A review by bunnieslikediamonds
Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
3.0
A non-creepy story about psychic twins seems like such a waste. What's the point of ESP if not used as a believable, scientific base for twin horror fiction? Of course Sittenfeld would never go there. Her thing is neurotic, self-doubting characters, family dynamics and the picking apart of close relationships. Not that you couldn't combine that with some good old fashioned horror (imagine Lee Fiora with a pick-axe), but sadly for me, that's not what happens.
The twins' ESP is described as a somewhat unusual, but hardly spectacular, component in their otherwise dull lives. They briefly become an involuntary freak show during high-school, adopting different coping mechanisms. Bohemian Violet grows up to become a professional psychic, while highly-strung Kate formerly known as Daisy desperately wants to remove herself from any freakishness and so becomes a respectable, suburban stay-at-home-mom. When Violet publicly predicts an earthquake, the media attention causes Kate to lose her shit (in a controlled, respectable way).
In a rare burst of insight, Kate concludes that "we find it impossible to believe that others want what we don't or don't want what we do". That pretty much sums up the book. Kate can't imagine why Violet would want to draw attention to herself by becoming The Psychic of St Louis - and worse, drawing attention to Kate. I totally get that. Good lord, if my sister went nationwide spouting paranormal nonsense, I would be mortified. I admit it: I care about what people think, and I identify with the stuck-up, snobbish character rather than the free-spirited, wacky one. To a certain point, that is.
See, Kate also cannot imagine how anyone could not want the husband, the kids and the suburban home she has, which is funny, considering that her days are made up of snot, poop and vomit (Sittenfeld spends an awful lot of time describing the logistics of raising small children, which is odd, because a) it's not interesting when done this way, and b) everybody - parent or not - already knows about the sleep deprivation, the snot, the poop and the vomit). Super Mom is insufferably smug and judgemental. Seeing a former classmate without - gasp - a ring on her finger, she gloats and congratulates herself on landing a husband. Oh, and she's also kinda racist and homophobic, and not that smart. Sittenfeld wisely lets Violet call bullshit, while infusing Kate with enough sympathetic qualities to keep her from being completely despicable.
Some tension is created by the potential earthquake, as well as the the strained relationship between the sisters, but the story is bogged down by too many irrelevant details. Also, some things just came off as plain weird, like the awful sex scenes. I get that Kate and her husband are supposed to be vanilla, but this was just ridiculous (along the lines of "he caressed my nipple, and after three minutes we finished at the same time"). The unimaginative Kate cannot believe anyone would like to have sex for longer than three minutes and is baffled and annoyed when a lover just keeps going past the time limit.
Sisterland is certainly readable, if you enjoy reading about extremely conventional, self-absorbed middle-class people with conventional middle-class problems (I know I do). Sittenfeld is a good observer and a good writer, but this one was way too vanilla for me.
The twins' ESP is described as a somewhat unusual, but hardly spectacular, component in their otherwise dull lives. They briefly become an involuntary freak show during high-school, adopting different coping mechanisms. Bohemian Violet grows up to become a professional psychic, while highly-strung Kate formerly known as Daisy desperately wants to remove herself from any freakishness and so becomes a respectable, suburban stay-at-home-mom. When Violet publicly predicts an earthquake, the media attention causes Kate to lose her shit (in a controlled, respectable way).
In a rare burst of insight, Kate concludes that "we find it impossible to believe that others want what we don't or don't want what we do". That pretty much sums up the book. Kate can't imagine why Violet would want to draw attention to herself by becoming The Psychic of St Louis - and worse, drawing attention to Kate. I totally get that. Good lord, if my sister went nationwide spouting paranormal nonsense, I would be mortified. I admit it: I care about what people think, and I identify with the stuck-up, snobbish character rather than the free-spirited, wacky one. To a certain point, that is.
See, Kate also cannot imagine how anyone could not want the husband, the kids and the suburban home she has, which is funny, considering that her days are made up of snot, poop and vomit (Sittenfeld spends an awful lot of time describing the logistics of raising small children, which is odd, because a) it's not interesting when done this way, and b) everybody - parent or not - already knows about the sleep deprivation, the snot, the poop and the vomit). Super Mom is insufferably smug and judgemental. Seeing a former classmate without - gasp - a ring on her finger, she gloats and congratulates herself on landing a husband. Oh, and she's also kinda racist and homophobic, and not that smart. Sittenfeld wisely lets Violet call bullshit, while infusing Kate with enough sympathetic qualities to keep her from being completely despicable.
Some tension is created by the potential earthquake, as well as the the strained relationship between the sisters, but the story is bogged down by too many irrelevant details. Also, some things just came off as plain weird, like the awful sex scenes. I get that Kate and her husband are supposed to be vanilla, but this was just ridiculous (along the lines of "he caressed my nipple, and after three minutes we finished at the same time"). The unimaginative Kate cannot believe anyone would like to have sex for longer than three minutes and is baffled and annoyed when a lover just keeps going past the time limit.
Sisterland is certainly readable, if you enjoy reading about extremely conventional, self-absorbed middle-class people with conventional middle-class problems (I know I do). Sittenfeld is a good observer and a good writer, but this one was way too vanilla for me.