The Story Sisters

Tragic and ethereal, THE STORY SISTERS charts the fates of three close sisters--dominated by charismatic Elv--and their imaginary fairy kingdom, Arnelle. As Hoffman's dark, lyrical story reflects the sisters' rapidly shifting power, they even communicate a bit in Arnish, a Celtic-like language they invented. Nancy Travis's Arnish pronunciation is impressive, and she envelopes Hoffman's novel with clarity, compassion, and focus. But she lacks a youthful lightness in her vocal tone, which would more aptly depict the sisters' sense of wonder and earnestness. Something is lost as Hoffman's transcendent, whimsical prose moves from the page to the reading. Travis's strong, mature timbre is too deep, mortal, and grounded for Hoffman's celestial tangents. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

March 30, 2009
Lyrical but atypically monotonous, bestseller Hoffman's (The Third Angel
) latest follows the dark family saga of Elv, Megan and Claire Story, sisters plagued by uncommon sadness. As a child, Elv spun fairy tales of a magical world for her sisters, but a period of savage sexual abuse—information about which slowly leaks out—sends her spiraling into years of drug addiction and painful self-abuse. Elv's story is unrelentingly grim, and without Hoffman's characteristic magic realism, its simple downward spiral becomes exhausting. Tragedy after tragedy befalls the family—Elv's commitment to a juvenile rehab facility, a deadly accident, a fatal illness and betrayal after betrayal. When the last third of the book turns to focus on Claire, who has been so damaged by the family crises that she refuses to speak, the slight glimmers of hope and goodness are too little, too late. Hoffman's prose is as lovely as ever: the imagined and real worlds of the Story sisters are rich and clear, but Elv's troubles and the Story family's nonstop catastrophes are wearying.