The Three Weissmans of Westport by Cathleen Schine

Somewhat More Than A Romantic Comedy
RATING 3 out-of-5 bookmarks
If you are not worried, there is no hope. Once upon a time, there were three women from Manhattan, a 75-year-old mother, Betty, and her two single daughters. Betty, who thought she was happily married, has been tossed aside by her beloved husband of many years for a younger woman. Joseph, the Jewish husband, believes he is a good man and will do what is right. But he doesn't. Betty figuratively lands in the "poor house", a decrepit cottage in Westport with her two daughters, neither one having found true love. Annie, the oldest is a librarian and Miranda, the youngest, is the soon-to-be banished literary agent. They both rush to their mother's rescue.

Enriched with major and minor characters, the novel moves forward with deft and clever characterizations. Fighting to keep their mother and themselves from utter financial and emotional despair, the sisters crash into some precious and absurd relationships. Schine has a touch, she is keenly observant when she is describing Betty's faux widowhood or Annie's affectionate moments with her college-age sons. Miranda, who is beautiful, symbolizes the recent slew of lying writers who exaggerated their lives to create hot-selling memoirs. Annie represents the worrier, the one who gets up in the morning and makes the mental of list of agonizing problems. She worries about money, her sister's precarious emotional state and her mother's survival. She is the caretaker who needs her someone for herself. Schine also cleverly personifies the Weissmann's Jewish culture. I do mean culture as they are not observant Jews but they draw sharp lines between the Jews and the Wasps. I don't think this was funny or revelatory.

All that aside, Schine gives us an Austin-style story, a woman writing about women. A powerful theme in the book was what happens to women when they are no longer young and are threatened by younger women. It is surprising to discover that it is not necessarily a man who will bring true happiness or salvation. There are some clever twists at the end of the story and I can see this as a chick-lit movie that could charm some audiences with allusions to Austen, Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson.

Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2010