Customer Reviews

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters: A Novel

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I strongly recommend The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson .

You know, on first glance it gives the appearance of being a rather trivial book, because of both it's format; which consists entirely of faxes, letters, and emails, which make for a very quick read...and because of the subject matter; single 30+ female tries to produce her first movie and is dealing with assorted Hollywood stereotypes, ex-boyfriend, and sick sibling at the same time.

HOWEVER, this book really has some wonderful prose and is much more than a fun page-turner. The following quote from the book (a letter to her ex-boyfriend) was also in a review of the novel. It's an example of some of the beautiful writing which runs throughout this fine book:

"Maybe we're all born with a protective mental coating like a pomegranate seed has, an invisible placenta that prevents reality from piercing our tender brains, that allows us to fool ourselves until our last breath, that lets us actually believe that one day we'll be discovered and one day we'll be rich, one day the world will see our hidden genius, that lets me believe that somewhere in the recesses of your sweet heart and hard head you still care for me".

If you like this kind of writing, and want to get quickly involved in an interesting, sometimes funny/sweet /sad novel, this one is for you.

The T and OA of the Hunt Sisters is a powerful debut novel, and I'm glad I have a signed first edition. It was the recent selection of the First Edition Club of Book Passage, an iconic bookstore in Corte Madera, CA - and this book is a real winner.
The entire book is a collection of letters of wildly varying length from Olivia Hunt to all the various important people in her life: her sister (who is battling with leukemia in Ohio), her ex-lover (whom she still loves, but he's an artist in NM), and her best friend (who is trying to get pregnant). There are tons of short and hilarious, acerbic and sarcastic letters to Hollywood directors, actors, producers, money-lenders, etc., because Olivia wants to revive her flagging career by coordinating a big-budget production of Don Quixote, starring Robin Williams.
It's a strange juxtaposition of events that come together during the year plus a few months that these `letters' span, and by the end you care deeply about every single one of the characters. Don't miss it.

This book is the result of very fine work balancing hilarity and heartbreak.
Elizabeth Robinson's 1st novel tells itself as a chronological compilation of emails, faxes, and letters from Olivia Hunt, a struggling Hollywood producer who is working on a remake of Don Quixote.

Her Hollywood career is about to sink and she goes through a series of hilarious events, like driving off with her ex boss' custom made butter yellow car and diving it into the ocean, only to be taken to jail for unruly behavior and stealing someone's car for a couple of hours.

Olivia's younger sister Madeleine is dying and Olivia writes stubborn, smart, and deeply moving emails and letters to and about her dying and defenseless sister.
Her letters are like music, they make you feel her moods, her doubts, her ideas and her dreams, they open up her world and her heart to you, and they are beautifully written and detailed with charm and lyrical quality.

This warm and fresh story is a reminder to all of us of how hope can grow in the darkest and hellish of places; of how it can make us want to fight for our dreams and our beliefs; of how Hope is Happiness.

Spontaneous, honest, warm, and sad.
A wonderful story of hope and fate.

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters is a story of true sisterly love. It'll make you laugh. It will make you cry. It's not sappy. It is strong and real and tender and funny. And it's not just about sisters. It's about one woman's relationship with her sister, her best friend, her parents and the lost love of her life.

I got suckered in by this book by the praise on the cover. I hate when that happens. It fell far short of expectation and I quit halfway in. It's very one sided, written in one voice in one letter after another. The problem: I never once believed this character would in a jabillion years go to the trouble to do anything as old-fashioned as writing long detailed sing songy letters. Tedious.

Thirty-four year-old movie producer Olivia Hunt is struggling to put together a deal to develop an adaptation of Don Quixote when she receives the devastating news that her younger sister, Madeline, has leukemia. She is stunned because unlike herself Madeline seemed contented with her recent marriage and living in their hometown of Shawnee Falls, Ohio.

Olivia begins flying back and forth between visits to her sibling and the Southern California movie industry. On the flights she writes letters reflecting on life decisions she has made. She ponders about the wisdom of choosing a career over love when Madeline's health proves how ephemeral life is. As she considers running off to New Mexico to be with her only true love and while her sister's health deteriorates, Olivia has the opportunity of a lifetime filming Don Quixote in Spain. Will she choose love in New Mexico or sisterly love in Ohio or overseas fulfilling her greatest fantasy?

This contemporary work of fiction is a tremendous character driven tale that enables the audience to see deep into the heart and soul of the lead character, and through her also those individuals in her circle. Though clearly a major tearjerker, the tale keeps from falling into a sappy soap by Elisabeth Robinson's skillful handling of Madeline's illness as a focus of activity by friends and family in which at times the same person will do something gallant followed by frustrated selfishness and guilt. Thus the support cast seems very real, but the tale is clearly owned by Olivia, who displays the dichotomous traits of cynical concern that readers will appreciate while empathizing for her sister.

Harriet Klausner

I couldn't put this book down. I knew what the end would be and it still made me cry when I got there. The novel is gripping, funny, and wrenching all at the same time. It is extremely well-written and the device of using letters to tell the story is innovative. You feel like Olivia is writing these letters to you. I can't say enough nice things about this book. It really is one of the best things I've read lately. I lost a beloved cousin to diabetes last year. She was like a sister to me and her struggle against her disease reminded me so much of what Maddie goes through in her struggle with Leukemia. At times it was just painful to read sections of this book because I identified so intensely with the characters and what they were going through. Elisabeth Robinson has obviously spent some serious time in hospitals and knows what it's like to deal with doctors who are less than caring and the frustration of not being able to do more for someone you love.

I think the last few reviews, both positive and negative, have pointed out a few things. The book is basically an autobiog/ memoir presented to the public in the form of a novel, under the heading of fiction, but it has become evident that the main character Olivia is the author. The reviewer below points out what is so cloying about this main character. Whether or not the low starred reviews are written by people who know the author, or just by readers who were very turned off, it makes sense that disliking the main character and disliking the author are sort of the same thing. And I don't think it is necessarily incorrect to voice this via Amazon. Most of the writers of the bad reviews are either coming out and/or saying they know the author or giving their names, while those who don't like that anyone is saying something bad are hiding behind fiction- I mean anonymous names. It has become somewhat common knowledge that a good portion of Amazon reviews are written by books' authors, the author's friends and families, the author's detractors. But some readers may take offense to the voice and the vibe of characters in fiction, whether they see the author in them or not. Look at the reviews for the Bergdrf. Blndes book. The narrator/author's voice really offended readers. Also, it seems that if an author is using real people in her book (this goes for the author of True and Outstanding as well as other recent novels also acting as public therapy/outing sessions for the author), "disguising" these real people in a novel, then all is fair in getting strong responses back, be it here on Amazon or in other venues. There is a good deal of humor in this book-- both painful humor and nasty, mean-edged humor, particularly in the presentation of the L.A. characters. Is libel only allowed when it is masked under the words This Is A Work Of Fiction ? I do agree with another earlier reviewer that the author can turn a phrase,and that Maddie is the character to love--and that more heart was there with Maddie, and yes, overall, there are definitely some moving and heart tugging moments. I don't think it lived up to the level it could have been at; that I had hoped it would be at. I would say it is a satisfying book on many levels, and certainly easy to read. I don't think it's a great book though, and not one that reverberates after it is finished. Yes, some negative reviewers may know the author, but they are allowed to have their reaction. Then again, some negative reviewers may not know the author, and are equally justified to have a reaction of distaste. Not everything in life is about jealousy, when there is an expression or reaction of dislike, anger, being sickened, whatever. It can be jealousy-- but are we jealous always of something we find petty or annoying? This reviewer doesn't know the author. This reviewer didn't love the book or narrator. It's not an awful first book, but I do think their are more imaginitive books and novels out there, with much more creative force and spark, and with fewer claws bared.

Be prepared to stop everything in your life to read this wonderful first novel by Elisabeth Robinson. First of all it's an amazing feat of novel construction that the whole story is told in correspondence (letters, fax and e-mail) form...and all letters FROM the protagonist, movie producer Olivia Hunt...only at the very end do we get a view point from another character. That this technique is so effectivly and poignantly executed is an amazing testament to Robinson's talent.

This story of two sisters, one of whom has cancer, will make you laugh, cry and feel like a Hollywood "insider". It will also make you late to bed, late to work, and generally engrossed for as long as it takes you to read it.

I hope this is only the first novel of Ms. Robinson's.

The writing in this story is beautiful. The letters about death, life and relationships contain gorgeous imagery and were a pleasure to read. However, I didn't find the plot and the characters as appealing. I find novels told through letters a bit contrived; no one puts enough detail into letter writing that they could really form a story. It's difficult to get a handle on the secondary characters, since everything told in this style is so subjective. Not being able to see anyone except through the gossip Olivia spreads left me feeling a little empty, thinking I wanted more detail but at the same time not liking the characters enough to really want more detail.