Julie's Review: The Meryl Streep Movie Club

Summary:  In the bestselling tradition of The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Jane Austen Book Club, three women find unexpected answers, happiness, and one another with Meryl Streep movies as their inspiration. Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarch's inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic bedroom--and barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Night--it's Meryl Streep month--they find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night--and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another. Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabel's husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she'll somehow find his father, who he's never known . . . and Kat is ambivalent about accepting her lifelong best friend's marriage proposal. Through everything, Lolly has always been there for them, and now Isabel, June, Kat--and Meryl--must be there for her. Finding themselves. Finding each other. Finding a happy ending. ~amazon.com

Review: The Meryl Streep Movie Club is a novel about love, family, acceptance, loss and finding out who you are. The novel centers around 3 women: Lolly, Isabel, June and Kat. Lolly has been the matriarch since Isabel and June's parents died in a horrific car accident 15 years prior on New Years Eve. Isabel and June have been summoned back to the Inn for some kind of news from Lolly. Kat just has to walk into the parlor since she lives there with her mom.

As you can imagine, the news isn't good for Lolly. Each of the girls is devastated in their own way and each of them finds themselves stepping up to help Lolly out. They even find their way to each other to be the sister's they've never been and the cousins they've never been. 

Each Friday is Movie Night and the current month is Meryl Streep movies. There's a list of 10 movies that they ladies make their way through and each provides expansive discussion based on where each of them are in their lives. It was definitely an interesting way to explore a novel. The only thing that bugged me is that they never referred to the characters that Meryl was in the movies. Instead they always used her name. I found it distracting and confusing at times.

I love that Ms. March took a realistic path for both June and Isabel. I liked that fairy tales aren't told, they are made and they aren't always the ending you thought. I think I liked Kat's storyline the best though. She's the one who really found her wings and will hopefully live her dream, even if she ends up coming back to Boothbay Harbor.

I would definitely like to revisit the characters in the future. I see Kat holding her own novel with her experiences in Paris and maybe other European destinations.

If you are looking for a women's fiction novel that deals with some tough issues but is laced with humor when needed, then go pick up The Meryl Streep Movie Club.

Final Take: 4/5  

Thanks to the She Reads Book Club and the publishers for my copy of the novel.