4 out of 4 stars
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The Reel Sisters, by Michelle Cummings, is a beautiful story of women who embrace their need for connections with friends. Cummings weaves an energetic and touching story about five women who become friends through their interest in fly fishing. Now, I will admit that I was thrown right there. I don’t fish. I don’t have any interest in fishing, and I didn’t expect to become so intrigued by the sport. However, I loved learning about fly fishing and its intricacies!
In The Reel Sisters, readers follow the interactions of five women from different walks of life who have come together under the tutelage of Rose, an older woman who learned how to fly fish in her youth. One by one, the women have encountered Rose and have created a strong friendship with her, bonding over breakfast and long talks and fly fishing. The group meets at Rose’s Colorado cabin during the year for visiting and for refreshing. While Rose and three of the ladies are fishing one day, they encounter a naked woman being dragged downstream through rocks and frigid water. Pulling her out of the river, they adopt her as part of their group, and she joins the sisterhood. As these women move throughout the book and their individual situations, they address life truths and allow the reader to investigate with them. For instance, these characters share worrying about a spouse overseas, shopping yard sales to provide on a budget, finding good help to take over at work, wasting time on a bad relationship, and passing on knowledge to the next generation. And, I love the wisdom from the characters that bacon should be its own food group and that coffee always makes a situation better!
I liked that Cummings presents fly fishing as an art form and that she compares the art of fly fishing with the art of living. Cummings creates the story like a patient teacher, acting much like the character Rose. She integrates quotes from books on fly fishing into different sections of the book, connecting the strategies of fly fishing to the story to come. The Reel Sisters portrays many different beautiful lives coming together to create a new and unique art: a special friendship. I also liked that the author tells this beautiful story through different points of view of characters. The reader even gets to see both sides of the story of some incidents.
I didn’t like some of the extended sections of dialogue, but the conversations were fluid and were often crucial in moving the plot forward.
I rate The Reel Sisters 4 out of 4 stars. Characters are developed and full, becoming real to the reader. This novel is also full of wonderful descriptions and stunning imagery, painting a picture for readers so that they are immersed in a beautiful setting, mostly in the Colorado wilderness. I found some editorial mistakes, but not so many that I felt I needed to give the book a 3-star rating.
This book would appeal to readers looking for a character-driven story or to those who enjoy stories set primarily in nature.
If you don’t like books with an ensemble cast, this one is probably not for you.
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The Reel Sisters
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