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Available
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Collection
Publication
Random House Trade Paperbacks (2006), Paperback, 269 pages
Description
A novel about two sisters, the true meaning of success, and the qualities in life that matter most. It's an otherwise ordinary Monday when Meghan Fitzmaurice's perfect life hits a wall. A household name as the host of the country's highest-rated morning talk show, Meghan cuts to a commercial break--but not before she mutters two forbidden words into her open mike. In an instant, it's the end of an era, not only for Meghan, who is unaccustomed to dealing with adversity, but also for her younger sister, Bridget, a social worker in the Bronx who has always lived in Meghan's long shadow. The effect of Meghan's on-air truth telling reverberates through both their lives, affecting Meghan's son, husband, friends, and fans, as well as Bridget's perception of her sister, their complex childhood, and herself.--From publisher description.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member FearsomeFoursome
I liked, but certainly didn't love, this book about the relationship between two sisters. Meghan is the fabulously wealthy, incredibly famous, much beloved star of a morning television talk show. Her younger sister Bridget is a social worker in the Bronx. Meghan's seemingly perfect life changes
Also, perhaps it is just me, but I wish people who live in New York City understood that those of us who don't live there don't spend our every waking moment wondering what it must be like and wishing to understand all its idiosyncrasies. Almost every chapter began with some piece of information about NYC that I am sure I was supposed to treat as the reveal of a great mystery, but most of the time the information was not novel to NYC. My favorite was a long discussion about how people who don't live there don't understand that you can't lose yourself in New York because New Yorkers know each other, recognizing their neighbors even if they don't know their names. Huh? Does Ms. Quindlen really think people in Cleveland or Houston or Chicago or even any small town in the US don't have the same experience? Early on Bridget says New York is the center of the universe; her lengthy comments about the city didn't persuade me.
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when she inadvertantly curses on air while cutting to a commercial. Bridget, used to living in her older sister's shadow, feels the effect of the mistake as well. Their story of how they deal with the fallout, told by Bridget, follows from there. It is certainly an easy read. Most of the characters are interesting, but I didn't really connect to any of them. At one point toward the end Bridget lashes out at her sister. While I assume it was supposed to be a pivotal moment, I found it to be random -- completely out of character and nonsensical for Bridget to come to the conclusion she did. I thought a story about sisters would resonate with me because I have six, but instead it was simply a pleasant read with a contrived ending.Also, perhaps it is just me, but I wish people who live in New York City understood that those of us who don't live there don't spend our every waking moment wondering what it must be like and wishing to understand all its idiosyncrasies. Almost every chapter began with some piece of information about NYC that I am sure I was supposed to treat as the reveal of a great mystery, but most of the time the information was not novel to NYC. My favorite was a long discussion about how people who don't live there don't understand that you can't lose yourself in New York because New Yorkers know each other, recognizing their neighbors even if they don't know their names. Huh? Does Ms. Quindlen really think people in Cleveland or Houston or Chicago or even any small town in the US don't have the same experience? Early on Bridget says New York is the center of the universe; her lengthy comments about the city didn't persuade me.
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LibraryThing member Djupstrom
I didn't care about one character, I didn't care about the plot, I was completely not buying what she was selling.
LibraryThing member bobbieharv
I just have to stop reading her books. The plots seem interesting, draw me in, and then her writing exasperates me in a way that's hard to describe. It's sloppy, filled with details that seem to serve no purpose; it's mostly serviceable, very occasionally quite good, and then a highly irritating
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cliche will pop up and ruin the sentence. No more Anna Quindlen for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member legaleagle
Rise and Shine was a pleasant, fast-paced story of two sisters. Bridget and Meghan Fitzmaurice lead very different lives, but things change in the blink of an eye and their lives dovetail unexpectedly. I enjoyed reading about the family relationships, which we all know can be wonderful and
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complicated and messy all at the same time! Neither sister really understands very much about the other but they do learn and grow as the story progresses. The more interesting characters to me were Bridget's boyfriend Irving Lefkowitz and Meghan's son Leo. Everything ends nicely and leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling, but this book wasn't anything to get TOO excited about. It was my first Anna Quindlen book, and I would certainly try another one. Show Less
LibraryThing member mermaids
very disappointed in this book. loved "black and blue." i so did not care about the characters in "rise and shine." i continued reading hoping it would get better, but it didn't.
LibraryThing member jrepman
Terrific story of two sisters who live in New York-one is a Katie Couric like figure.
LibraryThing member marient
It's an otherwise ordinary Monday when Meghan Fitzmaurice's perfect life hits a wall. A household name as the host of Rise and Shine, the countsy' highest-rated morning television talk show, Meghan cuts to a commercial breaki-but not before she does something that, in an instant, marks the end of
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an era, not only for Meghan, who is unacustomed to dealing with adversity, but also for her younger sister, Bridget. A social worker in the Bronx, Bridget has always looked up to Meghan while living in her long shadow. Show Less
LibraryThing member mbergman
I think Quindlen is an amazing writer. I love her short essays for NEWSWEEK, & I've loved all of her novels. And I really shouldn't have liked this one. It's a book about New York City (very consciously so--the first sentence is: "From time to time some stanger will ask me how I can bear to live in
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New York City"--and that notion is repeated in various forms throughout the book), and it's in some ways a book of manners, like the 19th-century English novels I don't like. Furthermore, it's very much about the contemporary obsessions of academia--race, class, and gender--and about nontraditional families. BUT her characters & their emotions are so richly portrayed & so real that she breaks down the abstractions of the categories and in so doing illuminates them. (That's what makes her essays so good, too.) This one's about two adult sisters, in their 40s. One is America's best-known morning talk show anchor; the other runs a shelter for (mostly African American) women in the Bronx. When the "successful" one faces a career crisis, it affects her relationships with her sister, her husband, her college-age son, & her friends, and we, as readers, are witness to all the fascinating ramifications. Another Quindlen miracle. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheLoisLevel
Okay, it's impossible to read this without picturing Katie Couric. That may be more true for me than others because I used to live in a city where her late sister, Emily Couric, was the representative to the state city. Emily Couric certainly made her mark on the local level, though. Anyway, the
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book: enjoyable story, but not earth shattering. This book strikes me as sentimental chick lit that is slightly more high toned and not about finding a man. Show Less
LibraryThing member indygo88
This novel had a good premise. It's basically the story of two adult sisters, one of whom lives in the spotlight as a morning talk show host, the other who lives a quieter life in her sister's shadow. The core of the book centers around the superstar sister's "fall from grace", when two profanities
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slip out of her mouth while the cameras are still rolling. It's a unique idea for a storyline. But the book is more about the relationship between the sisters & how it evolves & changes. And that's where it fell flat. It was unremarkable, really, and I found the sisters' relationship tiring and annoying most of the time. I don't have a sister, so maybe I just couldn't relate, but the story never did succeed in drawing me in. The last portion of the book was especially disappointing. It was as if Quindlen decided to push the fast forward button after writing the majority of the novel in slow motion. Not a very smooth transition, in my opinion. I've not read any of Anna Quindlen's other novels, although I had the impression she was a decent writer. This is just obviously not one of her best. Show Less
LibraryThing member AGrab
Anna Quindlen writes revealingly about celebrity and the family ties and strains. Told from the sister's viewpoint I felt like I was reading a tabloid; a very effective style to tell this story.
LibraryThing member MarthaHuntley
I really liked the Tale of Two Cities aspect of this wonderful story of two sisters -- the ultrawealthy NYC and the impoverished NYC. Characters are very well drawn, and the relationship between Meghan and Bridget Fitzmaurice lives and breathes.
LibraryThing member jepeters333
Meghan is the popular host of America's top-rated morning talk sow - until she shatters her seemingly perfect life b letting two profane words slip freom her lips just before a commercial break. Suddenly, she is shamed - something she's not equipped to handle. Her sister Bridget, a social worker
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who has long lived in Meghan's shadow, feels the effects of the on-air gaffe, too. They may be different, but the Fitzmaurice sisters share a deep connection that helps them challenge the world when faced with disgrace. Show Less
LibraryThing member Paulita
Great premise: one sister observed through the others' viewpoint. I delayed reading this book after purchasing it because when skimming through it I found it dialog-heavy. After I started reading it, I found much to enjoy in the insider's views of upper-class New York Society. Unfortunately,
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although the contemporary, clever dialog did not grate on me as much as I'd thought it would, the lack of emotional connection with the characters did. Relationships that could have been intense seemed tepid. I had trouble caring, although I wanted to. Could the deliberately glib prose style have caused the emotional distance from the characters? Or did the author attempt to achieve that type of connection between character and reader and simply fall short? Deliberate or not, the emotional disengagement (after all, we are talking about intense events, such as shootings, pregnancies, divorce, career meltdown, sister dynamics) caused a failure to launch for me. I skimmed through the last third. As for Irving, his is a well-drawn portrait. I dated a Latino Irving; same age difference, same appreciation for women as a treat. I wish that the other characters had come alive for me. When you are writing about characters who are stuffing their emotions, you need to show more interior struggle. Perhaps seeing Meghan once-removed through Bridget's eyes was a poor choice? Fitzgerald did it in Gatsby, sure, but here it doesn't seem to catch fire. Her nonfiction is good, however. Show Less
LibraryThing member amaryann21
A little slow to start, but very relateable and human.
LibraryThing member CDianeK
Often in Anna Quindlen's books, there is so much there that renders the actual plotline secondary. She is so cohesive with her descriptions that characterizations and story can take a back seat. Sometimes this works well - for instance in her recent Every Last One, we slowly learned the dynamics of
Two sisters, orphaned at a young age, and raised by an aunt and uncle. Now grown up, Bridget is a social worker, running a non-profit to help indigent mothers and their children. Older sister Meghan is the host of the morning show Rise and Shine, and the most recognized woman in the country. Bridget seems to fit well in the dichotomy of her life; the teeming poverty of of her world, and the glittering excesses of her sister's. Quindlen does an excellent job of showing that underneath it all, it's not what it seems. Meghan is essentially miserable in her position; her husband, Evan, is even more unhappy in Meghan's world, and though no one can deny that they both are excellent parents, Bridget herself has spent more hands-on time with their college - aged son Leo than they have.
After a slow buildup, everything collapses practically in 24 hours. Meghan lets loose with an expletive-laden open-mike perjorative aimed at a guest which blows up the tabloids as only that type of incident can. In her frantic attempts to contact her sister in its aftermath, Bridget discovers that her brother-in-law had asked for a divorce and left his wife only the night before. Faced with the bad publicity of the ended marriage and the on -air gaffe, Meghan simply disappears, hiding away at a friend's Jamaican villa. This leaves Bridget to pick up the pieces, with Leo, with the press, and with the few true friends that Meghan has. And continue her own life without her sister's guidance; the long term relationship, her job, her relationship with Leo.
What follows is another long detour, describing the city, the different boroughs and attitudes of their inhabitants, the people, places and things of New York City. Informative? Yes. Necessary? Not really, no. Then the defining event occurs, bringing out the worst and best of everyone, and finally allowing the story to be completed.
This is not a bad book; not by any means. It is populated with memorable and alive characters and a compelling story, it's just buried so far underneath the descriptions and recollections that it gets a little lost. Well done, though possibly too well done.
This was an audiobook for me; the reader was superb, inserting humor, sarcasm and distress when needed. Superbly done.
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the central family, all the better to experience their tragedy with them. Other times, it can simply feel indulgent. Such is the case with Rise and Shine.Two sisters, orphaned at a young age, and raised by an aunt and uncle. Now grown up, Bridget is a social worker, running a non-profit to help indigent mothers and their children. Older sister Meghan is the host of the morning show Rise and Shine, and the most recognized woman in the country. Bridget seems to fit well in the dichotomy of her life; the teeming poverty of of her world, and the glittering excesses of her sister's. Quindlen does an excellent job of showing that underneath it all, it's not what it seems. Meghan is essentially miserable in her position; her husband, Evan, is even more unhappy in Meghan's world, and though no one can deny that they both are excellent parents, Bridget herself has spent more hands-on time with their college - aged son Leo than they have.
After a slow buildup, everything collapses practically in 24 hours. Meghan lets loose with an expletive-laden open-mike perjorative aimed at a guest which blows up the tabloids as only that type of incident can. In her frantic attempts to contact her sister in its aftermath, Bridget discovers that her brother-in-law had asked for a divorce and left his wife only the night before. Faced with the bad publicity of the ended marriage and the on -air gaffe, Meghan simply disappears, hiding away at a friend's Jamaican villa. This leaves Bridget to pick up the pieces, with Leo, with the press, and with the few true friends that Meghan has. And continue her own life without her sister's guidance; the long term relationship, her job, her relationship with Leo.
What follows is another long detour, describing the city, the different boroughs and attitudes of their inhabitants, the people, places and things of New York City. Informative? Yes. Necessary? Not really, no. Then the defining event occurs, bringing out the worst and best of everyone, and finally allowing the story to be completed.
This is not a bad book; not by any means. It is populated with memorable and alive characters and a compelling story, it's just buried so far underneath the descriptions and recollections that it gets a little lost. Well done, though possibly too well done.
This was an audiobook for me; the reader was superb, inserting humor, sarcasm and distress when needed. Superbly done.
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LibraryThing member wirtley
Literary Fiction. Relationship between two sisters. One works for television news station and the other a homeless shelter.
Very wordy.
Very wordy.
LibraryThing member Dottiehaase
Bridget Fitzmaurice, the narrator, works for a women's shelter in the Bronx; her older sister, Meghan, cohost of the popular morning show Rise and Shine, is the most famous woman on television. Bridget acts as a second mother to the busy Meghan's college student son, Leo; Meghan barely tolerates
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Bridget's significant other, a gritty veteran police detective named Irving Lefkowitz. After 9/11 (which happens off-camera) and the subsequent walking out of Meghan's beleaguered husband, Evan, Meghan calls a major politician a "fucking asshole" before her microphone gets turned off for a commercial, and Megan and Bridget's lives change forever. As Bridget struggles to mend familial fences and deal with reconfigurations in their lives wrought by Meghan's single phrase. Funny Tequila, adds humor to novel. She is assitant to Bridget mat shelter for women. Leo gets involved in a shotting, and Bridget gets pregnant. Don't remember all the endings as I am reporting this long after I read the book Show Less
LibraryThing member eileenmary
i didn't care for the younger sisters naration of her life and family drama. too new york, upper class, blah blah blah for my midwestern taste.
LibraryThing member RussellBittner
Is it pure coincidence that I just finished reading Anna Quindlen’s Rise and Shine on the heels of Jack London’s Martin Eden? And would I expect Quindlen’s principal character, Meghan Fitzmaurice, to meet the same unhappy conclusion that London’s principal character, Martin Eden, inevitably
I don’t know. You tell me. In any case, one has to wonder whether life along the Museum Mile – or the equivalent in San Francisco – frankly ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
‘Anna Quindlen’ is a name as well known in these parts as that of ‘Bergdorf Goodman’ or ‘Tavern on the Green’ – but is neither as rich and gaudy as the former nor as ticky-tacky-touristy as the latter. If Thornton Wilder had written a play titled “Our Girl” rather than “Our Town,” Anna Quindlen would be its natural subject – which is to say she’s so NYC, it makes one cringe to think people living outside this burg are actually reading her prose.
Perhaps that’s a backhanded compliment. Her descriptions of both character and setting – as well as the dialogue she puts in the mouths of her characters – are eerily (and grotesquely) familiar. Upper-crust New Yorkers do think, act and speak this way, and it’s always been a wonder to me that so many of them not only survive, but even function (reasonably) well in this 24/7 masquerade. But hey, there’s always southern Connecticut just to the north – and western New Jersey just to the west. Need I say more?
Lucky for us, Quindlen provides the occasional real-life breather with scenes from the Bronx as told by Meghan’s younger sister, Bridget (sometimes ‘Bridey’; other times ‘Bridge’). For those of us living and working in the outlying boroughs, these scenes are a quick – and welcome! – descent from the hot-air balloon ride over and through the highways and byways of Manhattan. “No Monday through Friday for the working poor: they take it where they can find it” Bridget ruminates on pp. 195-6. And while I’m by no means suggesting that every writer has to follow in the footsteps of Henry Roth or Frank McCourt in either writer’s depiction of life here in New York City, these last two would seem to me to be nearer the mark than Anna Quindlen – for at least 95% of the population, that is.
Quindlen is a capable story-teller – make no mistake about it – and this novel has all of the pieces in place to make it a good yarn. It’s just … most of these people! I swear if I weren’t living separated from them by a mere bridge, I could think of 100,000 other places I’d rather visit.
RRB
07/21/14
Brooklyn, NY
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met – given that their two trajectories on the booster fuel of fame and fortune are uncannily similar?I don’t know. You tell me. In any case, one has to wonder whether life along the Museum Mile – or the equivalent in San Francisco – frankly ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
‘Anna Quindlen’ is a name as well known in these parts as that of ‘Bergdorf Goodman’ or ‘Tavern on the Green’ – but is neither as rich and gaudy as the former nor as ticky-tacky-touristy as the latter. If Thornton Wilder had written a play titled “Our Girl” rather than “Our Town,” Anna Quindlen would be its natural subject – which is to say she’s so NYC, it makes one cringe to think people living outside this burg are actually reading her prose.
Perhaps that’s a backhanded compliment. Her descriptions of both character and setting – as well as the dialogue she puts in the mouths of her characters – are eerily (and grotesquely) familiar. Upper-crust New Yorkers do think, act and speak this way, and it’s always been a wonder to me that so many of them not only survive, but even function (reasonably) well in this 24/7 masquerade. But hey, there’s always southern Connecticut just to the north – and western New Jersey just to the west. Need I say more?
Lucky for us, Quindlen provides the occasional real-life breather with scenes from the Bronx as told by Meghan’s younger sister, Bridget (sometimes ‘Bridey’; other times ‘Bridge’). For those of us living and working in the outlying boroughs, these scenes are a quick – and welcome! – descent from the hot-air balloon ride over and through the highways and byways of Manhattan. “No Monday through Friday for the working poor: they take it where they can find it” Bridget ruminates on pp. 195-6. And while I’m by no means suggesting that every writer has to follow in the footsteps of Henry Roth or Frank McCourt in either writer’s depiction of life here in New York City, these last two would seem to me to be nearer the mark than Anna Quindlen – for at least 95% of the population, that is.
Quindlen is a capable story-teller – make no mistake about it – and this novel has all of the pieces in place to make it a good yarn. It’s just … most of these people! I swear if I weren’t living separated from them by a mere bridge, I could think of 100,000 other places I’d rather visit.
RRB
07/21/14
Brooklyn, NY
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LibraryThing member NeedMoreShelves
I feel like I always want to like Quindlen's novels a lot more than I actually do. Nothing about this felt new or surprising, and the two main characters were more annoying than sympathetic. The whole thing just felt like the author wrote a novel because she was supposed to, not because she
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actually cared about writing. It was ok, but not particularly memorable or impressive. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rincey
I love a book that accurately portrays sister relationships. This one did it for me, almost making me cry towards the end. Slightly predictable in a certain sense, but I loved it nonetheless.
LibraryThing member lindap69
love Anna Quindlen and this is now my most favorite of her novels
LibraryThing member Kelslynn
Rise and Shine has a great premise: it's the tale of two forty-something sisters, orphaned at a young age and raised by an aunt and uncle, who live vastly different lives. Meghan Fitzmaurice is the host of the most popular morning show on television (Rise and Shine); she is a well respected
One day Meghan's life crashes and burns: she calls a man "a fucking asshole" when her mike is on; at about the same time her husband of 22+ years tells her he wants a divorce. She disappears to an ocean hideaway, neither dealing with her job or marital problems. Bridget mothers Meghan's son Leo (as she always has) when a medical crisis occurs and until Meghan can return and assume the spotlight once again.
The sister relationship was a good premise, but I found this book to be very slow. I get the idea of money and celebrity opening doors and opportunities for individuals; I thought Quindlen rammed it down my throat. I get that NYC is a big magnificent city, all glittery and such; I thought Quindlen was condescending in her writing.
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journalist, sought after professionally and socially - the A list in NYC circles. Her sister Bridget Fitzmaurice, her younger sister, has always deferred to her sister, even in her choice of careers: she is the head of a center for women, a social worker who works diligently to help her clients live safer easier lives. One day Meghan's life crashes and burns: she calls a man "a fucking asshole" when her mike is on; at about the same time her husband of 22+ years tells her he wants a divorce. She disappears to an ocean hideaway, neither dealing with her job or marital problems. Bridget mothers Meghan's son Leo (as she always has) when a medical crisis occurs and until Meghan can return and assume the spotlight once again.
The sister relationship was a good premise, but I found this book to be very slow. I get the idea of money and celebrity opening doors and opportunities for individuals; I thought Quindlen rammed it down my throat. I get that NYC is a big magnificent city, all glittery and such; I thought Quindlen was condescending in her writing.
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LibraryThing member wareagle78
Intriguing story of a network news star whose career and seemingly her life is blown apart by a mike that was not switched off. But the story is actually told from the point of view of the social worker sister - an unexpected twist. The story is less about glamour and glitz, and more about family
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and belief in self and love. This book is worthwhile. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — 2007)
Language
Original publication date
2006-08-29
Physical description
279 p.; 7.9 inches
ISBN
073947992X / 9780739479926