Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The Hurricane Sisters-Dorothea Benton Frank


The Hurricane Sisters

Dorothea Benton Frank

Morrow, Jun 3 2014, $26.99

ISBN: 9780062132529

 

In Charleston, South Carolina, sandwiched generation Liz struggles with her family.  Her recently turned eighty mom Maisie remains the opinionated family matriarch while always disapproving of her and encouraging her grandchildren.  Liz’s apparently philandering husband Clayton prefers to stay in New York more than in Lowcountry.  Finally the lifestyles of her adult children bother her; as her oldest Ivy resides in San Francisco with his beloved mate James and her recent college grad daughter Ashley remains wistful in a cloud state of mind.  Her only satisfaction is her work at a preventing domestic violence at a not for profit. 

 

Liz worries most about Ashley who works at a gallery while painting.  Ashley and her BFF Mary Beth have a scheme to make money that seems doomed to fail and most likely illegal.  Her affair with State Senator Porter Galloway appears ready to implode even as the dreamer ignores her friend and her gut preferring to believe one day she will be First Lady to her lover’s POTUS.

 

Though somewhat disjointed while rotating perspective between the four fully-developed family members living in Lowcountry, readers obtain diverse views on the same incident as the theory of relativity filters each person’s perception.  The dysfunctional family dynamics storyline engages the audience especially the realistic older three; while Ashley acts more like a young teenybopper than a college graduate even when she emulates her mom’s acceptance of crap from the man in her life. 

 

Harriet Klausner

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