Rating: 
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: I couldn't put this book down. I knew what the end would be and it still made me cry when I got there. The novel is gripping, funny, and wrenching all at the same time. It is extremely well-written and the device of using letters to tell the story is innovative. You feel like Olivia is writing these letters to you. I can't say enough nice things about this book. It really is one of the best things I've read lately. I lost a beloved cousin to diabetes last year. She was like a sister to me and her struggle against her disease reminded me so much of what Maddie goes through in her struggle with Leukemia. At times it was just painful to read sections of this book because I identified so intensely with the characters and what they were going through. Elisabeth Robinson has obviously spent some serious time in hospitals and knows what it's like to deal with doctors who are less than caring and the frustration of not being able to do more for someone you love.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding Book!
Review: This book starts with a letter from Olivia Hunt to her unborn sister, Madeleine (a name Olivia chose for her sister). The letters continue throughout the book and throughout what is possibly the hardest year of the sisters' lives - Maddie is diagnosed with leukemia. Olivia, unemployed, single, self-absorbed, is hit hard with this news and tries to become the older sister she now wishes she were to begin with. Her letters, emails, and faxes reveal to us the pain she is in, tell us about their childhood, and give us a sometimes witty view of Hollywood life for an out-of-work producer. Maddie is the type of woman you always hope you'll be if you ever get stricken by something so horrible, brave, loving, strong, and unrelenting. This book is a wonderful first book for Elisabeth Robinson and I'm glad it's an Adventure I embarked on!
Rating:
Summary: Letters From the Heart
Review: The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters is a novel that truly touches the heart.Olivia is the core of the novel.Through her witty,emotional letters we all learn valuable life lessons.We meet Olivia when she is ready to give up on life..........a failed relationship and an unfulfilled career. She is reborn when her sister Madeline is diagnosed with leukemia. This triggers a response that changes her life's direction and reorders the priorities of her life. Olivia is given a push from her ailing sister to resume her dream of producing a Hollywood movie.This quest is second to the real struggle that ensues......the struggle to be a support for her very ill sister. Her letters are heart-warming and heart wrenching as Olivia struggles to juggle her career and her relationships with the more important job of helping her sister fight the leukemia.Sisterly love is the heart and soul of this book.It makes the struggle an emotional roller coaster of tears and smiles.This novel makes me listen more closely to the words.........To dream the impossible dream.........to fight the unbeatable foe.......to bear with unbearable sorrow .......to go where the brave dare not go...........Olivia lived these words and made us all wiser because of it.
Rating:
Summary: unputdownable tearjerker, but told with wit and humour
Review: I am not one to write online reviews of books. But this book made such an impression on me, I felt compelled to write this. I highly recommend this book - you will find yourself laughing out loud to yourself, and then bawling your eyes out (the heaving kind of bawling!). Elisabeth Robinson created such beautiful yet credible relationships among her characters. I absolutely loved Olivia who was so real - I found myself thinking how I would love to be friends with her. Her character is one from which many could learn a few lessons (personally and professionally). I think that this book will stay with me for quite awhile. Congratulations, Elisabeth Robinson, on your first book. You did an incredible job and should be so proud of yourself! The best book I have read since The Great Santini!
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Story
Review: Olivia Hunt is unable to find happiness in her life. She's been struggling to keep her job and get someone to pick up her movie for production. She's had no luck in her relationships and she's ready to throw in the towel completely. While writing her suicide note she receives a phone call that changes her life. She is told that her younger sister Madeleine has leukemia. This is a beautiful story of family, love and loss. From the very first page, Robinson will capture readers for an emotional rollercoaster ride. Through Olivia's eyes, Madeleine has always had it easy. A perfect life with a perfect marriage. Now Olivia must face her family and her fears and head home for the first time in several years. Olivia's life begins to pick up as well and she must juggle her movie production, traveling the movie's location while helping her sister and trying to keep her own life together. She discovers things about herself, her sister and her family that allows her to gain perspective on her life. Readers will laugh and cry and enjoy the added insight from Olivia's letters written to various people in her life that are included throughout the story. This is a story filled with hope, passion, love and laughter. It portrays a beautiful relationship between two sisters and their strength and struggle to help each other.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most heart-felt books I've read in a long time!
Review: I'm a non-stop reader, and this book was exceptional!!! I love the way she introduces the characters into the story, and keeps them in it from the beginning until the end. I look forward to seeing more books from her in the future!
Rating:
Summary: A Promising Debut, Full of Humor and Honesty
Review: In August of 1971 a little girl writes a letter to her unborn sister. "It's like you are here," she writes with love, "only you're invisible." In this letter Olivia Hunt welcomes Madeline to her life. Even though times and technology have changed, Olivia Hunt, now a busy movie executive, still finds time to write good old-fashioned letters. In fact, it is in these letters that the busy and often emotional and physically distant Olivia maintains her relationships and communicates her feelings. When Madeline is diagnosed with cancer, Olivia's letters show her struggling with her feelings for her family and trying to take care of her sister, while attempting to get an ambitious movie made and trying to understand why her long term relationship has ended. In letters to her sister, parents, best friend, ex-boyfriend and co-workers, Olivia tries to manage a life and career, both of which seem to be spinning out of control. The central story in Elisabeth Robinson's debut novel THE TRUE AND OUTSTANDING ADVENTURES OF THE HUNT SISTERS is that of Olivia and Madeline. Though the sisters are very different, Madeline's illness causes Olivia to reassess their relationship. Madeline has always been critical of her older sister and ready with unwanted advice. But her cancer changes everything. Olivia remembers the stories she created for them when they were little; these memories and her sister's strength ground Olivia even as Madeline's health and her movie project prospects seem to worsen. Besides flying home to be by Madeline's bedside, Olivia is flying between Los Angeles and Spain trying to get her movie, a version of Don Quixote, made. Often the most lighthearted of the subplots, Olivia's challenge here is to successfully produce her movie without compromising her vision. Hollywood politics make her task difficult, but she finds inspiration in Madeline. Meanwhile, Olivia sends a series of letters to her ex, Michael, an artist who has moved to rural New Mexico. She opens her heart to him in epistles, remembering what went right and what went wrong in their relationship. Throughout the novel Olivia is forced to prioritize the things in her life. She must also come to terms with her complicated relationships. Her time with Madeline may be limited, and Olivia must discover and celebrate the love that they have for each other, despite their differences and history. Robinson's novel has the style and trappings of "chick lit" but works hard to transcend the genre. Written completely in letter form (and all the letters are from Olivia; we never have a chance to read other points of view), it is difficult at times to get close to the characters and understand their motivations. Even as Olivia struggles to let go of some selfishness, Robinson allows her to claim all the attention, silencing the other figures in the book, for the most part. Still, Olivia is a sharp and witty narrator, and her letters are often hilarious, poignant or both. Another difficulty with the novel is its reliance on and reference to Don Quixote. The film version of Cervantes's tale is Olivia's dream. Perhaps she identifies with the famous dreamer, but her attachment to the story is not quite clear. She refers to sections of the classic often in her letters, though readers unfamiliar with the story may be somewhat at a loss. Robinson shines, however, in capturing the conflicts and heartbreak of a family dealing with a loved one's illness. Her characters feel the most real, the most honest, here. Overall, Robinson's novel is a promising debut, full of humor and honesty. Olivia Hunt's story is one of relationships and self-understanding --- and Robinson is brave enough to give the reader both a happy and a sad ending. --- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
Rating: 
Summary: Wait for the paperback
Review: I saw this book and amazon and read through a couple of reviews and decided to give it a try. It is a quick and entertaining ready, which I enjoyed, but didn't love. The idea of the novel being told through letters seemed like a good idea until I got into the book. I never was able to buy into the fact that this LA based, hard working Hollywood woman, would actually write these letters. Who writes letters in this day and age. The book mentions a few reasons throughout the novel as why she chooses this means of communications, but it often feels forced. Personally, I believe this aspect of the novel took me away from the story, because I kept thinking - why wouldn't she write an e-mail, pick up a phone, etc. Overall, it is an entertaining novel but I would wait till it comes out on paperback or borrow from a friend.
Rating:
Summary: Art or Life?
Review: First, a clarification: THE TRUE AND OUTSTANDING ADVENTURES OF THE HUNT SISTERS is marketed as a work of fiction and I read it and am reviewing it as such. It's the story of sixteen months in the life of a thirty-ish Hollywood movie producer -- struggling in her job, in her love life, and with her family including a suddenly sick younger sister -- told completely through the letters the protagonist writes during that time. It is an entertaining story, a light and fast read. The format gives it an interactive feel -- there are no transitions between letters, thus readers take a more active role in re-orienting themselves as to time and place and recipient of each letter. The lack of transitions is effectively used to surprise the reader with events that occur between letters. Some of the best are comic surprises, for example when one letter ends with the protagonist insisting she will just absolutely never ever agree to some thing - and the next beginning with her having acquiesced ... the reader smiles knowingly while imagining the details of what led to the compromise. The novel even exposes a little about the work of a producer -- and while watching a movie this weekend, I found myself appreciating the ratio of "covered" to "exterior" locations. I would have liked something more at the very beginning of the story to help me buy into the protagonist's dedication to handwritten letters ... I kept thinking, "why not e-mails?" One answer is because the letters were all dated in 1998 and 1999, when e-mail was still revving up -- but then that made me wonder, "Why specify 1999?" in a novel published in 2004. There was also a reference to paper airline tickets, which felt dated. And the letter format eventually became tiresome. Exhausting, even. It is the ultimate in first-person point of view, and I craved a break from being inside the protagonist's brain, yet kept reading "just one more" and then "just one more" instead of putting the book aside for awhile. Read this novel for its poignant glimpse into life's important relationships, and especially for its entertaining glimpse into the business of Hollywood.
Rating:
Summary: makes you think about your own relationships
Review: this was a first pick for our (my coworkers) newly formed book club...although we didn't all "love" it, we all found it funny, sad and provoked many questions about our own interractions and relationships with those we love.
| 
