"The Smart One" by Ellen Meister

The Smart One
Ellen Meister
Avon Books
ISBN: 978-0-06-112962-9

Are we destined to live out our childhood labels? In Ellen Meister’s new book, The Smart One, three sisters battle to become more than their childhood identities. There’s Clare, “the pretty one,” and eldest sister; there’s Joey, “the wild one,” and youngest of the brood, and then there’s Bev, the middle daugher, “the smart one,” of the title. In this novel, they both do battle and express love for each other (two sides of the sisterly coin) as each sister seeks to find what will make her happy,

Add to their saga, the return of the next door neighbor’s son, Kenny (once a source of contention between Joey and Bev) and the discovery of an industrial drum containing a dead body, and everything gets even more complicated among the sisters. Then there are the personal dramas. For Clare, it is a lack of fulfillment from her role as “the perfect mother.” She wants more from her life and marriage, but all she’s ever been known for is her beauty. That too, seems to be slipping away with time. For Joey, a one-hit wonder rock star, the main battle is to maintain a clean life after her struggles with drug addiction. In addition, Joey is searching for a new purpose and career, and reinventing her rock star persona is not the answer.

Largely, however, the story focuses on Bev, who seems to be having the biggest personal crisis. Even as she seeks to support her sisters‘ search for happiness, she’s also trying to escape them. Besieged by feelings of failure, Bev cannot help but feel that she has disappointed everyone. Reeling from the effects of divorce and a failed career in the arts, she finally thinks she may have found the answer in teaching. Still, family expectations (as well as Bev’s own) are so high that taking on a job like elementary school teacher seems a disappointing choice from someone with so much promise.

The irony of the story, of course, is that Bev may not be as smart about her life, her romantic liaisons, and her family relations as she thinks. Ultimately it is her loving sisters who show her just what can bring her peace and happiness. It’s the sisterly relations that are the core of the story and what holds the book together. Author Ellen Meister seems to give mixed signals in the romance department, however. One potential beau for Bev just seems to drop from the picture, and the guy she does end up with doesn’t necessarily seem the best choice, based on an incident from the past that, to this reader, seemed like rape. It appears that Bev still has something to learn about good choices before she can be called “the smart one.”