The Geometry of Sisters (Newport, Rhode Island, #1) by Luanne Rice

The Geometry of Sisters (Newport, Rhode Island, #1) Reviews

• 
  Quinn Barrett

  I hate saying bad things about books because I know first hand the amount of work that goes into writing, editing and publishing the damn things.
  
  Luanne Rice is one of my favorite authors when it comes to an easy, uncomplicated read. The problem is I think she tried to get a little too complex in exploring the dynamics between sisters. The math metaphor fell flat for me.
  
  My sister and I always had a decent although not necessarily super close relationship. She passed away rather quickly from lung cancer six years ago. I thought this book might evoke some lost memories or feelings for her, but no such reactions.
  
  In fact, I found myself wondering if my sister would've rolled her eyes as much as I did. So I'm either a heartless witch devoid of feeling or the author's development of the various sister characters were so over wrought that most the female characters came off as silly caricatures of how sisters should be... okay... maybe both reasons are accurate. My point is it's not Luanne's best work.
  
  I'm being very generous with 3 stars only because of my respect for author and the many books I have enjoyed from her body of work.
• 
  Lolly K Dandeneau

  This book was okay- however the love story within was just too hokey for me to be real. The youngest daughter's problems were interesting and she was a little character but everyone else in the book seemed flat. I realize most women rave about these types of novels, I just felt the book could have been a bit darker, more true to life and trauma rather than the unrealistic quick fixes and happy endings. In reality those who suffer trauma don't just snap out of it as if everything is fabulous. Maybe I just don't like happy endings?
• 
  Staci

  This is my second time reading Luanne Rice. The first encounter I had with this author was listening to The Edge of Winter on CD. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn't that thrilled with it. The story was fine, but the narrator irritated me to death. But I'm not going to hold that against Luanne and when I saw the blurb about her newest book, it sounded interesting so I requested it from my library. I'm glad that I decided to 'read' the book this time instead of listening to it. I enjoyed her writing so much more this time around. I'm always drawn to stories about families in some sort of crises and this one has that, plus a little bit more. There wasn't really any surprises, but that was o.k. because I was just enjoying these characters and seeing what kind of choices they were going to make. I guess you could say that it was a predictable read. Which for me, every once in awhile, is just fine. I would recommend this as a fun, easy summer read. Or one of those books that you need to read to decompress after experiencing a really emotional or harrowing book earlier. I'm glad that I gave Rice a second chance and I'm sure that I'll pick up another one of her books in the future. Because in the end....I was satisfied.
• 
  Sharon Huether

  A heart warming story of a family making a big change...where they live and where they will be attending school, plus a new job for the mom.
  The move was to New Port, Rhode Island. They found it hard to fit in at first. In time the teens were popular.
• 
  Andrea

  I'm a little torn on the rating for this one. The main focus was the importance of the relationship between sisters, and what happens when that relationship is strained. But, I was bothered by the use of the "f" word a couple of times (seriously unnecessary), and what happened between JD and Maura at the pool (again-unnecessary).
  
  Overall, it was a likable story that tugged at the heartstrings, and could have been much better without those things mentioned above.
• 
  Barbara Broekstra

  This was really the last Luanne Rice book I will read.Too sappy for me .
• 
  Joeann Fossland

  Luanne Rice is a master at surprise twists and turns in her plots. This book explores secrets and emotions hidden for years! A good beach read
• 
  Charlene

  I really enjoyed this book - nice story and interesting characters. Loved the setting - Newport and Providence RI. I’m familiar with the streets and landmarks in the story and that was cool. If you are looking for a good book for a summer or beach read, pick this one up!
• 
  Michelle

  Sweet story. Easy read.
• 
  Rita Nye

  Family
  
  To have a sister is to have a lifetime Best Friend. There are times that sisters can grow apart for one reason or another but when there is a crisis they can put old wounds aside to help one another.
• 
  Jane

  Great story!
  
  Many emotions in this story. You can hear the waves and feel the sea breeze! Makes me want to read the next in the series!
• 
  Laurel-Rain

  A family pulls up stakes following a tragic accident that left a husband dead and a daughter missing. Suddenly the family home in Ohio seemingly holds too much pain and too many bad memories.
  
  Remaining family members are limping along, like injured parties, broken and crippled by the pain. But Maura Shaw is determined to return to her roots in Rhode Island – a place where her own sister Katherine still lives. Katherine, from whom she has been estranged for many years. A secret betrayal divides them, just as it crushed the final days of Andy and Maura’s marriage before the boat capsize that took his life.
  
  Becca Shaw is a math prodigy who uses numbers and equations as a way to understand life. Unfortunately, her pain is also expressed in negative ways – she retreats, she steals, and she burrows into her secret places. Travis Shaw excels in sports, and despite his own pain, he turns to these pursuits to express his feelings. But he, too, holds secret sorrows within – and feels somehow responsible for maintaining family unity.
  
  Maura Shaw’s new job teaching at Newport Academy is her ticket to starting over. But will the past intrude, preventing a fresh start? And how will she ever find her missing daughter Carrie? Smoothing out the troubled history between Maura and Katherine will be a huge task in and of itself. And at the center of this trouble between the sisters is the key to the final disruption in the Shaw marriage.
  
  Luanne Rice treats us to a family saga that shines a spotlight on all the possible twists and turns of family dynamics, and reveals – very gradually – how the troubles between family members can finally begin to heal.
  
  Told alternately in Becca’s voice and the voice of the third person narrator, we come to learn how things began to spin out of control, and how choices in a summer long ago set in motion a ripple effect – experienced for many years to come.
  
  A relaxing tale, “The Geometry of Sisters” is unique enough to stand apart from the usual beach read, but doesn’t quite reach the five-star category.
  
• 
  Ginger

  First off, this took me about 70-80 pages to really get into, but once I did, I enjoyed it. Beck loses her father & her sister in the same day. Beck was extremely close to her sister and she tries to find some peace in doing Math. It sounds strange & I didn't "get" the math aspect of it real well, but I can understand losing yourself in something to take your mind off things.
  
  Also, while Beck is mourning her sister's running away, Beck's Mom is also dealing with her own sister issues. And then there's Travis (Beck's brother) who is trying to hold everything together.
  
  Loved the ending!! I don't normally use quotes in a review, but these two spoke to me (due to my own sister issues): "Something happens to sisters who've stopped talking to each other for any stretch of time. Once it has happened--once the pattern has been set, and months and years go by, they get used to it. The unthinkable becomes thinkable. They imagine they can live without each other-because that's what they're doing. Even if they make up, get back together, at the first sign of strife, they might revert to not speaking."
  
  "For every day sisters don't talk to each other, a day is taken from the end of their lives. It's that destructive. Their lives are shorter, because their anguish and bitterness destroys them from the inside out. It eats away at their veins, weakens the walls of their hearts."
  
  I would recommend this book..whether one has a sister or not!
• 
  Trish Jackson

  Maura Shaw's husband drowns. His death unleashes enormous changes in Maura and her children's lives. Her eldest daughter, Carrie runs away and no-one can find her. Her younger daughter, Beck suffers serious emotional damage and starts to steal things. Her son Travis struggles to be the man of the house.
  
  Maura accepts a job offer as the English teacher for a prestigious private school in Newport, Rhode Island, where she grew up. Ghosts from her past resurface and she has to face them, while Beck and Travis have to adjust to their new lives.
  
  All of them have one clear, driving objective -- to find Carrie.
  
  The motif of the story is the bond that exists between sisters. Maura has to meet face-to-face with her sister after eighteen years of estrangement. Beck is desperate to find her sister. Beck envies her best friend, Lucy, who is close to her sister Pell. The school is reputedly haunted by two sisters.
  
  This is my first Luanne Rice book, and I loved it so much I have since purchased another of her books. She writes about families, and the things that tear them apart and put them back together, and she manages to throw in a lot of questions and what if's that keep you turning the pages.
  
• 
  Leah Green

  I really loved this story. The plot and the dynamic. The grief and the loss. The love and warmth. This was the first book I have read by Luanne Rice. I know for certain it will not be my last.
  
  This is a book about the past and the present. A family struggling through grief and loss. A story of new beginnings and righting old wrongs. A heartfelt tear jerker.
  
  You will love the family and their friends. Everyone's point of view is shown. This was a must read for me. It didn't disappoint.
• 
  Cindy

  This book follows one family as they try to adjust to a different life following a tragic boating accident.
  Beck's father died in the accident, her older sister disappeared from the hospital, and then her mother, Maura, accepts a teaching position at a private academy in New England which means a painful upheaval for Beck and her older brother Travis. Beck buries herself in Mathematics while Travis tries to adjust to life in a new place away from his first love.
  Maura is harboring a long kept secret that is hinted at throughout the book. Her arrival in New England brings it closer to the surface along with a reconciliation of past mistakes and a love that was lost. Dealing at the same time with a reconciliation with her long estranged sister and the painful adjustment to life without her husband and oldest daughter while still searching desperately for her missing daughter all seems to bring this mother closer and closer to the breaking point.
  I found myself sympathizing with each character and couldn't wait to find out what happened. This book is a definite winner and a great read that culminates in a satisfying ending!
• 
  Wendy

  This was an amazing book about familie ties. When Beck's family is torn apart by an accident, it is a journey to see how strong the relationships are. Her father dies at sea during a storm. Her sister, Carrie, runs away after she is rescued to try and find her roots. Beck and her brother Travis are left to deal with the fallout with their mother. As the story begins, the family is moving from Ohio to Newport, Rhode Island for a teaching postion so that Maura (the mother) can support her family. There is a lot of history in Newport for Maura as she fell in love there and got pregnant with her oldest child in an affair there. It also was the place where the relationship with her sister Katherine broke down. As Beck and Travis try to adapt to a new school while the search for Carrie continues, Maura must face up to the mistakes of her past in order for her to sort out the present. Beck is wrapped up in math, Travis is wrapped up in football but they all must come together to find what is most important to all of them.
  This was a very touching book and a story that kept me intersted all the way through.
• 
  Kristy Trauzzi

  Oh it's Luanne Rice. If you like her, do any of her novels suck? The one issue that I did have with this family was feeling the disconnect. I didn't feel the great love that they shared before the accident, and I didn't feel the disconnect they were feeling throughout the novel. And maybe that's because the story was told from multiple points of view - and each point was very focused on them. Not so much any family ties. The Mom thought of her long love affair (and missing her daughter). Travis thought of pretty girls (and a token worry about his sister) and Beck thought of math, being a klepto (and feeling her sisters presence). It was almost as if any family ties were an afterthought. It was strange. Cuz, if they were that close, and then just disbanded due to the trauma, you would think there would be way more emotions coming to the surface. But, no. And Maura barely thought of her dead husband, which I thought was odd. However, I read the story. The story didn't disappoint. It wasn't very exciting.
• 
  Jessica

  This hand-me-down paperback sat on my nightstand for at least a year. I finally decided to pick it up again during a long weekend, figuring that I should be at least somewhat interested since it takes place in Newport, RI, near my hometown.
  
  Although I read the novel quickly and even enjoyed the description of Newport, I wasn't super engaged with the plot. The characters felt incredibly superficial, even though the author was careful to try and build multi-dimensional, flawed characters. I also found the "sisterly connections" in the novel to be over dramatized. Granted, I don't have a sister of my own (and I also suck at math), so maybe I'm just not capable of relating to the plot. Then again, there are a lot of other books out there that are able to draw me in even IF I don't have a relevant personal experience.
  
  I won't ruin the ending, but I will say that it was too rose-colored/unrealistic for my taste and left me unsatisfied.
• 
  Mandy

  I was very disappointed in this book. I quit reading it with only about 30 pages to go. One sentence stopped me and I couldn't get past it. When Maura thinks "I always wanted a love like Ana Karenina or Madam Bovary" I thought, "does she know they are adulteress?". This statement unraveled my perception of the mother.
  
  The husband Andy is portrayed in a very flattering light until you find out he is a very unforgiving person. He can't forgive Maura for lying about Carrie's paternity? He was pretty dense not to have doubts about the kid before.
  
  This is a modern day novel and I find it pretty pathetic that JD didn't fight her in court for visitation rights to his kid. The story is that he loved them so much he didn't want to force it. Sorry can't relate. He wasn't a bad guy so there was no reason for him to not fight for his kid. He probably didn't care.
  
  I just couldn't relate to the characters.
• 
  Machel

  I just read this recent Luanne Rice novel on my trip back to my brother's wedding and absolutely loved the pace of this book. I instantly fell into the story with the first paragraph, and was drawn into the heart of the story and wondering how it would end. I loved Maura, the kids, the past, the lighthouse and especially the ghost of Mary. Brilliant!!! Great read for anyone. I am an already avid fan, but this is my third book of Luanne's in less than one month and I remember WHY she is in my top 4 authors of all time for me. Poignant, heartfelt, brillant and a read you just can't put down. Can't wait to read "Deep Blue Sea For Beginners," next. It just came out in paperbook, m
• 
  Anna

  The bond between sisters is like no other relationship in our lives. What happens when tragic events, or jealousy break the bond between sisters, is the connection between them still present? Carrie and Beck are broken by Carrie running away to escape the tragic death of the man she had always beleived to be her father, and her embarressment over her preganancy. Maura and Katharine split over the love of the same man, and the horrible accident that befell him. Lucy and Pell are bonded together over their mother leaving them as young girls. And the past history of Mary and Beatice who haunt Hawthorne school which the girls attend. Can love bring them back together? Find out!
• 
  Jennifer

  I absolutely loved this book. I started reading The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners first, and came to Goodreads to document it. I learned then that this was the first book. That was the only thing that irritated me a little bit, as there was not any indication that this was a series.
  
  The book is a story about two separate familes, each with their own turmoils. It follows the relationships of three sets of sisters: Maura and Katherine, Carrie and Beck, and Pell and Lucy. There's also a good helping of a love story, broken hearts, loss and so much more.
• 
  Rene Glendening

  I liked this book. Three different sets of sisters lives are challenged through events that could happen to anyone. Maura and Katherine are set apart after one summer of bad choices by one of them. Beck and Carrie are Maura's daughter's and one of them takes after their mother unknowingly in a very pecuilar way and as a result runs away from home. Pell and Lucy are very close and look after each other because their Mom won't. Although there are lingering issues and problems unsolved by the end of this book it still leaves you feeling good.
• 
  Janet Lynch

  This was a quick pleasant read. It was told from the viewpoint of different family members following the drowning of the husband/father. Everything was just a little off...I couldn't believe that real people would act the way these characters did. The end got tied up too neatly without anything really getting resolved. The only characters I really liked were the youngest daughter, Beck and brother, Travis. It seemed like all the adults were in love with someone who wasn't in love with them. The mom, Maura was just plain silly and shallow. All that being said, I still enjoyed the book!
• 
  Vickie

  I just finished another book by Luanne Rice,
  The Geometry of Sisters. The story is told between two voices, Becca, the young math prodigy, and the third person narrator who tell the story of a family's troubles and how these wounds begin to heal over time. The story dragged in spots but not enough to make me skim some pages. My heart broke for the family and rejoiced as each character found their way home. Good read!
  
  Go Cards! L1C4!!
• 
  Becky

  I liked this story-loved the connection between math & lives & sisters....I especially liked the RI connection, I have not spent any time there but the beauty of Luanne's words makes me want to check it out. The school itself sounded fascinating & the story of Mary & her sister also.....I liked that there weren't any "nasty" girl characters-too many of them around. Luanne is always a breath of fresh air!!!
  
  One more thing-I loved the young girl's name!!!! LOL!!!!!
• 
  Vivian

  I love Luanne Rice, but this one was very disappointing. I don't agree with most of the reviews I've read. Readers generally loved this book, but I never warmed up to any of the main characters. Lucy and Pell were far more interesting characters. The story line was just not that interesting and the main characters came across as one dimensional. I found myself skimming through the last half of the book. Not a book that I will remember nor recommend to others.