The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! đ
wuchea's review against another edition
4.0
a bit heavy handed, but interesting look at female friendship and second wave feminism
4 friends who graduated Michigan Law in 82 reunite to face down past trauma. I thought I knew the ending, but I was wrong!
4 friends who graduated Michigan Law in 82 reunite to face down past trauma. I thought I knew the ending, but I was wrong!
karieh13's review against another edition
3.0
The strong themes of âThe Four Ms. Bradwellsâ for me were the re-examining of past choices and their consequences and the mother/daughter relationship seen in a new light as the daughter becomes a mother as well.
These four women, Mia, Laney, Betts and Ginger, have a decades long friendship â filled with wonderful memoriesâŚas well as a few terrible ones that haunt them to this day. Choices were made whose consequences are truly only now coming to light.
The book plays out over a long weekend â but constantly jumps back to the past. For much of the beginning of the book, this made it difficult for me to follow â it seems like the story went back in time practically mid-sentence and I kept getting lost. Because the same people are involved and the incidents happen mostly in the same place, I was confused as to what events happened when.
This review is difficult for me to write because I very much enjoyed âThe Wednesday Sistersâ and have Meg Waite Clayton on my list of writers to follow â but I just couldnât fully enjoy this book. Beyond the time confusion, I kept having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter I was on to see which of the womenâs perspective we were in. The voices just werenât different enough for me to keep track.
And yet â there were such lovely scenes and such beautiful turns of phrase. âLonely. I feel it worse here at Motherâs empty house, even with Laneyâs arm warm against mine, with Max beside me and Mia on the other side of him. Was Mother ever lonely like this? Behind the frantic activism she lived and breathed for all the world to see, did she ever feel anyone knew her? Did she ever wonder if the person sheâd grown up to be was the person she meant to become?â
And, âIâm not sure which surprises me more: Laney lashing out at Ginger, or the fact that our friendship has survived so many years of this boiling under the surface, all this second guessing about the choices we never did really agree upon.â
I think there are a few very strong stories in the book. They just didnât come across as clearly or as powerfully as I expected.
These four women, Mia, Laney, Betts and Ginger, have a decades long friendship â filled with wonderful memoriesâŚas well as a few terrible ones that haunt them to this day. Choices were made whose consequences are truly only now coming to light.
The book plays out over a long weekend â but constantly jumps back to the past. For much of the beginning of the book, this made it difficult for me to follow â it seems like the story went back in time practically mid-sentence and I kept getting lost. Because the same people are involved and the incidents happen mostly in the same place, I was confused as to what events happened when.
This review is difficult for me to write because I very much enjoyed âThe Wednesday Sistersâ and have Meg Waite Clayton on my list of writers to follow â but I just couldnât fully enjoy this book. Beyond the time confusion, I kept having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter I was on to see which of the womenâs perspective we were in. The voices just werenât different enough for me to keep track.
And yet â there were such lovely scenes and such beautiful turns of phrase. âLonely. I feel it worse here at Motherâs empty house, even with Laneyâs arm warm against mine, with Max beside me and Mia on the other side of him. Was Mother ever lonely like this? Behind the frantic activism she lived and breathed for all the world to see, did she ever feel anyone knew her? Did she ever wonder if the person sheâd grown up to be was the person she meant to become?â
And, âIâm not sure which surprises me more: Laney lashing out at Ginger, or the fact that our friendship has survived so many years of this boiling under the surface, all this second guessing about the choices we never did really agree upon.â
I think there are a few very strong stories in the book. They just didnât come across as clearly or as powerfully as I expected.
orygunn's review against another edition
4.0
I preferred this one to the Wednesday Sisters, but that may be because I'm an attorney. A wonderful tale of the strength of female friendship.
kiterature's review against another edition
2.0
As a future law student, I thought this book would be a fascinating read. This book follows 4 women who became best friends in law school, but as one of them is nominated to the Supreme Court, a scandal is revealed that they have to learn how to cope with. I found the book unrealistic and bland. Each chapter was in a different woman's point of view, but all of their voices sounded the same. And really, even law school students don't speak to each other in Latin and have books of poetry memorized. The scandal was sort of interesting, but seemed to drag on. By the end, I was very ready for it to be finished.
hellokeila's review against another edition
I wanted to like this book, especially based on the premise. But it was soooo boring. The plot moved slow (if at all), the characters took a long time to develop, and following each woman's storyline and point of view got kind of confusing. I hate the idea of not finishing a book, but this one got returned to the library incomplete.
lemkegirl's review against another edition
3.0
This book explores many different themes, friendship, tragedy, parenting, women's rights, sex, deception... Yet among all of these things what stands out to me is the beautiful imagery that Meg Waite Clayton uses throughout the book.
While not a light beach read, if read in a book club would make for some great discussions.
Overall a good solid book that I liked.
While not a light beach read, if read in a book club would make for some great discussions.
Overall a good solid book that I liked.
melissarochelle's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't really start to enjoy this book until 80 pages in. It seems I could never quite put together which character I was getting the story from. Then I thought it got better, but it quickly fell apart.
The story is about 4 women who have been friends since law school. They came together when Betts is going through the process of becoming a Supreme Court justice. Then we find out that there's a potential problem. The four women were at a house where an accident (murder? suicide?) took place during their last year of law school. We find out as the story progresses that the man found dead was also a totally jerk-off --really horrible man-- for many reasons.
The disconnect for me was why it was a big deal. I understand that he did a bad thing, but only 5 people knew. And I feel like we were never given a conclusion. If it wasn't an accident, who killed him? I didn't love this book (in fact, I wanted to abandon it)...it was really just OK.
The story is about 4 women who have been friends since law school. They came together when Betts is going through the process of becoming a Supreme Court justice. Then we find out that there's a potential problem. The four women were at a house where an accident (murder? suicide?) took place during their last year of law school. We find out as the story progresses that the man found dead was also a totally jerk-off --really horrible man-- for many reasons.
The disconnect for me was why it was a big deal. I understand that he did a bad thing, but only 5 people knew. And I feel like we were never given a conclusion. If it wasn't an accident, who killed him? I didn't love this book (in fact, I wanted to abandon it)...it was really just OK.
syllouise's review against another edition
2.0
Clever aspects and poignant in places but dragged too much to rate higher than 2
mmz's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good book. But it could have been a great book if Clayton had been both less heavy-handed in her feminist discussions and less coy in her descriptions of her characters.
This book is not chick-lit by any means; it's themes are far too serious. But it's true, I suspect, that most of it's readers will be women. And most of those women will not need the kind of tutorial on feminism in the early 1980s that Clayton seems determined to provide. Not that we should forget the sacrifices made and hardships endured by our mothers and grandmothers, but a lighter touch might have better served the narrative here.
In contrast to her need to spell her feminism out in great detail, Clayton seems reluctant to give details about the relationships between and among her characters (and their mothers). It's certainly a valid literary technique to leave certain details to the reader's imagination, but it can be frustrating when the emotional crux of the story hinges on relationships that the author hasn't allowed one to get a clear sense of.
This book is not chick-lit by any means; it's themes are far too serious. But it's true, I suspect, that most of it's readers will be women. And most of those women will not need the kind of tutorial on feminism in the early 1980s that Clayton seems determined to provide. Not that we should forget the sacrifices made and hardships endured by our mothers and grandmothers, but a lighter touch might have better served the narrative here.
In contrast to her need to spell her feminism out in great detail, Clayton seems reluctant to give details about the relationships between and among her characters (and their mothers). It's certainly a valid literary technique to leave certain details to the reader's imagination, but it can be frustrating when the emotional crux of the story hinges on relationships that the author hasn't allowed one to get a clear sense of.