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nicoleharris's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
bmpicc's review against another edition
3.0
I "solved" it about halfway through. It was fun, but trigger warning; the wicked sister truly IS wicked. Honestly, I judge the parents for trying to hide her away rather than having her committed!
saradam's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
jacki_f's review against another edition
2.0
Let me start by saying that I like Karen Dionne's writing. I was a fan of [b:The Marsh King's Daughter|32889533|The Marsh King's Daughter|Karen Dionne|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479249640l/32889533._SY75_.jpg|53504581] and this is every bit as immersive. I read this book in a few hours, so it's not the complete mess that my two star rating suggests but hand on heart, I can't recommend that anyone should read it.
The story is told in dual narratives. We begin with Rachel who has been (voluntarily) in a mental hospital for 15 years. Although her parents' death was ruled a murder/suicide, Rachel can remember standing over her mother's body and believes that she killed her at the age of 11. She is wracked with guilt and wants to prove to herself and the world that she was responsible. Then someone shows her the police report which says that she can't have fired the gun in question and just like that she immediately starts to question what she has believed for 15 years.
The alternate narrative is Rachel's mother telling us her story starting 30 years earlier when she and her husband move to the remote Upper Michigan location where they will live for the rest of their lives. They have only one child at this point, Diana. In case you're wondering how the story pans out from here, the title helpfully gives away the gist of it. And there's the problem: it's clear from the get go what must have really happened and it's pretty easy to figure out how the story will pan out.
Then you throw in the fact that Rachel is so in tune with nature that she receives tip offs from talking spiders, birds and even dead bears. Add two parents who choose to not talk about or turn a blind eye to things in a way that surely no halfway responsible parent would do. Plus there's a character (Charlotte) who behaves in ways that make no sense other than to drive the plot forward. It all ends up being both frustrating and predictable.
The story is told in dual narratives. We begin with Rachel who has been (voluntarily) in a mental hospital for 15 years. Although her parents' death was ruled a murder/suicide, Rachel can remember standing over her mother's body and believes that she killed her at the age of 11. She is wracked with guilt and wants to prove to herself and the world that she was responsible. Then someone shows her the police report which says that she can't have fired the gun in question and just like that she immediately starts to question what she has believed for 15 years.
The alternate narrative is Rachel's mother telling us her story starting 30 years earlier when she and her husband move to the remote Upper Michigan location where they will live for the rest of their lives. They have only one child at this point, Diana. In case you're wondering how the story pans out from here, the title helpfully gives away the gist of it. And there's the problem: it's clear from the get go what must have really happened and it's pretty easy to figure out how the story will pan out.
Then you throw in the fact that Rachel is so in tune with nature that she receives tip offs from talking spiders, birds and even dead bears. Add two parents who choose to not talk about or turn a blind eye to things in a way that surely no halfway responsible parent would do. Plus there's a character (Charlotte) who behaves in ways that make no sense other than to drive the plot forward. It all ends up being both frustrating and predictable.
mmc6661's review against another edition
3.0
Rachel has locked herself away in a mental institute for 15 years now. Self-committed because she thought she shot her mother and therefore her father shot himself. She has finally decided that she needs to know what happened when her parents tragically died that day at the family lodge. Checking herself out of the institution is not hard but returning to her home at the lodge where her Aunt Charlotte and sister Diana still live may be not only hard but dangerous.
Intertwined in the plot is the story of Rachel's family when Diana was just a child, not always an easy child either and the choices that led them up to that fateful day.
Very suspenseful with a satisfying ending, I was just expecting the Bad Seed Theory to continue generations lol.
Intertwined in the plot is the story of Rachel's family when Diana was just a child, not always an easy child either and the choices that led them up to that fateful day.
Very suspenseful with a satisfying ending, I was just expecting the Bad Seed Theory to continue generations lol.
wolvenkitten's review against another edition
4.0
This was great, I was unable to put it down from the second I started reading it... However, I am taking 1 star for the fact that the parents of Rachel and Diana were annoingly ignorant of what was going on and enabling their psychopathic daughter to kill despite knowing her Diagnosis.
aprilsnow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
reading2relax's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
marilynw's review against another edition
3.0
The Wicked Sister, by Karen Dionne, had me captivated at first, but in the end, all the mutilation and death of animals and humans, young and old, was too much for me. I enjoy Dionne's way with words and her story but the details were too much, too vivid, too real. Having said that, this book has a fairy tale quality to it, not like the modern, sanitized fairy tales but the dark, brutal, gory versions of fairy tales. One character can even talk to animals and insects and they talk back to her.
The story begins with the murder/suicide of 11 year old Rachel's parents, or at least Rachel's faulty memory of the event. Rachel is now 26 and in a psychiatric facility, never wanting to leave because she thinks she is responsible for her parents death and being locked up is just punishment. But when she finds out that she could not have killed either of her parents, she has herself released from the facility, to confront her older sister and aunt, who allowed her to hold on to her guilt and stay locked up. Rachel goes to the family's remote 4000 acre estate, with it's huge log cabin, hoping that being in the place of her parent's death will allow her to regain her memories of what happened that day.
We also see the story from the eyes of Jenny, mother of Rachel and psychopathic Diane. From early in Diane's life, her parents knew that she was a danger to every living thing but they refused to act on that knowledge in a way that would save humans and animals. Instead they moved to the remote family property and eventually fostered an obsession of taxidermy, in an effort to channel Diane's killing ways into something that gave her actions a semblance of legitimacy. They gave Diane all the tools she needed to perfect her love of torture and killing. I won't say more...things get bloodier and deadlier as the story goes on and as much as I like Dionne's writing, I had a hard time reading the events in the book. Others enjoyed this book much more than I did, so be sure to read other reviews for a broader understanding of the story.
Publication: August 4th 2020
Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Publishing Group and Edelweiss for this ARC.
The story begins with the murder/suicide of 11 year old Rachel's parents, or at least Rachel's faulty memory of the event. Rachel is now 26 and in a psychiatric facility, never wanting to leave because she thinks she is responsible for her parents death and being locked up is just punishment. But when she finds out that she could not have killed either of her parents, she has herself released from the facility, to confront her older sister and aunt, who allowed her to hold on to her guilt and stay locked up. Rachel goes to the family's remote 4000 acre estate, with it's huge log cabin, hoping that being in the place of her parent's death will allow her to regain her memories of what happened that day.
We also see the story from the eyes of Jenny, mother of Rachel and psychopathic Diane. From early in Diane's life, her parents knew that she was a danger to every living thing but they refused to act on that knowledge in a way that would save humans and animals. Instead they moved to the remote family property and eventually fostered an obsession of taxidermy, in an effort to channel Diane's killing ways into something that gave her actions a semblance of legitimacy. They gave Diane all the tools she needed to perfect her love of torture and killing. I won't say more...things get bloodier and deadlier as the story goes on and as much as I like Dionne's writing, I had a hard time reading the events in the book. Others enjoyed this book much more than I did, so be sure to read other reviews for a broader understanding of the story.
Publication: August 4th 2020
Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Publishing Group and Edelweiss for this ARC.