Four and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭒
Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream by Jeannie Zusy is a look at a woman who is a caretaker to her sister with intellectual disabilities. It’s emotional, funny, and a bit chaotic, but totally worthwhile reading.

Maggie is the youngest of three sisters and lives just outside of New York City with her two almost adult sons. Betsy is the oldest and is living the dream out in California, running a surfing school. Ginny is the middle child and she is diabetic and has intellectual disabilities and lives independently in Maryland where the family grew up.

When Maggie gets a call that her sister, Ginny is in the hospital, she doesn’t hesitate to drop everything and go help her. But, when she gets to Maryland, she realizes that Ginny needs more help than she expected. She decides to bring her to New York where she can live closer. But, Maggie has her own chaotic life. She’s separated from her husband and trying to date while raising two boys and keeping up with her freelance job.

Maggie is far from perfect and makes her own mistakes in her life, but her love for her sister is never in question. I liked how the book demonstrated both the highs and lows of being a caretaker. Ginny was my favorite character. She was always so frank, and her observations of the family were sometimes right on point.

The writing was a stream of consciousness from the main character, Maggie. We all find out how her actions affect others around her at the same time she does. I thought the middle was a bit slow, but it was also full of the frustrations and challenges of caring for an adult with intellectual disabilities and day-to-day family issues.

Overall this is a heartwarming story about the difficulties of being a caretaker, a mother, a wife, and a sister, and still trying to be her own person.
I highly recommend The Frederick Sisters are Living the Dream to anyone who enjoys heartwarming fiction. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Okay story. I felt, though, it didn't deliver fully on the premise of dealing with a person with special needs;it became more of the caretakers story. It's as if the author tried to juggle too many storylines and none of them received full coverage.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise to this novel sounded excellent, but I found the writing to be a bit too bland for my tastes.

This book made it very easy to empathize with the main characters pain and the struggle she faces while being responsible for her disabled sister. There were certain additions to the plot that made no sense to me but all in all a good read

This beautiful book blew me away. I went into it with little expectations, just hoping it was good. I was immediately drawn into the powerful story about sisters and the struggles of caregiving. While it's heavy and serious at times, it's also light in other moments with some fantastic humor. The characters and their interactions are realistic and I felt for all of them at different times. Being a caregiver myself, although not to this same degree, I feel the author truly captured the moments of frustration and despair as well as the moments of joy and love. My only problem with the book was I was left wanting more closure at the end. I highly recommend this one.

Perfect vacation read, a sweeping family epic of three sisters, all very different, learning to adult.  At times darkly funny, but also an honest look at supporting an adult with disabilities and health issues.  I loved the characters, human and animal, the relationships and the way many different issues were portrayed with love and honesty.   I also want to mention the caregivers and how wonderful they were.
Lovely, dysfunctional, sad, funny, and quirky.  Great debut!

I’m sorry I cannot give feedback for this book. I read the first 20% and it wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to leave a bad review on a book I did not finish. Thank you for this opportunity.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Zusy created a bunch of complex characters. While most of the book reads like a stream of consciousness from the point of view of youngest sister, the caregiver Maggie, there is also plenty of humor and heartwarming moments. It felt like I was sitting on a couch with Maggie, a glass of wine in hand, listening to her experiences about juggling caregiving for her sister, being a mom of two boys, one in HS one in college on top of a demanding career. 
While quite entertaining this book made me think a lot. Like would I be as patient and generous with Ginny as Maggie was without receiving any form of appreciation. It also raised many questions: One was where does the autonomy of a person with intellectual disabilities ends? Ginny has diabetes but won't stop sneaking in sugar. Does Maggie and Ginny's nurses let Ginny whatever she wants or whatever is best for Ginny?

I believe Maggie's heart was in the right place. She thought she would "brighten up Ginny's dark life, open up her small world" but in the end Ginny is an individual and change is hard for everyone. When Maggie gets frustrated she reminds herself that Ginny is doing her best she could in her personal capacity. She gets that Ginny doesn't want to be a burden and that she has enough pride that she doesn't come right out and ask for assistance, so she'd drop hints about whatever it was needed to have fixed. 

There is also family anonymity. Oldest sister Betsy is distant and doesn't help much. Through the end of the book, we find out Bets's truth. And there is some sort of reconciliation between the sisters.

At the earlier parts of the book, there were sections that made me feel bad because it felt like I was laughing at the expense of Ginny or rather her disability. I considered not reading the rest. But I also had a feeling the author was speaking from experience. Upon reading the acknowledgements I understood that she was. Her gratitude for her late brother's caregivers is apparent in the book. Ginny's two nurses Philomena and Lika are painted in such a bright light. 

This was an impressive debut and I'd pick up what Jeannie Zusy writes next

The Frederick Sisters are Living the Dream was a mixed bag for me. Maggie is the youngest sister tasked with making sure her mentally challenged sister Ginny is rehabbed after experiencing a fall. The book begins with Maggie moving Ginny to a facility close to Maggie’s house. Maggie is very relatable- trying to keep her own life together while helping Ginny. Ginny is a piece of work- somewhat like an overgrown toddler who knows how to use Amazon. While I loved their interactions and struggles, the story dragged, especially the beginning. We never get a full picture of the third sister, Bets. Hidden in the story are some good life lessons- like always listen to your people.

A very unique story that ultimately was just not for me. Being a SLP I was happy to see a main character with ID and enjoyed that angle, but I found the plot a bit too slow paced to stay interested.

I am the older sibling to a brother who has special needs, and given this personal connection to the story, I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, this one did not deliver in the ways I had hoped. Perhaps it tapped into my own worries about the reality that I will one day be financially, medically, and emotionally responsible for him, but this was not my favorite portrayal of life as a sibling. That said, it did have some realistic moments--particularly the struggles of trying to provide your sibling with agency and autonomy, while also acknowledging that they may not be capable of making all life-related decisions on their own. Maggie's overwhelming life, in turn, made me very overwhelmed and tainted my overall experience of this book.

This was the perfect reset book for me. I’ve been reading only romance and needed to change things up a bit. This was probably one of the most real books I’ve read in quite some time.

It was dark, it was funny, it was sad. It’s been a long time since I read a book that made me feel things and have to think about how I’d react in the main character’s shoes. This book made me feel all of those things and ask really hard questions. This was a very good read. Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream could be called The Curse of the Caregiver. The guilt. The anger. The lack of time. The feeling that no matter what you’re doing it’s wrong/not enough/unappreciated. Maggie gets the call no one wants to get. Her developmentally challenged sister is in the hospital. She’s been living independently down in Maryland, but she wasn’t handling her diabetes, has gotten sepsis and now needs rehab. So Maggie brings her and her ornery dog north to NY State. And it’s not like Maggie doesn’t have other things on her plate - she’s left her irresponsible husband, has two teenage sons and a demanding job. Her older sister is living her own life on the west coast and can’t be bothered.
I felt for Maggie. Zusy takes her time setting up the story and fleshing out both sisters. Ginny is with it enough to want her independence, even if she can’t fully understand the repercussions of some of her actions. Maggie has always been the responsible sister and it’s weighing on her. She’s drinking too much and forgetting how to have fun. We don’t get a real sense of Bets until well into the book. And even then, I struggled to accept what she saw as her reality.
The story has a lot to say about the right of someone to make their decisions. It was a reminder that being mentally challenged doesn’t mean you still get a say in your life.
My dad had hired caregivers at the end of his life and these folks (so often foreign born because of our visa program) are some of the most caring folks imaginable. Zusy really captures their willingness to go above and beyond.
This wasn’t a humorous book except sometimes in a sad ha-ha way. Still, it resonated with me and was a heartfelt reminder of the power of families.
My thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

I understand that the author based this book on her experiences with her brother. My younger sister, my husband, and I had similar issues with a loved one (my mother), and we didn't have any money, so I think I see things from a slightly different perspective. It's either that, or I am just a cold-hearted bitch. Many issues could have been handled differently, but again I am seeing this from a different perspective. We had legal guardianship of my mother, and I had a steely heart. (enough about my life, I'm just letting you know that a lot of others have gone through similar things but had different outcomes.

Where anyone found humor in this book, I just can't tell you because I found absolutely none.

This book is filled with things that may set sensitive people or people being caregivers off. This seemed like more of a book about slow suicide than anything else, and the fact that the younger sister could not make consistent caregiver decisions.

My mom did not have developmental problems (she was a drinker), but in the end, she was no different than Ginny (Gin-Gin ).

Yes, this is a book about sisterly/caregiver relationships, but it took nearly the entire book for me to get the feeling that anyone was giving honest reactions. Yes, I realize that this is fiction, but for me, it just hit too close to home.
There were a couple of interesting twists at the end, but for some reason, this book didn't seem finished (If you know what I mean) to me.

All in all a good read but a mostly depressing one and no humor to be found.

*ARC supplied by the publisher Atria Books, the author, and NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for this ARC in return for an honest review. I was really hoping to enjoy this book more than I did. The storyline was one that sparked my interest but I found it to be rather slow going. Although it was compared to Elinor Oliphant I did not really connect with the characters here. And found their stories seemed to make the book drag for me. Given the other reviewers that seemed to enjoy it more I rated it as a 3 Wish I could have enjoyed it more, it just wasn’t one for me.

The character development was excellent and the story strikes a pretty powerful balance between quirky and serious. I enjoyed the book but ultimately had a hard time finishing once I started. It dragged in multiple places and likely could’ve been much shorter. Also I just did not care about the famous surfer sister — I kept forgetting she existed. Maybe if the book had pulled her storyline in earlier, I would’ve enjoyed the tension more?

Thank you for the advance copy! Looking forward to seeing more from this debut author.

As the mother of a child with developmental disabilities, I found this book difficult to read. I also questioned the accuracy of some of the book. Ginny functions on the level of a 3rd grader and yet is able to completely care for herself- and with diabetes on top of her delays. This had me questioning the whole book.

There is a part where, as a child aged 12, Ginny is responsible for the death of the family kitten not understanding that it needs air to breathe. At this point I was wondering why her parents weren’t doing a better job of observing her- they are discussing putting her in a special needs school but leave her completely unsupervised the whole night?

As an adult she still seems to need help. Ginny goes surfing with her sisters and nearly drowns because she can only doggie paddle. Whose idea is it to let her surf?

The writing style of this seems rambly to me. As someone who has a close relationship with developmental delays I just wasn’t a fan, unfortunately.

I simply adored this book! Definitely a top ten read for 2022!

Maggie has always has a special relationship with her older sister Ginny who has intellectual disabilities. So when Ginny ends up in the hospital in Maryland because of her diabetes, Maggie doesn’t hesitate to bring her sister and her to dog to live closer to her in New York. Ginny isn’t the easiest person to care for, especially with her sugar addiction, porn habit, and stubborn nature. But you can’t help but love her! Between Maggie, her two sons, two feuding immigrant aides, a soon-to-be ex-husband, and a barely present older sister who lives in California, you’re bound to laugh and cry at their attempts to work together as team for Ginny’s sake.

The relationships between these characters were at times dysfunctional and yet completely relatable. Jeannie Zusy did a wonderful job of approaching this complicated family dynamic with tasteful humor and an empathetic attitude. Overall, I thought this was a fantastic book and I can’t recommend it enough!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a copy of this book to review.*

Thank you so much Atria Books for an advanced copy of ‘The Frederick Sisters are Living the Dream,’ by Jeannie Zusy

This book was chaotic, raw, and real. The story focuses on Maggie Frederick and her relationships with her sisters, sons, and ex-husband. Though funny, there is a lot of emotion.

There are a lot of trigger warnings as the story deals with a lot of sensitive topics such as addiction, infidelity, caregiving for a sibling, etc. Please do your research if there are topics you are sensitive too! (Feel free to message me)

I highly suggest reading the acknowledgements- Zusy gives glimpses into her relationship with her older brother who lived with disabilities.

Bets,. Ginny, and Maggie are the Frederick sisters whose relationships are featured in this novel. Maggie the last sister, becomes a caregiver for special needs sister Ginny, while the oldest Bets lives a life of surfing in California.

Sisters and how they relate to one another, the sacrifices they make for one another, or sacrifices they don't make are the themes of the novel. A surprising turn around at the end of the novel shows the three sisters in a new light, although the novel takes too long to get to this point, frustrating the reader. The book could have been shorter and some of the middle events cut short or omitted in order to get to the ending that the author intended.

I enjoyed the first three-quarters of the book and wished the main points, though surprising and thought provoking, could have been reached earlier.