#BookReview: Satan's Sisters - Star Jones

Sweet Jesus, when I say people should stay in their lane, I do mean people should stay in their lane.  But I digress.  I'll get to why I said that later.

I remember all the buzz when Satan's Sisters first came out and everyone assumed it would be about  the women of The View.  Though the women are co-hosts of a daytime talk show, the similarities seem to end there.  As a former co-host is set to release her new book, aptly titled Satan's Sisters, the current co-hosts are in a tizzy over the potentially explosive information her book could hold.

None of the hosts has led a perfect life and each woman has her own secrets.  Maxine, the Barbara Walters of the show, is ruthless.  Her carefully created media persona has made her the darling of America.  Behind closed doors, Maxine will stop at nothing to get what she wants, even if she has to destroy lives and careers along the way.  Lesbian, Latina Dara Cruz loves her girlfriend, but she's not out to her family or the public.  Whitney Harlington is too busy carrying on an affair with the network president to realize her husband's wicked ways.  And Molly, the Joy Behar of the crew, has a pill addiction that's getting out of control.  Satan's Sisters threatens to expose all of their secrets and force them to come clean with the public and themselves.

What did you like about this book?
I appreciated the fact that the characters were fully developed.  Each woman's story line was fleshed out well.  In a recent appearance on The Wendy Williams Show, Jones announced that the book has been optioned as a series and will be coming to television screens in the near future.  It will be interesting to see how the book and characters come across on the small screen.


What didn't you like about this book?
Much like the agony I endured while listening to Terry McMillan narrate Getting to Happy, it was just as painful to listen to Star Jones narrate Satan's Sisters.  What could have been a four star book easily became three stars because Ms. Jones hasn't met a period or comma she liked.  With her always breathless and extremely dry voice, she rushed sentences together and added pauses where none were necessary.  Her disjointed reading made for a terrible listening experience and her snarky tone of voice did not serve her characters well at all.  Had I another audio book on standby, I would have ejected her CD from the player and listened to it instead.  With all that being said, I wonder what makes authors decide to narrate their own work instead of leaving it to professionals.  It seems to make more sense when narrating a memoir, as was the case with Michele Norris and Condoleezza Rice, though the latter's tone was drier than a camel's tongue in the Sahara.  But neither Star or Terry should try their hand at narrating ever, ever, ever again.

What could the author do to improve this book?
Just write and leave the narration to a professional.

320pp
Published March 2011
Listening time: 10 hours, 27 minutes

Theme: Segredos (Secrets) by Eliane Elias