Review of 3 Sisters 3 Weeks 3 Countries (Still Talking)

[Arij Chmeis]

[Following is a volunteer review of "3 Sisters 3 Weeks 3 Countries (Still Talking)" by Elizabeth Moore Kraus.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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Elizabeth Moore and her two sisters embark on their first long trip across 3 countries. Over 3 weeks, the sisters work through their struggles with their connection, falling into and surviving competitiveness, age-old resentment, and trauma-triggered miscommunications.

The journey brings some common travel mishaps and comic adversities, which Elizabeth tells with a backdrop of introspection into her family life as one of five siblings. Sharing hers and her sisters’ life experiences while bridging their relationship into a more mature and stable bond.

Having said that, my overall impression is that this book should have stayed what it really is: a grandmother’s story. While the author succeeds in crafting the occasional witty comment, most of the relating of this story suffers from repetition and redundancy. For one, her insistence on using the word “sister” about a million times per chapter eventually makes the reader scream “We get it!" The sisterly bond is obvious, and over-drawing it out to the reader does the opposite of what I imagine the author wanted; it becomes diluted and you get over it fast. 

A prevalent theme throughout the book is what I’d call the female version of dad humor. Elizabeth’s labored attempts at drafting funny comments dry out really fast after the second chapter. The abundance of elaborate descriptions (of both incidents and scenery) feels forced and irrelevant, crafted into poetic language but without any accompanying emotions. It gives the feeling that the author couldn’t decide between writing a literary prose book or a biography, so she failed at both. Exaggerating details of the women’s disagreements for dramatic effect didn’t help give the book any real learning-experience value either.

In summary, it’s an ok book to pass the time if you happen upon it. Having 3 close sisters myself, I was expecting to enjoy it and relate to the author. Instead, I found myself struggling to get through it and bored most of the time. I personally wouldn’t recommend it to a serious reader.

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3 Sisters 3 Weeks 3 Countries (Still Talking)
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