Anna Quindlen takes on sisters in her novel “Rise and Shine,” and not just the familial bond between sisters, but what’s it like to be the sister of the most famous talking head on TV.
Meghan Fitzmaurice is an anchorwoman with the highest rated morning show, a Katie Couric character when Katie was with the Today Show. Meghan has a life every broadcast journalist envy’s – the only job more prestigious is to anchor the evening world news on a major station. In contrast, her sister Bridget, is a social worker helping homeless women in the Bronx.
The striking contrasts between the sisters’ careers helps to better understand the sisters’ similarities as well as their differences. Meghan is well connected, rich, married with a son. Bridget is single, but involved with a much older NYC detective. The sisters are well suited to their careers, and to the lives they have fashioned for themselves. Until, of course, a life altering moment happens, then another, then another – setting into motion a season of change that redefines everything.
Meghan, the older sister took care of Bridget after their parents died and they went to live with their Aunt Maureen. The girls went from country clubs to a much simpler life. Here the sisters took on the roles they would play out for decades.
Bridget in the beginning of the novel states that: “Meghan’s life is so full that she had to jettison the peripherals.” That line stuck with me through the book and, I wondered who and what the peripherals were. We talked about the peripherals later in book club. It was an interesting discussion.
In the novel, Meghan is the first to experience that life altering moment (two actually). Then Quindlen creates a subtle tension with Bridget’s boyfriend Irving Lefkowitz. He stresses on Bridget that there is an inherent danger with a women’s shelter especially one in the Bronx. As a NYC detective, he understands that trouble, bad trouble, can smash into the lives of the women at the shelter at any time. Tick-tock.
I absolutely loved “Every Last One,” by Quindlen. All of us in our book club were blown away by the book. I would highly recommend it. Our book club liked this book, but it didn’t have that same wow factor.
This is a quick read and topics we discussed at book club were: 1) Does having it all really exist? 2) How long can we have it all before the seasons of change arrive? 3) The big fight at the end of the book – do you think you would forgive your sister? 4) The jettisoned peripherals – who and what were they?
In the back of the book Quindlen answers some questions about writing and her career. She said there was a perception that she had blown a major story when she was a young reporter. The truth was more complicated than that. But, Quindlen came to understand that truth is less important than the spin (page 275).
Interesting!
Rating: 6.5