The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine
Reviewers compare this story to Jane Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’, but I don’t know about that correlation. Schine’s characters are shallow and spoiled and don’t seem to have much sense at all, much less sensibility. Miranda suddenly gives up any thoughts of her career and becomes entranced with the two-year old child of a much younger man; Annie tries to keep a handle on finances and common sense, but she is diverted by an infatuation with a charming author. This author has a daughter who keeps him apart from Annie; he also has a sister who has seduced her boss – who happens to be Annie and Miranda’s father! Betty, the spurned 70 year old wife is devastated by her husband’s request for a divorce and starts to refer to him as her late husband, preferring to think of him as dead. It isn’t funny, though I think we are supposed to believe it is. Most of it is sad. Not on my recommended list, unless you like to read about whiny rich people.