3.5 stars

When a book is described as being a combination of two of my favorites: “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” and “Where’d You Go Bernadette” it automatically makes the top of the queue, and I was glad to get an ARC thanks to NetGalley.

I was intrigued by a story involving sisters my age, particularly as the central character Maggie navigates complexity as now-single mom (separated from her husband) of two teen/young adult boys, work (though as a marketing executive I have a bit of a quibble with the intensity of her work as a storyboard illustrator?), and of course per the title, relationships with her sisters, particularly her special needs older sister Ginny. Ginny’s intellectual (and sort of physical) disabilities were hard to completely grasp (though perhaps that was the author’s point, given her own experience with a special needs brother). Ginny is “slow” (poignant when she describes herself that way), confines herself to a wheelchair. Maggie compels her to move into a house right near hers in a town north of NYC, and she has the fortune of being able to afford two different caregivers, Philomena and Lika, who are perhaps the two most colorful characters in the story. (Some reviews have rightly noted that the book does well in highlighting the importance of immigrant caregivers like these two women, who take on these live in roles to try to in turn create a better life for their own families). Maggie and Ginny alternately resent each other, and need each other. And they both crave the attention of their eldest sister, an aging surfer, who has stayed across the country.

My struggle with the book is it wasn’t a consistently enjoyable read. I appreciate the author’s determination to make the characters imperfect, real… but they were often hard to really connect with, let alone like. I also found the first person present tense writing to somehow make the narration feel more remote.

No one is really “living the dream” here. Still, I’d recommend.

I am going to be honest, I loved the premise of this book (which is why I requested it in the first place). Unfortunately, I found that I had issues with the execution. For starters, I found the pacing of this novel terribly slow, and at times it was hard to stay interested. The characters were beautifully flawed, interesting and fairly well written if a bit cliche at times… it just didn’t grab me.

This is written as a stream-of-conciousness through the eyes of youngest sister, Maggie. Her life has imploded- seperated from her husband she’s trying to navigate life as a single woman with two (mostly) grown boys who aren’t pleased with her. When she gets the call that her special needs sister has had a medical emergency she decides it’s time to take matters, and her sister, into her own hands. Against Ginny’s wishes, she’s ushered into a care facility until they can get things under control, and then into her own new home near Maggie- complete with two caretakers. Fighting over keys, sugar, the state of Ginny’s independence… and basically every thing else… has taken it’s toll on Maggie. Add the husband’s new girlfriend, the realization that her own lover was not exactly as she imagined, and trying to get back into the dating pool via online apps…. it’s enough to drive a body to drink. And she does, a lot. I get it. This is a terrible amount of stress, and she feels like she needs to be the one taking care of everything- the one in control. Maggie is, in fact, a control freak with a Superman complex a mile wide. She wants to be the one that fixes everything, the one everyone looks up to… but no one’s perfect, and that’s a lesson she has to learn the hard way.

Ginny at times drove me insane, but I get it. She wanted independence whether she could actually handle it or not, and she knew she couldn’t.. not completely. I think Ginny understood her own physical, mental and emotional health better than anybody- but she wasn’t about to let that stop her from having everything she wanted. Her hardheadedness, the hiding and gorging on sugary snacks, the diapers… in this she was childlike. But she understood people better than anyone, and had an understanding of those she loved and what they needed. For this, she might have been my favorite character.

Then there’s Bill, the exhusband/ man-child. The way she saw the relationship she was carrying everything and he never had a “real job”- she had to give up her dream for the family while he got to be the creative one- the musician, the fun one. The cool parent. Their relationship was rocky at best and he wasn’t willing to put in any work. She had a weekend, an affair, and a subsequent separation. Was it all Bill’s fault? Of course not. But he didn’t take it well. The strange thing? The Bill in her memory and the Bill showing up now don’t line up… not completely. He’s immature, yes… but also a bit broken and frayed… and oddly sweet if in a childlike way. I would have liked to see more of the character growth that happened there… I think I would have liked him better if I had seen that.

There were moments of levity, and moments of pain. It was real, and cutting. The book is listed under humour… while it is funny a lot of the time, I don’t know that I would completely agree- there’s so much heavy material, but it’s well done and never seems so heavy that I can’t continue. The pacing, as I said earlier, was my biggest issue. The book lagged in areas. At the same time, it flew past other parts- I would have liked more real time with the boys, and with the oldest sister, Bets. All in all, it is a good book and I did enjoy it… it just isn’t one I will be telling all my friends to go buy. I’d give it a solid three stars, plus one for creativity (gotta hand it to them, these characters are really well done).

⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
On the adult content scale, there is substance abuse, language, and violence. It’s not over the top in any way, but it is there. I would say that this is geared toward adults- or at least seventeen and over.


I was lucky enough to recieve an eARK of this book from Netgalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!

When Maggie gets a call that her special needs older sister, Ginny, is in the hospital, her life turns upside down. She becomes Ginny’s caretaker, and this book follows the ups and downs of that adventure over a series of years.

This book is emotional at moments, and hilarious at others. At its core, this book is a beautiful story of sisterhood and really shows the toll it can take on someone to be a caregiver. This book is definitely more character driven and because of that often has big jumps in timelines, which can be hard to follow. However, the characters were so well written and complex they keep you coming back for more.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the advance copy.

The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream is a moving and often times darkly humorous story of three sisters- the eldest Betsy lives on the West Coast and is a professional surfer, the middle sister Ginny lives alone in Maryland and has a medical emergency which is the precipitating event that moves the plot along, and Maggie, the youngest lives in New York, is a professional artist, and recently separated from her husband.

Ginny has a serious medical incident, leaving her in the hospital. She has an intellectual disability, and is diabetic and her poor eating habits has caused some lasting medical issues. Maggie brings Ginny (and her reactive dog) back to New York with her in order to provide her the support that she needs, while their older sister Betsy is disengaged from the process.

What ensues is the transition of Maggie to primary support for Ginny and Ginny's pushback on the new situation. I appreciated having a main character with an intellectual disability and highlighting the challenges and rewards in Ginny's relationships. This book has a fair amount of dark humor- it's a difficult situation for Maggie and Ginny. In addition to her challenges with Ginny, she's navigating her relationship with her ex, reentering the dating world, and her changing relationship with her two boys. The supporting characters in this book- Maggie's friend and neighbor, Ginny's two competing caretakers, and Maggie's ex are delightful additions. Despite the challenging subject matter of this book, it's rather heartwarming and I enjoyed the complicated familial relationships.

Thank you to Atria Books via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream" by Jeannie Zusy was a cute & quirky story about family.
It had me laughing out loud many times.
This was Ms. Zusy's debut novel & I will definitely be on the lookout to see what she writes next.

This may have not been the right book at the right time for me. Being a caretaker is hard and often unrewarding, while I completely related to the plot, I didn’t feel any connection to the characters. It was a weird juxtaposition for me. I wanted out of the world this book created.

A heartfelt story about sisterhood and friendship. The 3 Frederick sisters couldn't be more different but family still pulls them together. Ginny has a handicap and is at a point in her life that she can't live alone, Bets is off in CA living the surfing dream so that leaves Maggie to pick up and take care of Ginny even when her own life is having difficulties. This story is mainly between Ginny and Maggie and how their once close relationship as younger girls has fallen to the wayside and now Maggie, who is the youngest is now caretaker for the middle sister Ginny while Bets is rarely around. Ginny's handicap/disability is written in a way that makes you like her even when she's being a bugger and Maggie keeps trying to hold everyone together without ever worrying about herself. It's a nice story, with some funny parts, about family, friendships and being there for the ones you love even when they don't want you to.

I requested this book because I am always intrigued by novels about sisters. Additionally, I liked all three of the comp books referenced in the publisher's description (Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine meets Early Morning Riser with a dash of Where’d You Go, Bernadette).

For me, The Frederick Sisters Are Living The Dream didn't soar to the heights of these three predecessors. But I can tell that this book will be a touching and engaging novel for many readers who are interested in exploring sensitive family issues such as responsibility, care-taking, and mid-life crises of reflection and realignment of priorities.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the complimentary eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I got to 30% and gave up on this one. It was moving too slowly and didn’t catch my interest enough to continue. I’m sure this will be a favorite for some but isn’t the book for me.

dnf (n/a stars) -- i just couldn't bring myself to be interested in this unfortunately, i tried to start it a couple times but it just wasn't clicking :/

3,.5 stars. This was a cute, quirky story about family. Maggie is the oldest and is moving her middle sister, Ginny, closer to home due to a fall she has taken coupled with the developmental disabilities she has.
This book started off with a bang for me but throughout it I had a hard time staying engaged due to the longer portions delving into the past of these characters. It seemed to be a bit choppy at times but it comes together nicely at the end with a heartwarming ending..

Deciding to DNF this one. Maybe I will revisit, but it isn't keeping me hooked and I don't like the way that some characters interact with others. I also don't love the R word being in the book (I know that it was a scene set in the past and that was "acceptable" to say in those times, I just think that there could've been another way to describe Ginny, idk maybe that's just me.) I didn't really like any of the characters.

I do think that the author portrayed taking care of someone with different needs and how challenging that can be for someone who isn't licensed (a.k.a a family member) and the tough decisions that one must make, especially when other family members don't agree.

I guess I need someone to really hype this book up for me to finish? I just can't get into it (stopping at 51%)

This is a lovely, sometimes hard-to-read story about a woman trying to let go of her need to be needed while dealing with the guilt of being the primary caregiver for her special needs sister. It took me a little while to get into but it was very worth it. The narrator’s voice is honest and self-deprecating and she is a real woman with flaws that is just trying her best and sometimes getting it right and sometimes royally f**king it up.

I especially liked that this is a book about a middle-aged woman who is having a hard time letting go of being needed by people around her because I think that speaks to a reality of motherhood that sometimes isn’t addressed. You go from being intensely needed by your children for EVERYTHING and then they’re adults and you have to redefine that aspect of who you are. And, in this main character’s case, it’s doubly complicated by her separation from her husband of over 20 years and the fact that she feels she is responsible for her sister.

Just a really well-written book that I really enjoyed.

In her debut, Zusy explored family dynamics and the ups and downs of being a caregiver. As I read this book, I couldn’t help but think of my aunt who spent her life caring for two children with intellectual disabilities. In fact, Ginny reminded me a lot of my cousin Theresa. She could be difficult and constantly tried to work around my aunt’s rules, but I also have fond memories of her and the love my aunt shared with her.

The strength of this story was that Zusy was able to show me both sides so well. Ginny was a diabetic who almost died of sepsis but was quite unwilling to alter her diet. Maggie was on the brink of giving up, time and time again, but then she would reflect on her childhood memories of Ginny and how much joy Ginny brought to her life. I also thought the exploration of caring for an adult sibling was interesting, in that Maggie grew to recognize and respect her sister’s autonomy. I imagine that can be really challenging given the situation, but such an important thing to consider.

The beauty of this story was in all the relationships, but especially in recognizing that Ginny enriched the lives of all those around her. Through the laughter, the tears, and the frustrations experienced by everyone, it was easy to see how much they brought to each other lives, and I was happy to be a part of this journey.

Phew this was not for me. The writing was uncomfortable and the characters were cloying. I couldn’t keep track of all the quirks. The sisters seemed to not care about each other at all, bordering on abusive towards each other. Not very nice to read about.

I'm not really sure what I expected from The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream, but it certainly was not the completely charming, true-to-real-life heartwarmer that I just finished! When Maggie Frederick gets the dreaded call that her diabetic older sister Ginny, who also has intellectual disabilities, is hospitalized after eating too much jello, the reality that Ginny is no longer able to live independently. The decision to move Ginny close to Maggie, and to hire full-time home health care to assist her sister, is one that many of us have to make, and like most such situations is not easy on any level.

The synopsis sounds fairly serious, but there is a lot of love and humor portrayed on the pages. I enjoyed 'watching' the growth in the sisters' relationship, as well as the interactions with the oldest sister, an aging surf star who lives across the country. The situations that the women found themselves in were realistically written, as were the interactions between all the characters in the book. The humor is tasteful, funny without mocking or silliness, and not over-the-top goofy.

Anyone who has a relative who needs help living independently will recognize themselves between the pages of this novel, and those who do not find themselves in that circumstance will be able to relate to the family dynamics.

Maggie has her hands full and all of the emotions too. This was a very realistic story and situation. I found it hard to stop reading.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I had to DNF this book. It just wasn't for me. The plot was cute, but for me, the story moved very slowly.

I don't think this was the book for me. I didn't connect with any of the characters and had to DNF less than halfway through. It was pegged as part Eleanor Oliphant (which I loved!), but I don't think I made it far enough to notice any similarities.

I think this would be a great book for the right reader.

I absolutely loved Elinor Oliphant, so when this book was compared to hers, I was excited to read it. Ultimately, I struggled a bit to get through this one. I am one of three sisters, and I could really relate to Maggie’s character, and her desire to make sure Ginny, a sister with disabilities, as well as everyone around her, is taken care of. The relationship dynamics between the sisters was very relatable and I love the true and raw portrayal of helping a loved one. Overall, the story dragged for me though. I struggled a bit with the writing style, and some parts felt more rushed, while others too long. While this debut was not my favorite, I am interested to see what Zusy writes next.


3.5 Stars

Thank you @netgalley and @atriabooks for the early copy