Jennifer Weiner draws us into her newest novel with a mysterious event in the past, as she introduces us to two estranged sisters, and the daughter who ultimately brings them together again. In “The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits” we meet Zoe and Cassie Grossberg, two sisters who could not be more unlike each other. Zoe, pretty and vivacious, always knows just what to wear, what to say, and how to make friends. Cassie, on the other hand, is homely, shy, insecure, and her only joy is making music.
As Weiner deftly juggles several timelines, the present, twenty-five years in the past, and even farther in the past, we get an idea of the struggles each of the sisters faced. We know that in the present, in 2024, Zoe and Cassie haven’t seen each other or even spoken in decades. We know that there was a traumatic event in which Zoe’s husband, Russell D’Angelo, died. But we don’t know how or why he died, and we don’t know why Cassie, the real talent of the two, disappeared.
The Griffin Sisters became a band practically by accident. Zoe’s flirtatious behavior got her kicked out of her teenage girl band right before a local battle of the bands, so she begs her sister Cassie to appear with her instead. Cassie, who has lived her whole short life being humiliated and cruelly teased because of her large body and her ungainly manner, is desperate not to be in the limelight. She doesn’t want people looking at her.
But throughout their childhood, Zoe has made sure that Cassie was included with her friends, that Cassie had someone to talk to, to play with. So Cassie feels indebted to Zoe, and reluctantly agrees to sing with Zoe onstage. By chance, a member of the audience is in the music business and recognizes Cassie’s incredible talent. But Cassie and Zoe are a team, and Cassie will only sing with Zoe. Besides, Zoe’s the one who desperately wants to be a famous singer in a band, even if she has no talent. Cassie was studying classical music but will do anything for Zoe.
Thus the Griffin Sisters’ band is formed. Their label adds a singer/songwriter Russell to the band and both sisters fall in love with him. Zoe falls in love with the idea of having a relationship with him more than actually falling in love with Russell, but when she sees how Russell and Cassie mesh over their love of music and writing lyrics and melodies, she’s determined that she will have Russell for herself. While the band is wildly popular, we see how Cassie’s brilliant ability to capture an audience engenders jealousy in Zoe, as Weiner writes Zoe feels “the first threads of envy gathering inside her, twisting and knotting into something nasty and sharp-edged.”
After their incredibly successful debut album goes platinum, the band breaks up and Cassie disappears. For much of the story, we don’t know why. Weiner shows us, in the present, how the sisters live very different lives. Cassie has retreated to Alaska, to a rural setting away from towns where she reaps a modest income from two small rental cabins on her property. She lives in the third cabin with a dog who appeared on her doorstep one day. Cassie’s life is solitary. She doesn’t sing, and she doesn’t allow herself any pleasures. Her life is spartan, her only companion the dog she didn’t ask for.
Conversely, Zoe lives a life filled with family. She’s married to a successful guy, and they live in a large suburban home in New Jersey with his son from his first marriage, her daughter Cherry, and their two sons. Weiner shows us how Zoe’s stepson Bix is a strange kid. He’s obsessed with Cherry, and while Cherry has complained to her mother about the weird uncomfortable attention Bix gives her, sitting too close to her, staring at her, Zoe brushes it off because Bix has never actually touched Cherry.
As we are drawn further and further into the lives of the two sisters in the present, we become intrigued with their past. What happened to them to cause the estrangement? Why has Cassie punished herself for the past two decades? What secrets does Zoe keep and why is she determined to keep Cherry away from a career in music, when Cherry is obviously extremely talented?
It takes a writer as talented as Weiner to present characters we grow to love and care for in spite of their obvious—and sometimes not so obvious—flaws. Because while none of us is perfect, some mistakes, some heinous actions, are worse than others. And the question becomes whether one sister can overlook the betrayal by the other, a horrible twisting of facts and truth that caused emotional destruction.
This novel is one that begs to be a book club choice. There’s a huge well of issues and themes to be plundered. Discussions regarding sibling love, sibling rivalry, and parental love, are obvious. But there are also questions about the music industry and what it demands of performers in terms of not only ability and genius, but physical perfection, the men who take advantage of women who aspire to perform, the record companies that abandon their talent the minute they bring in less money. Weiner also covers the change in the music industry since the time before streaming music, Youtube videos, and TikTok.
What Weiner also beautifully presents is the part that music plays in our lives. The lyrics and the melodies that Cassie and Russell write appeal to girls who feel lost, like outcasts. Their songs give hope to teenagers in the throes of depression and angst. The poetry they set to music helps heal the souls of a multitude of listeners, mostly girls. And that’s what the best of music does for us—it completes us and helps heal emotional wounds. Music can transport us to a different place, a better place.
In addition to the content of this wonderfully gripping and emotionally satisfying novel, there’s also the beauty of the physical hardcover book. The deluxe limited edition’s cover shows the silhouette of two girls, and the book has stenciled edges—white musical notes on a purple background, and beautifully illustrated endpapers. “The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits” is a novel that will be read and reread, and then passed to friends to share. Book club perfect.
Other Jennifer Weiner books you might enjoy include “The Summer Place,” “That Summer,” and “Big Summer.”
This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.