Is it pure coincidence that I just finished reading Anna Quindlen’s Rise and Shine on the heels of Jack London’s Martin Eden? And would I expect Quindlen’s principal character, Meghan Fitzmaurice, to meet the same unhappy conclusion that London’s principal character, Martin Eden, inevitably met – given that their two trajectories on the booster fuel of fame and fortune are uncannily similar?I don’t know. You tell me. In any case, one has to wonder whether life along the Museum Mile – or the equivalent in San Francisco – frankly ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.‘Anna Quindlen’ is a name as well known in these parts as that of ‘Bergdorf Goodman’ or ‘Tavern on the Green’ – but is neither as rich and gaudy as the former nor as ticky-tacky-touristy as the latter. If Thornton Wilder had written a play titled “Our Girl” rather than “Our Town,” Anna Quindlen would be its natural subject – which is to say she’s so NYC, it makes one cringe to think people living outside this burg are actually reading her prose.Perhaps that’s a backhanded compliment. Her descriptions of both character and setting – as well as the dialogue she puts in the mouths of her characters – are eerily (and grotesquely) familiar. Upper-crust New Yorkers do think, act and speak this way, and it’s always been a wonder to me that so many of them not only survive, but even function (reasonably) well in this 24/7 masquerade. But hey, there’s always southern Connecticut just to the north – and western New Jersey just to the west. Need I say more?Lucky for us, Quindlen provides the occasional real-life breather with scenes from the Bronx as told by Meghan’s younger sister, Bridget (sometimes ‘Bridey’; other times ‘Bridge’). For those of us living and working in the outlying boroughs, these scenes are a quick – and welcome! – descent from the hot-air balloon ride over and through the highways and byways of Manhattan. “No Monday through Friday for the working poor: they take it where they can find it” Bridget ruminates on pp. 195-6. And while I’m by no means suggesting that every writer has to follow in the footsteps of Henry Roth or Frank McCourt in either writer’s depiction of life here in New York City, these last two would seem to me to be nearer the mark than Anna Quindlen – for at least 95% of the population, that is.Quindlen is a capable story-teller – make no mistake about it – and this novel has all of the pieces in place to make it a good yarn. It’s just … most of these people! I swear if I weren’t living separated from them by a mere bridge, I could think of 100,000 other places I’d rather visit.RRB07/21/14 Brooklyn, NY
This is the second book I've read by Anna Quindlen, and it will probably be my last. In fact, the only reason I chose to read this book was because all of the others I'm waiting for were currently checked out of the library and this one was available immediately. I have found that this author tends to ramble on and on... and on and on... and on and on. In both of the books I've read by her (this one and "Every Last One") she spends a ridiculous amount of time narrating the mundane events of her character's lives. It gets boring. We get it - Meghan is rich, famous, disconnected from her family, selfish, blah blah blah. Another issue I have with the writing is the character development, or lack thereof. In both books she manages to fill 75% of the book narrating their boring lives, yet somehow the reader never really gets anything beyond surface level.In this book, the "major" event happened about a quarter of the way in to the book. The next two quarters of the book was painfully boring and drawn out with very little happening. Things start picking up & happening in the last quarter of the book - and then BAM the last 10 pages thrusts you four years in to the future where everyone is happy and everything is nice and tidy.Don't waste your time with this one.
What do You think about Rise And Shine (2006)?
I listened to this on tape and found myself sitting outside Nugget Grocery just to hear what would happen next. Anna Quindlen is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and also writes excellent fiction that was excellently read. Rise and Shine is the story of two sisters, Meghan who is a national figure who hosts a morning TV show and her sister, Bridget, who is a social worker in the projects. Both lost their parents when Meghan was 8 and Briget was 4 and their relationship is greatly influenced by the combination of Meghan's driving personality plus this loss. Most of the action takes place in New York City, some of it with the very wealthy, some of it with the very poor, and NYC is a character in its own right. There is also an interlude in Jamaica, where Meghan flees after broadcasting a profanity across America. Some of the characters are stock players (the single mom who has turned herself around, the incredibly rich but kind industrialist, the perfect son)---but I loved them nonetheless.
—Beth
not a great book. i didn't get the story line. and the way the narrator felt/talked about her nephew really made me feel dirty. way more than parental feelings going on there. and she spent the entire novel talking down about how rich, entitled new yorkers act, but the whole time she was doing the same thing. definitely not one i would recommend to anyone. only would tell ppl who think new york is the best thing since sliced bread to read this. and i have no feelings about new york, since i've never lived there and only visited once. just felt hypocritical. and didn't get the sister's relationship. not good.
—mandy
The main character in Rise and Shine, Bridget, is interesting. I enjoyed the parts about her job in the Bronx a lot. I also liked her assistant, Tequila. The parts of the book when Bridget was dealing with work, her romantic relationship or her surrogate mother role to her nephew, Leo, were good reading. The novel revolves, however, around Bridget's famous sister, Meghan. I was never convinced that Meghan's on-air mistake would be as huge a deal as it is written to be. Meghan also was underdeveloped, making her impact less than it needed to be in order to understand Bridget's transformation. The passing of time in the book is also confusing. It sometimes read as if a day or two had passed and then suddenly someone would mention it was a month later. This made it hard to follow. This is not Quindlen's best.
—Suzanne Auckerman
