The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits is an entertaining tale of ambition, sisterhood, forgiveness, and the price of fame.

Sisters Zoe and Cassie are complete opposites, united by their love of music. Zoe craves the spotlight; in early 2000s Philadelphia, she dreams of becoming a world-famous pop star. Cassie is a painfully shy, overweight musical prodigy who likes performing only because it means people are listening to her instead of looking at her. 

The combination of Zoe’s ambition and Cassie’s talent catapults them to pop musical stardom as the Griffin Sisters for just a year, until tragedy forces their band to break up. Now, in 2024, the sisters are estranged, Cassie is living off the grid in Alaska, and Zoe is a suburban New Jersey housewife with a teenage daughter who’s inherited her drive and Cassie’s musical gifts. As Zoe’s daughter Cherry pursues her own musical dreams, the truth behind the sisters’ rift emerges.

Watch the publisher’s trailer for The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits

The book explores themes of sisterhood, motherhood, family bonds, the courage to pursue your dreams, the price of fame, and forgiveness. Written in seven parts that alternate between Zoe and Cassie in 2003 and 2024 and Zoe’s daughter Cherry in 2024, it’s entertaining enough that I finished it in a weekend. 

The relationship between the sisters is fuelled by love, protectiveness, and jealousy – and complicated by the vastly different contributions they each bring to the band. The first songwriting session between Cassie and Russell (a songwriter and guitar player brought in by the label), crackles with energy and sets up the dynamic between Cassie, Zoe, and Russell that forms much of the tension in the book. 

Cassie experiences a lot of fat shaming in the book. This is reflective of early 2000s diet culture, but it gets painful to read after a while. In an interview with CBS Saturday Mornings, Weiner says that she wanted to take the big girls who’d been pushed aside and put them back in the spotlight. Cassie becomes the person the “weird, lonely girls” gravitate towards because she makes them feel seen. 

Zoe, meanwhile, is completely unlikeable. It’s her ambition that pushes the Griffin Sisters into the spotlight, but she’s jealous, conniving, and spiteful toward her sister. Her daughter Cherry is no better; they both use Cassie to pursue their goals without regard for what Cassie wants. 

Still, the scenes depicting the Griffin Sisters’ rise to fame and performances are fun. I especially liked seeing how their music resonated with their fans both at the height of their fame and two decades later, when their fans had grown up. 

The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits is an entertaining, emotionally layered read. While I powered through this book over a weekend, I didn’t completely love it. The themes of messy sisterly dynamics, fame, and forgiveness are compelling, but I didn’t enjoy reading about Zoe and Cherry’s treatment of Cassie. 

Curious what their music sounds like? Weiner commissioned indie pop group Hello Sister to perform The Gift, a song inspired by the Griffin Sisters. Listen here.