Review: The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice (audio book)

From the back of the audio case: After years away, Maura Shaw has returned to Newport, Rhode Island, to teach English at the academy. Behind her lies a life that seemed on the surface to be all she had ever wished for. That illusion vanished in a storm off Mackinac Island in the wake of an accident that engulfed Maura’s husband and her older daughter, Carrie.

For fourteen-year-old Beck, the move is a painful upheaval from everything she has ever loved – especially her sister, Carrie. Without Carrie, Beck has lost half of herself – the half that would have fit in at the elite private school she and her brother, Travis, will now attend. At sixteen, Travis is coping with separation from his friends as well as a powerful attraction to an expensive-looking girl. And for Maura, ghosts linger here – an unresolved breach with her own sister and a long-ago secret that may now have to power to set her free…

Read by: Bernadette Dunne and Jaclyn Gaines

My thoughts: I love reading Luanne Rice – her stories are always heartwarming. The Geometry of Sisters is no exception – it is a touching story of family, sisters and friends in an examination of how the past can influence the future. Exploring the powerful relationship between sisters – sisters by birth and sisters of the heart – Luanne Rice shows how this bond can not only be comforting but also heartbreaking. As the story progresses we learn little by little about the death of Maura’s husband and what caused her oldest daughter Carrie to run away. The sister plot thickens as there is also a deep rift between Maura and her own sister Katherine, some sister ghosts at the academy, and two other rich sisters at the academy. Having two sisters myself, I was especially drawn into this storyline. Constantly changing points of view, the story takes us from Beck’s view of her mother and then to her mother’s view of Beck; we even learn what Travis thinks and how Carrie is functioning without her family. Luanne Rice weaves a complicated story, one that draws you in until you reach the end. An interesting plot with a mathematical theme woven it, it makes you appreciate the different angles, circles and triangles that love and life can take.

(I borrowed this audio book from the library.)

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1 Comment

  1. MissMeliss
    January 10, 2011 / 9:55 am

    I've never read any of Luanne Rice's stuff, but I've ALMOST read several. Your review makes me think she might worth diving into.