336 pages
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
Hardcover (January 20, 2011)

The Weird Sisters is an understudy to the characters in Shakespeare‘s Mac Beth who, aptly enough, are named after characters in some of the Bard’s stories: Rosalind, the romantic heroine in As You Like It; Bianca, the desirable sister in The Taming of The Shrew; and Cordelia, the favored daughter in King Lear. If you are not familiar with Shakespeare’s tomes you will, undoubtedly, have a hard time picking up on the tinge-of-the-telling that flows throughout these pages.

Nevertheless, if you do read this book, the first thing you will notice is the narration. Brown has chosen to use a rare form of writing known as first person plural. The sisters speak in a collective voice throughout the telling, which makes for a fluid technique.

That being said it defies logic, in my opinion, as to why Brown, for the most part, chose to tell the story rather than show it. I found this to be a weakness on the part of the writer. So much so that it became distracting. The story itself is about siblings who return home when their mother becomes ill, and the ensuing character-study between the three of them.

About the only thing I liked was the rhythm within the well thought-out syntax of the writing style, and the fact that it is written in first person plural. If it weren’t for the many descriptive distractions, this could have been a good story.   Three ½ stars.

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