Veena’s review of Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
Adult Literary Fiction published by Random House 25 Jun 13
Being one of three sisters and reading the following quote, “Funny, haunting, and thought-provoking, Sisterland is a beautifully written novel,” it was inevitable that I would pick up this book to read. While I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the character development, I personally find the pace of the story very slow. The events in this story take place over a short span of time with deep insights and trips into the past, though the entire story is related from Kate’s point of view.
Kate is content in her life as a homemaker and mother. Her moments of psychic awareness are in the past, having been thoroughly suppressed and ruthlessly pushed out of Kate’s life in her pursuit of normal. Kate’s twin, Violet, on the other hand, embraces her otherness and leverages that in her career as a psychic medium. A small earthquake rattles Kate’s nerves and raises fears about her children’s safety. The local scientists dismiss it as a non-event, but Violet provides a conflicting prediction and, more so, provides a specific date for the big one.
This prediction unleashes a chain of events that will have far-reaching consequences, both positive and negative, on the lives of the two sisters, their significant others, and close friends. Kate is ashamed of her hippy sister, who openly embraces her gifts and uses them in her day-to-day life. Suddenly, with her sister thrust into the forefront with the TV and news coverage of her prediction, Kate can’t hide her relationship, causing her to move from cringing in embarrassment to ultimately defending and embracing her relationship in a way she hadn’t been able to do since they were children.
The central character in the story is Kate and the story is told entirely from her view point. I feel that it would have been more interesting to hear Vi’s voice as well as Kate’s. This could have been a rich novel if we could have explored the contrasts between the two sisters and their individual journeys in how they are bonded as closely as only twins can be and then drifted apart, only to finally find a way to come together.
Grade: C+
Summary:
From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that they were unlike everyone else. Kate and Vi were born with peculiar “senses”—innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other people’s secrets. Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to hide them.
Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their hometown of St. Louis. Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children. But when a minor earthquake hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished for begins to shift.
After Vi goes on television to share a premonition that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis area, Kate is mortified. Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi may be right. As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with her sister and to face truths about herself she’s long tried to deny.
Read an excerpt.
