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. And finally, what I have to assume is the climactic moment of crisis for them is both predictable and garbled.

I thought the first 60 pages were good and believed the term "potboiler" might describe this novel. This is, after all, a talented and proven author / journalist at the keyboard . . . but after the set up, after Meghan Fitzmaurice, the television star of Katie Couric proportions, loses her cool on the air and flies off to Jamaica, I had to keep looking at the book cover to remind myself who wrote this very mediocre, very boring story. The narrator, social worker sister Bridget, lapses into repetitive and dull back-story, along with stale commentary about living in and loving New York City so often, instead of the question she suggests unnamed, provincial characters ask New Yorkers: "why would you want to live (t)here?" I found myself asking instead, why do I continue reading this?

The answer is, of course, Anna Quindlen. She is a successful product of the publishing world, a name-brand Pulitizer Prize winning journalist who has certainly created some brilliant and entertaining material. Unfortunately, this book suggests a disappointing lapse into mediocrity and a scar on our literary culture. I've read hundreds of books by lesser known (even unknown) authors of much higher quality. Just one example: "Trutor and the Balloonist" by Debbie Lee Wesselmann.

Sorry, but I obviously cannot recommend.