Editorial note: I received a copy of The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner is an entertaining story about sisters, the music industry, and body acceptance.
Jennifer Weiner is an important author for me. Her books really started my adult reading journey! The first one I read by her was In Her Shoes, and I became an instant fan. For a while her books were under the ‘chick-lit’ umbrella (remember that phrase)? But now she writes contemporary and historical fiction, with a focus on serious issues.
Her books usually revolve around family (mainly sisters and mothers/children), and discussing one’s body image. She packs a lot in her stories, which sometimes works out well, and other times can feel like too much.The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits falls in the middle of that.
While it kept my interest throughout, there were some odd plot points. But I liked much of the novel, especially the focus on ’90s/2000 pop era.
What’s the Story About
The story follows two sisters—Cassie and Zoe—who eventually reach huge success as a pop act during the early 2000s. Cassie is a musical genius who doesn’t want the attention, while Zoe loves the stage. However, a personal tragedy breaks the band up, and causes the sisters to stop speaking for the next 20 years.
Now Zoe is a suburban mom who tries to obtain perfection. However, her daughter Cherry is ready to jump start her own musical career, much to her mother’s dismay. While Cassie has disappeared from public life entirely.
But when Cherry begins unearthing the truth behind their breathtaking rise and infamous breakup, long-buried secrets surface, forcing all three women to confront their choices, their desires, and their complicated bonds.
Zoe and Cassie
Jennifer Weiner likes to write about the complicated relationships between sisters. Usually, one sister is more beautiful but is struggling, while the other is less attractive but has a heart of gold. It’s more or less the same with this novel, except I do think she gave additional depth to that scenario.
Zoe is gorgeous, but completely vain and frame hungry. But she also has spent her life protecting her sister Cassie, who struggled to fit in with peers. As children and teenagers, she forced her friends to include Cassie, much to their dismay.
So when Zoe wants a musical career, even though she lacks talent, she feels Cassie owes her in some way. While Cassie would prefer to hide in the shadows, she eventually agrees to perform with Zoe, and everything changes. I just wish Zoe and Cassie had a bigger bond before getting famous. In my opinion, that would have made the breakup and aftermath more impactful than it was.
With Cassie, there is a ton of talk and terrible comments about her weight. It even starts when her own mother thinks this right after she was born. All of that was hard to read at times.
Jennifer Weiner is clearly making a point regarding how some people are unfair and cruel about one’s weight. We’ve seen it played out in pop culture time and time again. She really showed the impact these comments can have one person’s psyche.
Fame
The time period is early 2000s when Britney Spears, ‘NSYNC, Destiny’s Child were all the rage, which was my teenage era of music. So I enjoyed the look at that time period—that part was fun. And it’s also crazy it’s now historical fiction, but that’s a whole other story, haha.
You can tell Jennifer Weiner did a ton of research, and I really enjoyed her faux news articles about the Griffin Sisters. It goes into detail about their rise to success, and also how grueling touring can be.
So we have Zoe and Cassie’s fame, contrasted with Cherry’s desire to be a musician as well, despite the fact Zoe kept that part of her life hidden from Cherry for a long time. Cherry goes behind Zoe’s back to auction for a Voice like competition show, and even though she thinks she’s nothing like her mother, it does show how history can repeat itself.
And of course, there also needed to be a love triangle during the Griffin Sisters’ run, because that’s how it goes, right? This one is interesting because the love triangle isn’t always about love but sometimes about competition. I’ve mentioned before that love triangles are not my favorite plot point but it was okay in this case.
Verdict
There is a ton packed into this story, which honestly doesn’t always work. For instance, there’s a plot point about Cherry’s stepbrother harassing her, and Zoe ignoring it, and while I see where Jennifer Weiner was going with it (showcasing that Zoe wasn’t truly listening or taking Cherry seriously), it really went into great detail, and I’m not sure if that was entirely necessary.
As I mentioned before, the focus on Cassie’s weight, again, I see what she was striving for, but it sometimes felt a bit unrealistic (such as the mother thinking she birthed a monster, which was quite overly dramatic).
But I still enjoyed the novel, I was curious where the story would go, and there are some surprising reveals. I liked going back to that era of pop music too.
All in all, I can see book clubs having plenty to talk about with this one, and having some fun themed meetings (with plenty of 2000 era pop music).
For book clubs, check out my discussion questions here.
