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Actual rating: 2.5 stars
I recently heard Lily Tuck speak, and with the first description of this book, I felt like I needed to read it. But, upon finishing it, I'm a little bit disappointed. Actually, I'm greatly disappointed. I wanted to be sucked into the story and the characters and the obsession, but I wasn't.
I liked the minimalist writing, and the abstract characters--to an extent. What I didn't like about it was that there was almost no resolution, for any of the relationships. Throughout the novel there were hints or small sentences about things that occurred, and most of them were never picked up again. I loved the hints, but I loved them with the expectation that I would learn at least a little bit more about how they fit in to the over arching story and plot. But they never came up again, and it made them less impactful.
All I know is that I wanted more than what I got, but there were a lot of interesting and captivating parts. There was just no resolution of those parts.
I recently heard Lily Tuck speak, and with the first description of this book, I felt like I needed to read it. But, upon finishing it, I'm a little bit disappointed. Actually, I'm greatly disappointed. I wanted to be sucked into the story and the characters and the obsession, but I wasn't.
I liked the minimalist writing, and the abstract characters--to an extent. What I didn't like about it was that there was almost no resolution, for any of the relationships. Throughout the novel there were hints or small sentences about things that occurred, and most of them were never picked up again. I loved the hints, but I loved them with the expectation that I would learn at least a little bit more about how they fit in to the over arching story and plot. But they never came up again, and it made them less impactful.
All I know is that I wanted more than what I got, but there were a lot of interesting and captivating parts. There was just no resolution of those parts.
I was intrigued with the narrative, was hoping the obvious foreshadowing was a red herring, and disappointed at how the book ends.
Picked this up because someone returned it at the library. It works like a short story, as a character study; it's beautifully constructed and says so much with so little.
A quick read, very interesting. I was suprised at the size of the book but I thought it was amazing how the author could use just a small sometimes loner paragraph on each page and get you to feel what the character is feeling. A read just for someone who wants to get into the mind of someone else for awhile. I don't what to give too much away but basically a women who is married to a man who was previously married and how she deals with coming up with an image of his ex wife and starting an obsession in her head about it.
It barely took me an hour to read "Sisters", Lily Tuck's latest novel (novella? short story?). Written in brief paragraphs, smoothly flowing in an almost stream-of-consciousness style, it makes for an entertaining and deceptively easy read. In reality, in this book there is so much that is subtly suggested and cunningly implied, that it packs in its few pages the effect of a novel thrice its length.
The unnamed narrator's marriage is haunted by the presence of her new husband's first wife - ominously referred to throughout as she - whom he divorced to marry the narrator. After some initial awkwardness, the narrator manages to maintain a decent relationship with her husband's son and daughter and, to a lesser extent, also with she/her. But we soon learn that beneath the genteel veneer, there is a lurking obsession, an all-consuming jealousy.
The bare bones of the plot will inevitably draw comparisons with Du Maurier's [b:Rebecca|17899948|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386605169s/17899948.jpg|46663], as both the author and her erudite narrator are very much aware. Indeed, there are knowing references to Du Maurier's novel which are quickly turned on their head ("I dreamed - not that I went back to Manderley - that I was in a big city..."). Similarly, that novel's dark, Gothic atmosphere is here replaced by a different sort of darkness - the darkness of black humour and biting satire, as we witness the making and unmaking of a contemporary marriage. Brilliant, witty stuff; sparkling like the champagne which propels the book to its denouement.
An electronic version of this novel was provided through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The unnamed narrator's marriage is haunted by the presence of her new husband's first wife - ominously referred to throughout as she - whom he divorced to marry the narrator. After some initial awkwardness, the narrator manages to maintain a decent relationship with her husband's son and daughter and, to a lesser extent, also with she/her. But we soon learn that beneath the genteel veneer, there is a lurking obsession, an all-consuming jealousy.
The bare bones of the plot will inevitably draw comparisons with Du Maurier's [b:Rebecca|17899948|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386605169s/17899948.jpg|46663], as both the author and her erudite narrator are very much aware. Indeed, there are knowing references to Du Maurier's novel which are quickly turned on their head ("I dreamed - not that I went back to Manderley - that I was in a big city..."). Similarly, that novel's dark, Gothic atmosphere is here replaced by a different sort of darkness - the darkness of black humour and biting satire, as we witness the making and unmaking of a contemporary marriage. Brilliant, witty stuff; sparkling like the champagne which propels the book to its denouement.
An electronic version of this novel was provided through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
An interesting meditation on the jealousy, curiosity, guilt, and isolation that a(n unhappy) second marriage can bring. Tuck's prose artfully wanders through brief, unmarked passages of thought and literary fact, creating an emotional (though at times purposefully apathetic) portrait of the narrator's relationships with her husband, stepchildren, and the woman she replaced.
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
perhaps too self-referential, but still enjoyable.
For a short book, I went through quite a range of emotions while reading it. At first, I liked the way it was written and the viewpoint. Then it started to feel pretentious. I kept reading because of hints at future drama but I didn't enjoy it much towards the end.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.