Helpful Score: 4
What a devastatingly depressing novel; you'll not leave this one believing life is rosy or good, that's certain. I feel like I've been internally flooded out and now the roads inside me are impassable.
The characters became increasingly difficult to differentiate and I found it frustrating for the last thirty or so pages. On paper, they're all the same: girls, women, mothers, aunts, daughters, grandmothers who've had horrible things happen to them and who are trying to salvage something from their pathetic lives. I liked Mabel and Daisy and that was it. I have a strong suspicion that's because they kept to themselves. The other characters were all up in each other's business and boy, did they make a human wreck of their lives.
It became exhausting to read about horror after horror happening to these people and I just couldn't take the cycle of stupidity that none seemed capable of breaking out from. Rainey, especially, repulsed me with her lack of good decision-making skills and half-attempts at mothering. I felt sorry for her kids.
Bertie would have done well to have gotten over her eighth-grade-self and read the stupid letter and allowed Mabel to be her guide. But you can't help stupid and arrogant, as Bertie shows. Mabel really lucked out, I guess, by not having to be saddled with such craziness. No wonder Alma wanted to be so far away from her.
The characters definitely inspired strong feelings in me, which is good, but they weren't likeable because they didn't seem to have any gumption or redeeming characteristics.
The characters became increasingly difficult to differentiate and I found it frustrating for the last thirty or so pages. On paper, they're all the same: girls, women, mothers, aunts, daughters, grandmothers who've had horrible things happen to them and who are trying to salvage something from their pathetic lives. I liked Mabel and Daisy and that was it. I have a strong suspicion that's because they kept to themselves. The other characters were all up in each other's business and boy, did they make a human wreck of their lives.
It became exhausting to read about horror after horror happening to these people and I just couldn't take the cycle of stupidity that none seemed capable of breaking out from. Rainey, especially, repulsed me with her lack of good decision-making skills and half-attempts at mothering. I felt sorry for her kids.
Bertie would have done well to have gotten over her eighth-grade-self and read the stupid letter and allowed Mabel to be her guide. But you can't help stupid and arrogant, as Bertie shows. Mabel really lucked out, I guess, by not having to be saddled with such craziness. No wonder Alma wanted to be so far away from her.
The characters definitely inspired strong feelings in me, which is good, but they weren't likeable because they didn't seem to have any gumption or redeeming characteristics.
Helpful Score: 2
This novel begins in 1920s Kentucky. It spans the lives of two very different sisters, who take very different paths through life. Each sister has a pair of daughters. As their story unfolds, it also tells the stories of their daughters.
Each woman in this multi-generational novel has their own set of circumstances, based both upon their environment and the choices they make. They each have definite strengths and weaknesses. Some of the women are strong in moral and character, yet some are strong willed and rigid.
There is a definite difference between strength and stubbornness. As a woman raised by women of these varied traits, I found this to be a particularly interesting portrait of a family of such women.
Nancy Jensen has exceptional insight into the emotions and personal burdens of the women. She understands the bonds that hold them together, but also cause them to strain at the bindings.
Each sister walks a different road, but within the same map of life. The roads intersect, intertwine, taking them to different places that the others could never understand.
In life, the things that happen to us become a part of us, but the things we choose we become a part of. Sometimes we have to forgive others to go on. Sometimes we need to be forgiven. Sometimes we have to forgive ourselves.
Each woman in this multi-generational novel has their own set of circumstances, based both upon their environment and the choices they make. They each have definite strengths and weaknesses. Some of the women are strong in moral and character, yet some are strong willed and rigid.
There is a definite difference between strength and stubbornness. As a woman raised by women of these varied traits, I found this to be a particularly interesting portrait of a family of such women.
Nancy Jensen has exceptional insight into the emotions and personal burdens of the women. She understands the bonds that hold them together, but also cause them to strain at the bindings.
Each sister walks a different road, but within the same map of life. The roads intersect, intertwine, taking them to different places that the others could never understand.
In life, the things that happen to us become a part of us, but the things we choose we become a part of. Sometimes we have to forgive others to go on. Sometimes we need to be forgiven. Sometimes we have to forgive ourselves.
Helpful Score: 1
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2012/07/sisters.html
The Sisters follows the story of the women of a family over many generations. It all starts with sisters Mabel and Bertie. Mabel is the older; Bertie, the younger.
The story starts as they are teenagers. Their mother has passed away, and they live with their stepfather. A misunderstanding separates the two sisters. From there, the book follows the descendants of both Mabel and Bertie through many generations.
Overall, I was disappointed in the book. I expected to read the story of Mabel and Bertie and their relationship. However, what I got was similar to reading a set of short stories that explored the lives of women and the relationship between mothers and daughters and between sisters.
Although the book was tied together following the family lines of Mabel and Bertie, you could have almost read each character's story separately. This approach meant that characters and the story were not developed in depth. It made it difficult to feel an emotional connection to the characters or book because before long, the story was moving on to a different character. The book would have been stronger if it had focused in on a few of those stories - depth as opposed to breadth.
The book was not quite what I expected. However, if I look at it as a collection of short stories, it was a quick summer beach read.
The Sisters follows the story of the women of a family over many generations. It all starts with sisters Mabel and Bertie. Mabel is the older; Bertie, the younger.
The story starts as they are teenagers. Their mother has passed away, and they live with their stepfather. A misunderstanding separates the two sisters. From there, the book follows the descendants of both Mabel and Bertie through many generations.
Overall, I was disappointed in the book. I expected to read the story of Mabel and Bertie and their relationship. However, what I got was similar to reading a set of short stories that explored the lives of women and the relationship between mothers and daughters and between sisters.
Although the book was tied together following the family lines of Mabel and Bertie, you could have almost read each character's story separately. This approach meant that characters and the story were not developed in depth. It made it difficult to feel an emotional connection to the characters or book because before long, the story was moving on to a different character. The book would have been stronger if it had focused in on a few of those stories - depth as opposed to breadth.
The book was not quite what I expected. However, if I look at it as a collection of short stories, it was a quick summer beach read.
Helpful Score: 1
Nancy Jensen shows great promise as a writer in this debut novel. It is a multi-layered family saga, which begins with two sisters, Mabel and Bertie, who are estranged as teenagers due to a perceived betrayal. The novel covers eighty years in the divergent lives of these two women whose turbulent childhood dictates their lives - one is forever embittered and one is terrified to trust. Bertie eventually marries and raises two daughters while Mabel goes on to become a well-known photographer with an adopted daughter. I think that Jensen's great strength in this book is character development, and the challenge for a reader is maintaining an understanding of the numerous plots within a novel that spans so many decades.
Helpful Score: 1
Liked the book with its interesting characters but found the ending disappointing.
