Three Daughters

Rating:
Summary: awkward, but absorbing, tale of Jewish womanhood.
Review: "Three Daughters", the first novel of accomplished feminist and non-fiction writer Letty Pogrebin, tells the story of three sisters and their families, friends, and pasts. Each of the sisters lives a life that is both exactly what she wants and a failure: each is estranged from her family, or from reality, or from her truest self. Through the course of the novel, they begin to recognize their weaknesses and, with each others' help, forge the beginnings of a better life.

It sounds like an Oprah Book Club book, and it reads like one at times. Pogrebin is obviously a novice; she tries too hard to make clever use of language and often overuses it. But she writes interesting, believable characters who live in a plausible world. The story is complex enough to be absorbing for nearly 400 pages (in a time of 200-page books, it's nice to have something to sink one's teeth into) without being confusing. And, while this book will not win any awards for depth or thematic subtlety, it's an interesting and inspiring read.

That this book is most interesting to Jewish women hardly needs saying; the sisters are Jewish and they make no secret of it. I found the book to be self-conscious about its religious emphasis at times, but Pogrebin's thorough knowledge of unusual aspects of Jewish faith and culture won me over.

Rating:
Summary: awkward, but absorbing, tale of Jewish womanhood.
Review: "Three Daughters", the first novel of accomplished feminist and non-fiction writer Letty Pogrebin, tells the story of three sisters and their families, friends, and pasts. Each of the sisters lives a life that is both exactly what she wants and a failure: each is estranged from her family, or from reality, or from her truest self. Through the course of the novel, they begin to recognize their weaknesses and, with each others' help, forge the beginnings of a better life.

It sounds like an Oprah Book Club book, and it reads like one at times. Pogrebin is obviously a novice; she tries too hard to make clever use of language and often overuses it. But she writes interesting, believable characters who live in a plausible world. The story is complex enough to be absorbing for nearly 400 pages (in a time of 200-page books, it's nice to have something to sink one's teeth into) without being confusing. And, while this book will not win any awards for depth or thematic subtlety, it's an interesting and inspiring read.

That this book is most interesting to Jewish women hardly needs saying; the sisters are Jewish and they make no secret of it. I found the book to be self-conscious about its religious emphasis at times, but Pogrebin's thorough knowledge of unusual aspects of Jewish faith and culture won me over.

Rating:
Summary: You need to be (1) from New York and/or (2) Jewish.....
Review:

This book arrived at my house from the publisher...via a book review site. Somebody goofed. The only thing I have in common with this story line is that I'm the female offspring of two parents. That's where any similarity between the three Wasserman girls and my world ends.

Native New Yorkers will love the way the author drops restaurant names and eludes to places only natives know about. If you're Jewish and from New York, so much the better. You'll get all the inside jokes and you'll rally behind the author's secondary plot -- the state of Israel.

All three women in this story are high maintenance, whiny and grate on the nerves. They wouldn't last long on the farm, I can tell you that. My daddy woulda slapped Leah into next week and my mama woulda washed her mouth out with soap. Someone in my family woulda told Rachel about her philandering husband long before her nervous nellie sister Shoshanna did.

For all her pedigree in feminism (she was a co-founder of Ms. Magazine), letty cottin pogrebin has crafted a story about three grown women who act as though they were frozen in selfish adolescence. None of it was funny or appealing to me. But, then, pogrebin probably wouldn't find much to identify with if I wrote a book about growing up as a southern WASP, either.

Rating:
Summary: Don't tell me, show me!
Review: Did I read the same book as the other reviewers here? I am so sorry I bought this book instead of borrowing it from the library. I've already donated it to a used book sale -- it is NOT a keeper.

Pogrebin did everything wrong in this pedantic, sermonizing, boring mess of a "novel." She shows us nothing and tells us everything, usually in numbing detail.

She also knows nothing about 50 year olds. I'm the same age as the youngest daughter. Not one person I know was upset about turning 50. (My best friend threw herself a party, a catered affair at a restaurant, for 150 people.) 40 maybe, but not 50.

And there's no way Shoshanah could have gone to college the same time I did. Where's Woodstock? The moon landing? Kent State? And the use of the adjective "glam" was about 15 years too early. "Cool," "neat," even "groovy," but never "glam."

The loss of the filofax was supposed to be pivotal, but barely made a ripple in anyone's life. Big deal. So she forgot an appointment, lost a theater ticket. She got a Palm Pilot and her assistant rescued the day.

Another sister after 40+ years discovers her hubby is a philanderer. It's got the making of a great scene when she confronts him. Instead, we're TOLD that she threw him out. As my kids say, "Well, duh."

And I had guessed the deep, dark secret that made the father "abandon" his oldest daughter almost from the beginning. So where was the suspense?

And all the loose ends! Why didn't super researcher Shoshanah go find her nephew and explain the facts of his conception, instead of letting him think his mother had shtupped her brother-in-law? Did the brother in jail ever find out? What was his reaction? What about the hubby in the "rest home"? Does he return home healed?

Sorry, but I just could not understand how such dreck could have been published while so many interesting mss. are buried in slush piles.

Obviously, it's who not what you know.

Rating:
Summary: really, really not worth the money
Review: I had a very hard time enjoying this book. I felt like there was little to no character development, a meandering plot, and a completely unsatisfying ending. I haven't struggled so hard to get through a book in a long time, and the only reason I didn't just give up on it was because it was the selection for my book club. It was 240 pages before anything interesting happened, and then even that plot line was poorly followed through. I am sorry, but there was almost nothing in this book that spoke to me. I am glad I got a used copy and spent only seven dollars, but even that felt like too much.

Rating:
Summary: really, really not worth the money
Review: I had a very hard time enjoying this book. I felt like there was little to no character development, a meandering plot, and a completely unsatisfying ending. I haven't struggled so hard to get through a book in a long time, and the only reason I didn't just give up on it was because it was the selection for my book club. It was 240 pages before anything interesting happened, and then even that plot line was poorly followed through. I am sorry, but there was almost nothing in this book that spoke to me. I am glad I got a used copy and spent only seven dollars, but even that felt like too much.

Rating:
Summary: Three Daughters
Review: I laugh inside all the time, but when something makes me laugh out loud, that's usually a long overdue delight. When I heard Letty's interview on Diane Rheme and her excerpts made me laugh out loud, I had to read this book. Not only did I laugh out loud, but I could picture every part of this book, including what Leah's house smelled liked. Letty's writing captivates, I didn't want it to end.

Rating:
Summary: An Unbelievably SMART and LIVELY book
Review: I rarely finish a novel and then re-open to the beginning as I did with Three Daughters. Though I've read Pogrebin's non-fiction, and found them extremely memorable, this first novel of hers is entirely different.

I couldn't believe the brilliance that ran through the entire book. Nor do I understand how anyone can say that these characters were stilted, or were told but not shown. Absolutely untrue, at least for me, each one leapt to life, as did many of the issues Leah, Shoshanna and Rachel brought with them. Each woman, or daughter was absolutely three dimensional, vivid and unique. I dearly hope one doesn't have to be Jewish and/or a New Yorker to get the depth of the mind that created this work of art.

I found all the discussions of Judaic law, of Israel, of discord in a family so nuanced and was mesmerized by the tone of the entire book, which reminded me of Saul Bellow's mind, minus his self-indulgence. This book shines with a brilliance that is, as someone said below, breathtaking. How Pogrebin can make a middle aged woman racing across a busy street to save her rolodex exciting, I can't say, because I can't do it. But this first novel was dramatic, flowing and exciting from cover to cover. "Three Daughters" was for me a rare find. Alas, I am Jewish and a sometime New Yorker, so maybe it's an acquired taste. I surely hope not. Great writing speaks universal truths, and I was simply blown away by this novel, as few others do effect me. I highly recommend all readers to give this book a careful read-through. It's more than 5 stars, and as a first novel, if not a first book, kudos to the author for a wonderful, earth-shattering read. Thank you, Ms. Pogrebin!

Rating:
Summary: An Unbelievably SMART and LIVELY book
Review: I rarely finish a novel and then re-open to the beginning as I did with Three Daughters. Though I've read Pogrebin's non-fiction, and found them extremely memorable, this first novel of hers is entirely different.

I couldn't believe the brilliance that ran through the entire book. Nor do I understand how anyone can say that these characters were stilted, or were told but not shown. Absolutely untrue, at least for me, each one leapt to life, as did many of the issues Leah, Shoshanna and Rachel brought with them. Each woman, or daughter was absolutely three dimensional, vivid and unique. I dearly hope one doesn't have to be Jewish and/or a New Yorker to get the depth of the mind that created this work of art.

I found all the discussions of Judaic law, of Israel, of discord in a family so nuanced and was mesmerized by the tone of the entire book, which reminded me of Saul Bellow's mind, minus his self-indulgence. This book shines with a brilliance that is, as someone said below, breathtaking. How Pogrebin can make a middle aged woman racing across a busy street to save her rolodex exciting, I can't say, because I can't do it. But this first novel was dramatic, flowing and exciting from cover to cover. "Three Daughters" was for me a rare find. Alas, I am Jewish and a sometime New Yorker, so maybe it's an acquired taste. I surely hope not. Great writing speaks universal truths, and I was simply blown away by this novel, as few others do effect me. I highly recommend all readers to give this book a careful read-through. It's more than 5 stars, and as a first novel, if not a first book, kudos to the author for a wonderful, earth-shattering read. Thank you, Ms. Pogrebin!

Rating:
Summary: Sisterhood is powerful.
Review: Letty Cottin Pogrebin, the cofounder of Ms. magazine and the author of eight works of nonfiction, has written her first novel. "Three Daughters" is about half-sisters who lead complicated and multi-faceted lives. Leah is an English professor and an ardent feminist who tends to be pedantic, opinionated and overbearing. Rachel, the mother of five, is a domestic diva with a deep interest in Jewish theology. Shoshanna is a nervous type. Like Chicken Little, she is forever afraid that the sky is about to fall.

Leah, Rachel, and Shoshanna have a stormy history, and Pogrebin demonstrates that sisterhood can be a strong bond as well as a source of resentment, envy, and conflict. Pogrebin gives these three women well-defined personalities and we see how they change over time. Illuminating flashbacks shed light on how their childhoods marked them for life.

Where Pogrebin falters is in her writing style and plot development. She indulges in melodramatic and overwrought language when understatement and subtlety would have been more effective. At a little under four hundred pages, the book goes on and on; less would have been more. The author's feminist agenda takes center stage here and she pushes it so hard that it throws the narrative out of balance. A novel should develop naturally rather than serve as a forum to deliver political statements. Finally, the book is loaded with more angst than is needed in one novel. Some of the themes in "Three Daughters" are long-buried family secrets and grudges, marriages on the rocks, child abuse, mental illness, mid-life crises, and Jewish rituals.

Who will enjoy this book? Those who like to read about dysfunctional individuals who make an effort to bond after years of estrangement may find "Three Daughters" poignant and meaningful. However, since I found this novel to be more tedious than entertaining, I do not recommend it.