Three Girls and Their Brother

December 24, 2007
Rebeck has won an Edgar and a Peabody for her TV work and numerous awards for her plays. Her hilarious first novel begins when the New Yorker
profiles the three beautiful granddaughters and grandson of a famed late literary critic, Leo Heller. As a perennially aspiring model, Daria, 18, is ecstatic. Her younger sister, Polly, 17, is thrilled, too, but 14-year-old Amelia could care less. Philip, 15, who is the smartest of the group, is the first of the four to assume the first-person narrative; he’s wary of all the attention, but the siblings’ former beauty queen mom can’t wait to take advantage of the publicity and push her daughters into show biz, even if it means sacrificing their schooling. Rebeck shines when Amelia gets cast in a ridiculous off-Broadway play: her insider’s look at the theater world is spot on and uproarious, particularly her contrast of poor starving actors with rich starving models and of theater types with Hollywood types. The siblings’ voices are not consistently strong, and an over-the-top revenge plot drains some power from the plot, but the crackling satire and scene-stealing secondaries carry the book.

Starred review from February 15, 2008
The three beautiful, red-headed Heller sisters, granddaughters of a respected literary critic, are inexplicably hailed by "The New Yorker" in a lavish photo spread as the new "it" girls. And so the rise to fame begins for Daria, Polly, and Amelia as fashion magazines, famous, sleazy actors, and paparazzi relentlessly take notice. Philip, their neglected and marginalized brother, is the lone voice of dissent, as the sisters soon become household names, quit school, and are featured on an eight-foot tall billboard in the middle of Manhattan's Union Square. When Amelia, at 14 the youngest of the sisters, lands a role in an off-Broadway play and breaks away from the sister act, the uneasy sibling rivalry surfaces and forces the three sisters and their brother to decide where their newfound fame will take them. In her funny and well-observed first novel, award-winning Broadway playwright Rebeck ("Omnium Gatherum; Mauritius") weighs in on the peculiarity and absurdity of fame in modern America. In spite of the misleading and very dated cover on the advanced reading copy, this is much more than fluffy chick lit. Strongly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/15/07.]Andrea Y. Griffith, Loma Linda Univ. Libs., CA

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2008
Adult/High School-This debut novel by a Peabody award-winning playwright has its finger on the pulse of what's current and happening. It is also a very old story of exploitation, greed, and over-the-top drama done in four first-person voices: the eponymous Heller siblingsthree beautiful red-haired teenage girlsand, oh yes, their brother. The tale begins with a classy picture in "Vanity Fair" by a noted photographer and ends, semi-tragically, in the way that all celebrity stories seem to endin tabloid headlines and with paparazzi shots and court proceedings. Reading this book is like eating too much candy; it tastes good and you want to wolf it all down, but by the time you're done, it will make you feel sick. The three sisters, although different, become so manipulated by others that if the sections weren't labeled, it would be difficult to tell the point of view had changed from voice alone. Their rabid vanity becomes grating, while the nonexistence of any parental responsibility bodes ill for their futures and that of the only sympathetic character, their brother. Still, teens who like Cecily von Ziegesar's "Gossip Girl" or Zoey Dean's "A-List" series (both Little, Brown) will devour this with no indigestion."Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2008
Rebeck remains best known for herplaysthe most successful to date isOmnium Gatherum (a Pulitzer Prize finalist). Inher debut novel, she hits the ground running with a fast-paced, wickedly funny satire on celebrity culture. Theredheaded Heller sisters are featured on the cover of the New Yorkerostensibly because they are the grandaughters of a famous literary critic butreally because they are freaking gorgeous.Thecover shotlaunches them directly into the celebrity stratosphere, and they are soon being hounded by the paparazzi, invited totrendy nightclubs, and booked for photo shoots in all the fashion magazines. When the youngest, 14-year-old Amelia, reacts toa fortysomething movie stars groping hands by biting him, the media have a field day and the sisterspublicist goes into overdrive trying to salvage their careers.The novel is told from all four siblings perpectives, fromneglected brotherPhilips Holden Caulfieldlike take on the phoniness of the proceedingsto self-absorbed Pollyssurprising metamorphosis fromdiva to ferociously protective big sister. With wry humor andsharply observant prose, Rebecklands one roundhouse punch after another in thissupremely gratifyingtakedown of show-biz politics.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)