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Dec 16, 2009

Michele rated it:

Sad Plunge into Mediocrity

I have a very strong belief that if this were a first novel by an unknown author, it would have never seen print. The story is all premise, and the promise of a novel about sisters-- one a celebrity morning talk show host the other an obscure social worker--weathering an enormous crisis, doesn't comes to fruition. This so-called crisis (at least the situation that prevails through most of the book), while titillating and tabloid, is ultimately pitiful. An More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2008

Jenny rated it:

This is quite possibly one of the worst books I've read recently. I enjoyed Black & Blue back when it was an Oprah book but this is just . . . ugh. It doesn't have characters, it has cliché after cliché. Hard career woman, perfect teen, sassy wise black women, bleeding heart social workers, crusty old cops . . . the list goes on and none of them are particularly likeable or interesting. And the "incident" that sets everything into motion was laughable.

By the end I didn' More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Sep 28, 2007

Teresa rated it:

Anna Quindlen writes this novel more as if she has a point to make than a story to tell. She manages to stretch the significance of a Janet-Jackson-Superbowl-esque incident far beyond its viability, all the while bashing us over the head with the ideas that our collective morality is purely for show, that rich people spend way too much time and money on dumb crap and that Manhattan society is... wait for it... mostly frivolous.

I'm not sure why she thinks she has anything new to contr More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2008

Sarah rated it:

A celebrated television personality's fall from grace told from the point of view of her adoring younger sister. The story firmly held my interest, a page turner to be sure. Unlike most novels I read, I was not enamored with either of the central characters, it was their co-stars who struck my fancy. Though the plot earns a sold four stars, at times, Quindlen's writing is surprisingly discombobulated. On numerous occasions a passage required a second or third reading in order for me to grasp the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 17, 2007

Jean rated it:

I usually like Anna Quindlen's work, but it took everything I had not to abandon this book in the middle. I kept thinking it would get better. It didn't. The story is about two sisters, one rich and famous and the other a social worker who seems to have a hard time figuring out her life. Maybe it felt episodic because I was listening to it on CD, but I just couldn't find the rhythm of the story. And I felt like the author was trying too hard to get me to like the characters. Oh, well. Mayb More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2009

Cindy rated it:

I had never read anything by Anna Quindlen before, but had heard good things about her books. When I saw this at the library, I snatched it up, hoping for a really good story.

What I got was something middle-of-the-road. The story was somewhat formulaic - two sisters, one is hugely famous, the other more anonymous. A mild "tragedy" occurs, and the famous sister runs away from the problem to reflect on her situation. Another greater tragedy occurs to bring her back from h More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2008

Carol rated it:

I kept reading the book, hoping it would redeem itself, but alas, it only got worse.

The two main characters were selfish, juvenile, and in serious need of therapy. I was aghast at the self-serving older sister, who took and took, and was just a horrible person, yet everyone in the book excused her for one reason or another (well, except her ex-husband who I thought was the only one w/any sense).

Two things really baffled me: the name of the shelter were the younger siste More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 06, 2008

Beth rated it:

I listened to this on tape and found myself sitting outside Nugget Grocery just to hear what would happen next. Anna Quindlen is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and also writes excellent fiction that was excellently read. Rise and Shine is the story of two sisters, Meghan who is a national figure who hosts a morning TV show and her sister, Bridget, who is a social worker in the projects. Both lost their parents when Meghan was 8 and Briget was 4 and their relationship is greatly influence More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2007

Amy (amyb2332) rated it:

I think if I had read the book instead of listening to the audio version I might have given this 3 stars instead of 2. I don't know though, that's a big maybe. I didn't love the narrator - she would try to do these different voices but they all just sounded the same or really stupid. But even with not loving the narrator, I'm not sure I would have liked this book much.

I don't mind little flashbacks in the beginning or middle of a book, but by the end I just want you to get on with More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 13, 2007

megan rated it:

Was pleasantly surprised with this book--it was not as melodramatic as I expected and was a lot more, for lack of a better word, gritty. The story essentially revolves around two sisters and their relationship with each other and the dichotomies in their personalities. One sister, Meghan, is an morning talk show host who (I think) is meant to resemble Katie Couric. She has a SNAFU on air--which the author reveals to be symptomatic of larger personal issues. The other sister works as a Social More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 14, 2008

Lynettebachand rated it:

I did enjoy a lot about the book, but two things irritated me. One was the author's wierd obsession with all things opulent, and the other was her continual holier-than-thou attitude about New York City. I had to wonder: was she scoffing at the lavish lifestyles as the main character did, or was this not a secret envy of those who can and do live this way? And secondly I wondered: Are all of us dummies who don't live in the Big Apple delegated to second rate comparitively?

Other than More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 13, 2008

mandy rated it:

not a great book. i didn't get the story line. and the way the narrator felt/talked about her nephew really made me feel dirty. way more than parental feelings going on there. and she spent the entire novel talking down about how rich, entitled new yorkers act, but the whole time she was doing the same thing. definitely not one i would recommend to anyone. only would tell ppl who think new york is the best thing since sliced bread to read this. and i have no feelings about new york, since More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 21, 2011

Jack rated it:

I was always a huge fan of Anna Q as a NY Times columnist; she had a wonderful mixture of intellectual savvy and down-to-earth calm. Her insights were penetrating, and her delivery went down easily. The same may be said of her fourth novel, which follows the unlikely meltdown on an American morning-TV superstar, as seen through the eyes of her sister and sole sibling.

The two women were oprhaned in childhood. Meghan Fitzmaurice has grown up to be the biggest star on morning TV; thi More...

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Feb 02, 2011

Christie rated it:

Meghan and Bridget are sisters living in New York City. They couldn’t be more opposite. Meghan is the famous host of a morning TV show, Rise and Shine, and her sister, Bridget, the dowdier and less confident one, is a social worker. You can already see where this is going, can’t you?

Although Meghan seems to have it all - a wonderful husband and a fabulous son, both of whom Bridget adores, there are cracks in her seemingly perfect life and one day she utters something wholly inappropr More...

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Jan 22, 2010

Allison rated it:

Four stars for the story and for the fascinating look at life in NYC, a few less stars in my book for the author's Standard American moral code. And there were a few sentences I had to read a few times to get, such as "A man with his leg in a plastic bag filled with ice in the ambulance next to him." I wondered for a while why the man's severed leg would be in the ambulance next to him and not in his ambulance but I suppose that the leg is next to him and they are both in the same am More...

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Dec 12, 2009

Carla rated it:

This is the story of two sisters, orphaned as children and raised by their aunt & uncle. They are now grown and both live in New York City. The older one, Meghan, has become a successful morning talk show host. She is married and has one son who is now in college. Her sister, Bridget, has bounced from one career path to another before settling on being a social worker. She is unmarried without children and has been dating a man 24 years older than herself for seven years. Both seem relativ More...

1 comment like

Aug 05, 2009

Marvin rated it:

I think Quindlen is an amazing writer. I love her short essays for NEWSWEEK, & I've loved all of her novels. And I really shouldn't have liked this one. It's a book about New York City (very consciously so--the first sentence is: "From time to time some stanger will ask me how I can bear to live in New York City"--and that notion is repeated in various forms throughout the book), and it's in some ways a book of manners, like the 19th-century English novels I don't like. Furthermore, it More...

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Jan 28, 2009

Krista rated it:

This is the first Anna Quindlen novel I've ever read. I saw my sister-in-law at Christmas and she was telling me that she lives next door to Quindlen's father in South Jersey and that she reads all of Anna's novels. So I thought I'd try one out. I see they're also popular with Oprah's book club, too.

I enjoyed this story of two orphaned sisters raised by their aunt and who have very different lifestyles in NYC. One sister is a famous network anchorwoman and the other is a social w More...

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Sep 11, 2010

Miss rated it:

Anna Quindlen books are very easy to read, the words flow smoothly and without difficulty but sometimes the topic itself is quite lacking in character just like this novel. The characters are all stereotypes to the extreme. Meghan Fitzmaurice is the oldest of the two sisters – she is rich, powerful enough to interview the President or get flow to Iraq or Iran to interview their Prime Minister, beautiful and regal. Bridget is the stereotypical younger sister barely on the heels of her successful More...

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Oct 23, 2008

Lynn rated it:

Although I didn't think it was as good as other books by Anna Quindlen, I thought it was a 'goodread'. An interesting premise and as an ex-New Yorker, I enjoyed a visit back to the 'hood!
The plot twists kept it intersting at the end, although I did find some of the story a bit much!
Quindlen could have tightened up the story a bit, but she did have a story to tell and I wasn't disappointed just not as wowed as I have been on her other books.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 23, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Have you noticed that when some authors reach a certain stature, they seem to coast - on their past books and good name.

This is one of those books. I remember reading a good Anna Quindlen book or two nearly twenty years ago. Yeah, that's a long time. So to expect that level of dedication and commitment to future books to continue, may be too much to expect.

People often wonder about Harper Lee because she only wrote one book - but it was good. I now think not everyone More...

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Dec 30, 2008

Barner rated it:

Though this is not my favorite Quindlen novel (I liked BACK and BLUE and ONE TRUE THING more), the novel gives good insight into the life of a fictional television personality and the drawbacks of a very public life. The author touches an amazing range of subjects: the relationahip between two sisters orphaned at a young age, a look at ghetto life in NYC, marriage between two people when one is the "star" and the other the bystander, and glimpses into the lives of fascinating and be More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Jenna added it

I would have to agree with other reviewers that for all of its shortcomings, this is a pretty harmless effort hovering in the margins of chick-lit. These kinds of books are my substitute for mindless television, when I'm bereft of more substantial reading choices and burnt out from too many eye-crossing tv sessions on the couch. Really more blah than bad, I just couldn't bring myself to give it any stars at all.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 24, 2011

Allison rated it:

The first third of this book is interesting in a gossipy way. The main character is actually NOT the main character, she's honing in on her famous sister's life and taking a backseat to all the action and reaction the sister experiences. Somewhere near the halfway point, the main character actually becomes the main character. We get to see her day-to-day life and experience things from her point of view, more than experience her sister's life through her own. Overall it was an interesting book, More...

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Jan 03, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

Okay- I really liked this one, but am at a loss to explain exactly why. I didn't particularly like the character of Meghan, or the world she occupied, but I was once again enthralled by the voice of Anna Quindlen and the characters with which she populates her books. I alternated between reading this and listening to it as a book on tape and part of my enjoyment was in hearing the same reader give voice to Tequila and Irving and make each seem plausible. And the central character of New York Cit More...

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Mar 14, 2009

Mary Beth rated it:

After some of the horrible reviews, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read Rise and Shine. However, I enjoyed the discussion of why Bridget loves living in NYC, and there was some emotional impact to the story. I definitely cried over the last sixty pages or so. So, this wasn't the best book I've ever read, but the relationship between the two sisters was interesting, if a little cliche.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

treehugger rated it:

Ok, I liked it. It was my first Anna Quindlen, and from reading other peoples' reviews, it sounds like it was her worst to date, so I'm going to keep my eyes out for free/cheap copies of her others.

The characters weren't particularly endearing - they were pretty stereotypical, some too saccharin, many just unbelievably selfish. The premise wasn't too original, Bridget allowed her sister WAY too much opportunity to stomp on her, and the "event" that is the preface to the More...

1 comment like

Jan 13, 2010

Donna rated it:

I love Anna Quindlen's writing. She is gifted with the ability to convey meaning - and many shades of meaning - with great brevity. I wonder if she is also a poet. This book was less about plot and more about relationships, in particular the relationship between two sisters who lived very different lives but were very close. She exposed the strengths and weaknesses of their relationship, the great love as well as deeply buried feelings of anger and hurt, and how even in our closest relationships More...

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Dec 24, 2008

Melora rated it:

This was a random pick off a discount rack at Borders, so I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it so much. The characters were interesting, flawed but likable, and not your typical/stereotypical novel characters.

The really interesting part of this book is the relationship between the main character and her sister. The author does an excellent job of exploring the complexities of the older-younger sister dynamics. I highly recommend this book for any sisters out there; I thought More...

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Sep 05, 2009

Rosie rated it:

I listened to this during my cross-country drive. I thought it started out great, and then got pretty slow in the middle and towards the end. There was a lot of character development, which I usually really like, but it started to get 'blah blah blah' about the characters' obvious feelings. I was saying to myself 'I KNOW you feel this way, now tell me what happens!' I wasn't a fan of the ending, because it had the usually crazy crisis tragedy thrown in there for effect and kind of a cop-out More...

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