Sunday, August 30, 2009

99. Henry's Sisters

By Cathy Lamb
Rated:  DNF - 1 Star
From:  Library

This is IT!  I am not wasting any more of my time trying to read what is passing for "Contemporary Fiction" these days unless it's by an author I know or someone whose judgment I trust recommends it.  I think that publishers must have pushed authors into such a corner now days that they must have to stick to a strict formula.  Why else would they all read like the same book over and over again with only minor changes in names of characters and locations?  Sisters, girlfriends, dysfunctional families, illegitimate secret children and naturally, sick or disabled children, and/or  "Christian hyperbole" .

This book had it all.  There were so many gimicks and plot hooks in this book that I was amazed it didn't clink and clatter when it was moved. (sigh)  No wonder I have been enjoying revisiting Harry Potter so much.  It's so much more reality based.

PUBLISHERS DESCRIPTION:  "Ever since the Bommarito sisters were little girls, their mother, River, has written them a letter on pink paper when she has something especially important to impart. And this time, the message is urgent and impossible to ignore--River requires open-heart surgery, and Isabelle and her sisters are needed at home to run the family bakery and take care of their brother and ailing grandmother. Isabelle has worked hard to leave Trillium River, Oregon, behind as she travels the globe taking award-winning photographs. It's not that Isabelle hates her family. On the contrary, she and her sisters Cecilia, an outspoken kindergarten teacher, and Janie, a bestselling author, share a deep, loving bond. And all of them adore their brother, Henry, whose disabilities haven't stopped him from helping out at the bakery and bringing good cheer to everyone in town. But going home again has a way of forcing open the secrets and hurts that the Bommaritos would rather keep tightly closed--Isabelle's fleeting and too-frequent relationships, Janie's obsessive compulsive disorder, and Cecilia's self-destructive streak and grief over her husband's death. Working together to look after Henry and save their flagging bakery, Isabelle and her sisters begin to find answers to questions they never knew existed, unexpected ways to salve the wounds of their childhoods, and the courage to grasp surprising new chances at happiness. Poignant, funny, and as irresistible as one of the Bommarito sisters' delicious giant cupcakes, Henry's Sisters is a novel about family and forgiveness, about mothers and daughters, and about gaining the wisdom to look ahead while still holding tight to everything that matters most" -- from publisher's web site.