March 1, 2009 • Uncategorized •

Sunday Book Talk: “True Colors,” by Kristin Hannah

Thanks to Anna Jarzab of Authors on the Web for providing an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this book! It’s now available in bookstores.

True Colors by Kristin Hannah
True Colors: A Novel
Kristin Hannah
St. Martin’s Press, 2009 (hardcover) (ISBN 0312364105 / 9780312364106)
Fiction, 400 pages

First sentence: Fifteen-year-old Winona Grey stared out at the waterfront ranch that had been in her family for four generations, looking for something that had changed.

Book description (summarized): The Grey sisters have always been close. After their mother’s death, the girls banded together, becoming best friends. Their stern, disapproving father cares less about his children than about his reputation. To Henry Grey, appearances are everything, and years later, he still demands that his daughters reflect his standing in the community.

Winona, the oldest, needs her father’s approval most of all. An overweight bookworm who never felt at home on the sprawling horse ranch that has been in her family for three generations, she knows that she doesn’t have the qualities her father values. But as the best lawyer in town, she’s determined to someday find a way to prove her worth to him. Aurora, the middle sister, is the family peacemaker. She brokers every dispute and tries to keep them all happy, even as she hides her own secret pain. Vivi Ann is the undisputed star of the family. A stunningly beautiful dreamer with a heart as big as the ocean in front of her house, she is adored by all who know her. Everything comes easily for Vivi Ann, until a stranger comes to town…

In a matter of moments, everything will change. The Grey sisters will be pitted against one another in ways that none could have imagined. Loyalties will be tested and secrets revealed, and a terrible, shocking crime will shatter both their family and their beloved town.

Comments: There’s been a lot of discussion of the book/movie relationship lately, including here, so it seems fitting that I’ve been reading a book that I can imagine would make a pretty good TV movie, and I mean that in a good way. True Colors is a story that would play well on-screen, but Kristin Hannah’s writing and skill at description make it come alive on the page.

I enjoy stories about family relationships, and those among the Grey sisters are pretty complicated. Losing their mother when they were young both bonded them together and pulled them apart, and their father, a rancher and descendant of the founders of their town, never really bonds with anyone. But what really made things messy between them were the men; the one who chose one sister over the other, and especially the other one who came between the first man and the chosen sister. Youngest sister Vivi Ann forms a bond with Dallas Raintree that her family and neighbors don’t quite understand, and when he is accused of a shocking crime, they really don’t understand her belief in his innocence. It takes years, literally, before the questions of Vivi Ann and Dallas’ son, Noah, prompt eldest sister Winona to even consider the possibility that Dallas might have been wrongfully convicted, let alone take on his case in her professional capacity as a lawyer.

True Colors has an engrossing plot and characters that I could relate to, but I would have liked to see them developed a bit more all around. The depiction of Vivi Ann’s aimlessness and depression after Dallas is sent to jail rang true to me (different circumstances, but a similar feeling of being lost in your own life when you’re abandoned by your spouse), but in other aspects she seemed a little shallow. Likewise, Winona’s overconfidence in her own certainty and lack of self-awareness frustrated me for most of the novel, when she finally questioned the first and developed some of the second. In addition, there is a third Grey sister, but unfortunately, I felt that Aurora got the classic middle-child treatment – mostly overlooked – and I wanted a bigger role for her. I liked the evolution of Vivi Ann’s son into another narrative voice in the last quarter of the novel.

I also wanted the sisters to be able to communicate more directly with each other – but then again, if they had, it would have changed the story, and I’m not sure I would have wanted that. The fact that I had strong reactions to the characters tells me that, flaws and all, Kristin Hannah created people I connected with and a story I wanted to know.

Rating: 3.5/5

Other bloggers’ reviews:
The Printed Page, plus a guest post from author Kristin Hannah
Passion for the Page 
Books and Cooks 

If you have reviewed this book, please leave a link in comments or e-mail me at 3.rsblog AT Gmail dot com, and I’ll edit this review to include it!

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8 comments

  3. Kathy (Bermudaonion) – It’s a good story – well worth the time for a good diversion.

    Janssen – It’s nice to have the chance to read them, and in February, I actually read and reviewed two in their month of publication, which is unusually timely by my standards :-).

  6. I was surprised with a copy of Firefly Lane in the mail not too long ago and so will be making that my first Kristin Hannah book most likely. I don’t know what it is about the authors’ covers, but they seem to draw me to them every time I see them. I am glad you enjoyed this one. I may have to give it a try once I finish Firefly Lane. I can see myself getting frustrated with a character like Winona too. 🙂 Great review, Florinda.

  7. Wendy (Literary Feline) – Firefly Lane was the first of her books for me, too. I liked it – she definitely tells a good story.

  8. i have read a few of Kristin Hannah's books and enjoy them very much. Mystic lake was great also.
    Betty from Las Vegas book club