The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits
by: Jennifer Weiner
April 8, 2025, William Morrow
384 pages
To be a woman in this world is to walk a slippery tightrope for the entirety of your existence. You can’t be too much, too little, too sexy, too prudish, and forget about ownership of your own body and other peoples demands on it. Some female writers choose to publish under their initials to avoid that scrutiny, and the mis-shelving that comes along with it (just because a woman wrote a book does not automatically make it YA). This quest for an ever shifting and completely unattainable ideal of perfection is especially evident in the entertainment industry where women are commodified and discarded by the thousands. There’s been a spate of nonfiction books chronicling this phenomenon through biographies of the pop singers of the early aughts, but Jennifer Weiner’s The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, uses this fertile ground in a work of fiction that manages to convey the complexity of simply existing as a female in the public eye.
Weiner is a bestseller, so many of you might be familiar with her other works, but this was the first one that I have read. As a person who has struggled with both my appearance and the idea that I might never be more than competent at my chosen form of art, I highly identified with every single character in this story of two sisters achieving fame and fortune before their band falls apart disastrously. The Griffin Sisters’ unfolds through a series of both present day and flashback multi POV narratives and is geared more towards an emotional read than a suspenseful one. The twists are not shocking, but rather layered with emotional depth.
Zoe, the “pretty” sister is determined to be a star no matter what it costs her and those around her. Unfortunately, she’s a whole lot less talented than her sister Cassie, who she drags along on the ride to fame since without her, Zoe wouldn’t be able to procure a ticket. I’m not going to sugar coat it. The things Zoe does are deplorable. Stating from the very first meeting with her producers when she suggests changing her last name to sound less Jewish, Zoe makes all the worst moves for all the wrong reasons (not judging anyone who has to do that, we live in an unfortunate world, but Zoe doesn’t show any self awareness that it’s a regrettable concession. She happily signs away her identity in exchange for a chance at a recording contract). Even her present day character doesn’t seem to have learned from her past mistakes. I did not like her. But I understood her.
I am not a writing prodigy born with the great American novel dripping off my pen in kindergarten. I’m a person that was good enough to get praised in school, and achieve a modicum of success as an adult in an art form few people read. I’m lucky in that craft work can seriously improve one’s writing if they are willing to put in the time, and that perseverance is half the battle. Enough sweat equity can give you a good story that will entertain at least some of the readers that consume it, which is all I’ve ever striven for, but it is no match for the miracle that happens when someone with an innate gift puts in that same work. Those books change lives, and I am not likely to ever write one. But I have had the honor to read for several individuals that have that gift, and I would be lying if that didn’t sometimes leave me wistful. The difference between me and Zoe? That person for her is her sister. Her socially awkward, overweight, and likely neurodivergent sister that she has had to look after for her whole life. I can feel happy for my talented friends and not see it as a reflection on myself, but it’s impossible for Zoe not to compare or to wonder why nobody wants her music if it doesn’t come along with her sister.
It is one of Weiner’s particular strengths that Cassie, the gifted sister, gets a similar treatment. We enter her head and feel what it is like to be fat, to be left out, to be so shy as to not be able to sing unless your sister sings with you despite having a voice that brings people to their knees. She is a woman of much smaller demands than Zoe, she does not need fame, nor does she desire fortune. Her biggest ask is something that is freely given to Zoe, and so clearly denied to her at every moment of their intertwined lives, that the here too the reader can’t help but feel the irony. Zoe has every guy in the band wrapped around her finger, meanwhile Cassie cannot even imagine what it would be like for someone to want to love her. Zoe might trade it all for fame, but Cassie would do the same to be loved, and desired, for even a fraction of the amount that Zoe inspires in the people who see her. Is it any wonder these two sisters end up using and betraying each other in such terrible ways?
Part of existing as female (in the U. S. at least) includes facing some unpleasantness that Weiner does not shy away from. Readers should go in knowing there are a lot of descriptions of Cassie’s weight, of how others view her, as well as dieting. It is not an easy read and I left a few of the male viewpoints, and some of Zoe’s too, convinced that all people are shallow and gross. Similarly, some of Zoe and her daughter’s experiences of sexual abuse were very visceral. Readers should take care when reading, but these depictions were essential to the plot, and they were nuanced enough to also include the myriad of ways women neglect to protect and support each other.
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits drew me in much like Cassie’s music draws in the audience. I embodied each of these complicated women, their motivations, their sorrows, their desires. I left wanting to be more kind to myself, more generous to the people around me. We are all created in Gods image, and Zoe and Cassie reminded me of that. Plus there were Liz Phair and Veruca Salt references. That’s all I really need in life