Kitty S. (kittynewengland) reviewed on 7/9/2012 + 116 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

I'm all for stories about dysfunctional families, but this one takes too long to get going and spends too much time on the main characters' back stories. Though I enjoyed reading how Kathleen went from a drunk to co-owner of a worm farm in California and Alice's heart-wrenching story about her sister, there was too much detail on children, siblings and grandchildren who never appear in the novel. It takes about 200 pages, in fact, for all four women to be in Maine together. The matriarch Alice is so horrible to be around, I'm not sure hoping to inherit the beautiful seaside retreat is reason enough to endure her. Just ask her daughter-in-law.

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