot of sisterhood, writing with such knowingness that when the ending came, and the three Andreas sisters—who had slunk home for a rest from themselves only to find to their horror their other two sisters there as wel—emerge, I sighed the guilty sigh of pleasure and yes, of recognition."
– Sarah Blake, best-selling author of The Postmistress

"At once hilarious, thought-provoking and poignant, this sparkling and devourable debut explores the roles that we play with our siblings, whether we want to or not. The Weird Sisters is a tale of the complex family ties that threaten to pull us apart, but sometimes draw us together instead."
– J. Courtney Sullivan, best-selling author of Commencement

"The Weird Sisters is a chronicle of real women, because it tells the truths of sisters. Eleanor Brown has written a compelling novel about love, despair and birth order—the themes the Bard himself had claimed and burnished."
– Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires

"Brown's knockout debut about the ties that bind us, the stories we tell ourselves, and the thorny tangle of sisterhood was so richly intelligent, heartbreakingly moving and gorgeously inventive, that I was rereading pages just to see how she did her alchemy. Brilliant, beautiful, and unlike anything I've ever read before."
– Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You and Girls in Trouble

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