I couldn't put it down

books:


	• Three Girls and Their Brother: A Novel Theresa Rebeck Shaye Areheart Books, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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A great beach read

THREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER by Theresa Rebeck
September 4, 2008

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

I read THREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER a few months back. It is the rather auspicious fiction debut by Pulitzer finalist Theresa Rebeck. In short, the story revolves around a family of minor celebrities that becomes front page news after a provocative photo shoot of the three sisters, Daria (age 18), Polly (age 17) and Amelia (14). Brother Phillip (age 15) is left out, and all throughout the story, it is shown how left out he is not only in their professional lives but also in their personal lives as well.

The siblings get the attention of the media mainly because their grandfather is a famous writer but they are beauties and it makes for a sensational story. Phillip is overly protective of the youngest sister, Amelia, and this shows in the first section of the book. By the second section, their mother has gotten rid of Phillip and has sent him to live with his father, to get him out of the way so he doesn't continue to influence Amelia. In the meantime, Amelia gets into some trouble involving a famous actor who becomes smitten with her (the age gap is one problem) but she tries desperately to thwart his attentions. She also winds up getting a part in an off-Broadway play that this same actor is starring in, and things go downhill. The other two sisters seem jealous of Amelia's popularity, at least that is how it appears to the reader.

I'm not going to go on and on with the plot. It's a very involved story with each sibling taking turns at narrating, giving the reader a very different viewpoint of what is actually happening. I found it very refreshing to go from section to section, only to find that what I thought was occurring was really not happening at all. You get a different perspective each time you move on to another section of the book.

While I can't give THREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER a 5 star rating or even a 4, I am recommending it because this is one of those books that you can't put down. I can imagine this book being made into a movie, easily. The story to me read like a movie script. The reader does need to remember that this is a satire on the life of actors and those wannabes who crave fame and notoriety, so a lot of the action was over the top, including the ending, but that made sense after reading the book. However, I guess that over the top ending was one of the reasons I didn't give it as high a rating as I could have. A beach read for sure, THREE GIRLS AND THEIR BROTHER might even make my top list for 2008. It's a book I will not forget easily.

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fluffy nutter

this book is what it tis. Just fluff and good at it. It held my interest and Rebeck kept the story going. I would read more by this author.

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I couldn't put it down

I picked up this book on a whim and I'm really glad I did. The first night I read 88 pages and I finished it two nights later. Maybe it's because I do enjoy a bit of gossip (dlisted anyone?). It was interesting to see scandal from the other side, I guess I won't be so quick to judge from now on. I thought the author was really able to capture the voices of the 4 main characters so well, I got very attached to them. I was sad when the book ended and that hasn't happened to me in a long time. Thank you Ms. Rebeck, I needed that.

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entertaining fluff

I loved this book. It's totally lightweight fluff, yet there's enough fsmily dynamics in it to hold your interest. It reminded me of J.D. Salinger and also of early Jay McInerney.Bright Lights, Big City. I don't think you choose a book like this looking for deep psychological insights. It's just fun to see what's behind the glamorous photo spreads in the glossy magazines, and it does give a good idea of the mechanics and manipulations of the PR business. The author is a successul playwright; that explains the snappy dialog. I'd love to see one of her plays.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Now that it?s all over, everybody is saying it was the picture?that stupid picture was behind every disaster. . . .

They may be the granddaughters of a famous literary critic, but what really starts it all is Daria, Polly, and Amelia Heller?s stunning red hair. Out of the blue one day, The New Yorker calls and says that they want to feature the girls in a glamorous spread shot by a world-famous photographer, and before long these three beautiful nobodies from Brooklyn have been proclaimed the new ?It? girls.

But with no parental guidance?Mom?s a former beauty queen living vicariously through her daughters, and Dad is nowhere to be found?the three girls find themselves easy prey for the sharks and piranhas of show business. Posing in every hot fashion magazine, tangling with snarling fashonistas and soulless agents, skipping school and hitting A-list parties, the sisters are caught up in a whirlwind rise to fame that quickly spirals out of control.

When Amelia, the youngest of the three?who never really wanted to be a model in the first place?appears in an Off-Broadway play, the balance of power shifts, all the pent-up resentment and pressure comes to a head, and the girls? quiet, neglected brother reaches a critical point of virtual breakdown. And against the odds, even as the struggle for fame threatens to tear the family apart, the Hellers begin to see that despite the jealousy, greed, and uncertainty that have come to define their relationships, in the celebrity world of viciousness and betrayal, all they really have is one another.

Narrated in four parts, from the perspective of each sibling, Three Girls and Their Brother is a sharp, perceptive, and brilliantly written debut novel from an acclaimed playwright.

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