CBR17Bingo: “Arts” because this book has a heavy emphasis on sculpture and painting.
I am usually very good about writing my reviews in the order that I read the books, but Seven Sisters (2015) by Lucinda Riley somehow slipped through the cracks. Maybe I just didn’t want to think about this book anymore. Seven Sisters is the first book in a series of eight, and it was chosen recently for my book club. I dutifully downloaded the audiobook and began listening to the over eighteen hours of narrative.
This book is an odd mix of family drama, history, and a little bit of Greek myth thrown in. It is about the year 2000, and six sisters all come home for the unexpected death of their adopted father, Pa Salt. These six sisters were all adopted at different times and in different places around the world. They grew up in a castle called Atlantis on the shores of Lake Geneva. Their primary characteristic seems to be their extraordinary beauty, although they are all wildly successful at whatever they’ve chosen to do. One is an actress, one is a model, another races boats, etc.
Each book in the series apparently focuses on one of the sisters. Because The Seven Sisters is the first book, it focuses on the oldest sister. Her name is Maia, and she has always been more reserved and bookish. She is beautiful, of course, but she is also a language expert and spends her time translating books. Maia is also somewhat of a hermit and is the only sister still living at home. When her father dies, he leaves each daughter a clue to her heritage. Maia’s clue points towards Rio de Janeiro, and she decides to travel there.
Once in Rio, Maia meets up with one of the authors she works with, and he is very helpful in showing her around. Maia is able to meet up with a woman she suspects might be her grandmother, but the older woman is very sick and doesn’t want to talk to Maia. In secret, the grandmother’s maid gives Maia a bundle of letters. Thus, just when I finally thought the book was finally getting somewhere, it switches focus to a new set of characters.
Sidenote: Some of my favorite books have been epistolary novels. When done well, it is a different way of telling a story, and I love it. However, when done badly, it drives me crazy. Don’t stick a letter into a novel, and then have the “letter” have the exact same feeling as the rest of the novel. No one writes letters like that!
The sudden switch of focus is to Maia’s suspected great grandmother Izabela Bonifacio, back in the 1920’s. Izabela’s father is “new” money and desperate for more power and prestige. He is excited to marry Izabela to whatever old money suitor will give him the most, and Gustavo fits the bill. Izabela is very independent, but also obedient. She is able to convince Gustavo to convince her father to go on a months-long trip to Paris with her friend’s family before they get married.
Izabela’s friend’s father is traveling to Paris to meet with the renowned sculptor, Paul Landowski, to discuss building the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. Izabela meets Laurent Brouilly, an assistant to Paul, and the two fall in love, but Izabela is too responsible and she leaves him in Paris to return home and marry. Unfortunately for Izabela, Gustavo turns from an awkward but sympathetic young man to a drunk rapist, and her life is miserable. When Laurent accompanies the parts of the Christ the Redeemer statute to Rio, he meets up with Izabela and they begin an affair.
I really did not like this book. In the beginning I kept waiting for it to get better, and then I only finished it because it was a book club book and I wanted to complain about it thoroughly. All of the characters felt like caricatures who only did things to serve the plot of the book. Gustavo literally turned into a different character when it was convenient for the plot of the book–he had to be bad enough that it was understandable our heroine would cheat on him. But then he switched right back once Izabela needed to come back to him. None of them felt real, and I didn’t care about them. The book also went on forever with so much lost opportunity. There could have been real, interesting conflict between Izabela and her father, her husband, and her lover. But she couldn’t be anything other than beautiful and obedient. She never made any decisions for herself, and then she was conveniently killed off at the end. The whole book had a very old-fashioned view of women that felt confining to me.
Surprisingly, to me, some of my book club enjoyed this book and have gone on to read the rest of the series. I don’t understand it, and there’s no way I’m spending more time on this series. The best thing about this book was the locations. I would love to travel to Rio, Paris, and Switzerland, and it was fun imagining myself there.
You can find all my reviews on my blog.