Graceland

by Lynne Hugo

Everyone knows sisters like the Sams girls--three women trying their best to be good daughters, mothers and wives. Lydia, married to Wayne, worked a dead-end job to make sure her daughter, Anna... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373881134
• ISBN13: 9780373881130
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Harlequin Next
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Three sisters in a dysfunctional family

GRACELAND by Lynne Hugo September 9, 2008 Rating: 4.5/5 Stars Another NEXT book from Harlequin, the title GRACELAND refers to what you would guess - Elvis' famous home in Tennessee. But the story doesn't revolve around Elvis or his home. Three sisters are as different as night and day. One sister, Ellie, is obsessed with Elvis, thinks that she would have been his true love if he had lived, and basically her whole life is centered on 'the king'. She still lives at home with her parents, taking care of them and catering to their every whim. She's the sister with no social life, and appears to be truly dysfunctional. With them lives the brother that was born with learning disabilities, and because he's not all right in his head he has never been able to leave home. Lydia is the sister married to Wayne, and has a daughter Anne Claire, her only reason for living. Madalaine is a single mother, her ex-husband about to marry the woman that he had the affair with. Madalaine takes care of her two children, both young teenagers. The three sisters do not get along, and a failed trip to the famous Graceland proves it. They don't even make it there, and have to return home (Ellie, with all her neuroses, has a hard time travelling and demands they go home). But what really tears them apart is a tragic accident that takes the life of one of their family members, causing the three sisters to do a role reversal. Now it's Ellie who seems to be the force to be reckoned with, doing the best she can to keep the family together. I loved this story, and really enjoyed reading about the three sisters who I think were all neurotic in one way or another. Ellie, who at first comes across as a very dysfunctional woman, is the one that I think will surprise the reader, showing strength when there was nothing to show before. The tragedy that rips this family apart is heartbreaking, and I think this story would make a great made-for-TV-movie. GRACELAND is one of those books that will make you feel good by the time you are done with it. This is not my first book by Lynne Hugo, and she again has written another wonderful story.

FInally, a story that reflects the real complexity of life

This novel reflects the triumps and troubles a family must face. No one lives in that 1950s perfect family, we all have problems and puzzles that need to be overcome and solved. Everyone should be able to relate to at least one of the characters in this book and understand and feel for the problems that must be overcome. As this family faces extreme challenges in their life, their connection is strenthened and each character grows tremendously. Just like you, a problem to overcome, never makes you weaken, just strengthens your soul.

Graceland

A good read. Captures the complexities of family life---jealousy, rage, duty, parental responsibility, and, of course, love---in normal times and times of tragedy.

Graceful as its title

Lydia, Madalaine, and Ellie, three sisters, each see themselves as shouldering the burdens their original family--the care of non-functioning parents and their retarded brother Charles. Lydia is the responsible, efficient one, albeit a woman who has not lived by the rules. Madalaine's acute sense of justice keeps her on the straight and narrow path, but also tortures her when confronted by events she feels she hasn't deserved. Ellie lives in her childhood home in a fantasy romance with Elvis. The three almost mend fences and begin to enjoy each other's company on a hilarious jaunt to Graceland, but ultimately the connection they forge is interrupted by a family tragedy that sends each sprawling in an opposite direction. Rendered in prose as graceful as its title, Graceland is the story of three sisters struggling to overcome sibling jealousy to rediscover the bond that will redeem their pain, that "three-fold cord not easily broken."