Double, double, toil and trouble…

With characters named after Shakespearean heroines and dialogue sprinkled with quotes from the Bard, Eleanor Brown delivers on the reference in her title – but without Macbeth or witches.  And, if you have sisters or daughters in your family, some of the scenes will resonate.

Set in a small college town in Ohio, The Weird Sisters has a predictable plot of family problem-solving and relationships.  Three unmarried sisters, named Rosalind, Bianca, and Cordelia by their English professor father, return home to care for their mother who has breast cancer.   But each also has her own unresolved life issues to confront.

..we love each other, we just don’t happen to like each other…

Brown uses a clever device to tell the story; at times, all three sisters are telling the story as one voice.  She has you inside their heads, seeing each other, themselves, and the world around them – in a kaleidoscopic view.  Can be strange (weird?) at times, but keeps the cauldron bubbling.

They are what they are, and yet not:  Rose, the eldest, most responsible and accomplished; Bean (Bianca) most beautiful; Cordy, youngest, most spoiled, and looking for something that is not a hand-me-down.  As the story develops around their mother’s cancer – chemo, surgery, embolisms – each sister confronts her own demons to face her destiny: Rose’s fear of leaving, Bean’s professional life as a “thief and liar,” Cordy’s irresponsibility and pregnancy.

Brown teases with some drama, and a little sex – and works in convenient plot twists to solve all problems – all’s well that ends well – maybe a little too neatly.  The characters, especially the sisters’ father, reference Shakespeare in their general conversation, but the quotes get a little overdone and, sometimes, you will wish Brown would just get on with it, and say what she means.

The Weird Sisters is a good story for a quiet afternoon – a Hallmark channel kind of luxury.  I cried and laughed a little, related to some scenes, recognized most of the Elizabethan references, looked forward to the ending…

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day… “