Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994 TAG: 9403260061
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by JUDY KWELLER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
"My Sister's Keeper" is the fourth novel by Shirley Lord, beauty director of Vogue magazine. It's the story of Prague-born Ludmilla Sukova who comes to America as the wife of the chauffeur for the Towers family. Eventually, she becomes Louise Towers, the force behind the Louise Towers Institute for Skin Care and Cosmetics, and the wife of the successful and sometimes Machiavellian James Towers, president of Towers Pharmaceuticals.
The novel opens in New York, 1990 when intruders break into Louise's mansion to rob and attack her. The plot then flashes back to 1946 in Prague and traces Ludmilla/Louise's tempestuous life as she rises to the top of the cosmetics business and marries the aforementioned industrialist, who is, I might add, one of the true sexual marathoners in literary history.
Near the end of "My Sister's Keeper," as Louise reminisces about her life and her many enemies among the cosmetics industry, her own sister and the family she has married into, she states, "Money and sex, sex and money - they were the two things in life that moved mountains, caused tragedies, toppled kings and kingdoms . . . "
They're also the major themes of the novel. It's not the century's greatest; it has a lot of flaws and it bogs down in several areas. But it's also got a good plot line; characters who are glossy, fascinating, and vacuous; and good sex. There are times when you couldn't ask for more.
Judy Kweller is vice-president of an advertising agency.
by CNB