1/3 done with Lynne Cheney's masterwork, *Sisters*!

[Plaid Adder]

Constant readers will recall that Lisa, another DUer, sent me a copy of Lynne Cheney's novel *Sisters,* which I will be reviewing for next week's column. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it, and have this to report:

1) As far as the writing goes, it's not the worst novel I've ever read. Nor is it (by a long shot) the best. In fact I wouldn't really go so far as to call the writing "good," thought I would say it's serviceable. It gets the job done, the "job" in this case being to provide the reader with a couple hours of light entertainment on a plane trip or a beach somewhere.

2) There are very grandiose claims made on the jacket about its feminist content, but basically this is a fairly standard Western/romance from the point of view of a woman named Sophie who has become the director of a fair-sized publishing empire. A plot device brings her back from NYC to Cheyenne, where she encounters the husband of her dead sister, and you know the husband is going to be the love interest because a) he's dark and brooding and b) he is, no shit, the grandson of a baronet.

3) The dead sister, Helen, is the focus of the lesbian storyline. She had a thing going with her former schoolmarm, Amy, whose major distinguishing characterstics so far are height, a kind of caustic personality, and the ability to kill rattlesnakes with nothing but a garden hoe while Sohpie panics and emits girly screams.

4) So far, no hot lesbian sex, or indeed sex of any kind. However, there's a hot, hot HOT story about land use and grazing rights in post-civil war Wyoming! Yes, it's true--the dead sister, Helen, was involved in trying to fight for the rights of homesteaders against the big cattle owners who are trying to drive the individual ranchers out of business. Sophie right now has tremendous sympathy for these scrappy little pioneer individualists. However, given that the only homesteader we've met so far is a drunken, allegedly-thieving cowboy living in sin with a former prostitute named Baby who is described as being both "simian" and "sensual" (urgh), and that the big cattle rancher is tall, dark, handsome, charismatic, and descended from royalty, I will bet any one of you $20.00 right now that the novel ends with Sophie coming around to the pro-cattle-baron position at aroudn about the same time she married the cattle baron.

5) The saddest thing about this book is the bio on the back. Lynne got herself a PhD in Victorian lit at University of Wisconsin Madison...and yet she became Uncle Dick's helpmeet. How far she has fallen.

Tune in next Wednesday for more exciting installments,

The Plaid Adder

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

1. Wow

I bet that review was more interesting than the book! Thanks!

[LoZoccolo]

2. Did they republish it?

Or did you have to pay big bucks for a used copy?

[Wat_Tyler]

3. Why are the right wing obsessed with aristos?

Someone peed in the shallow end of their gene pool, y'know?

[bluetrain]

4. lol

I wish someone on AAR would read a paragraph of it everyday on their show.

[Plaid Adder]

8. You'd have to be pretty selective--it's not that interesting

If you're big into either westerns or romance novels maybe you'd find the thing captivating, but so far I would say that if it weren't for the knowledge that it is a window into the mind of the Bride of Nosferatu, I wouldn't still be reading it. It doesn't even fall into the "so bad it's good" category because it's not bad enough.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[chiburb]

5. "She reads it... so we don't have to"!

You took one for the team, Plaidder.

[Plaid Adder]

12. Nothing I wouldn't do for my fellow DUers. No. No wait.

Now that I think about some of the lounge threads I've seen here, I can tell ya there's a lot I wouldn't do for my fellow DUers...but the least I can do is expose myself to mediocre writing for the good of the country.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[sniffa]

6. dead Lesbian sister

is this her way of teLLing mary, "you're dead to me!"?

[Plaid Adder]

7. Actually, the novel is dedicated to her daughters

but it was undoubtedly written before Mary came out. I don't remember the exact date but it's either late 70s or early 80s.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[politicat]

9. I too, own this bit of fluff... $.25 at a Library sale.

The ending will leave you cold. I won't spoil it, but I felt LC copped out. Let me know if you feel the same.

I always thought people were talking about a different book when they talked about Lynne's Lesbo Opus. My bad, I guess.

Pcat

[Plaid Adder]

11. Don't ruin the suspense!!

I can tell you right now that I could smell a cop-out in the wind from Page 1. But don't tell me what it is! If I don't have suspense to help me I'll never get through it.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[skygazer]

10. More reminders of why I rarely read novels

Especially "historical" novels that put modern sensibilites into historical settings.

I appreciate you wading through this stuff for our sake. You are a true DU hero! :toast: