My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike (Hardcover)

by Joyce Carol Oates (Author)
Key Phrases: fair hills, little maria, skating prodigy, Bix Rampike, Betsey Rampike, Bliss Rampike (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Oates revisits in fantastic fashion the JonBenet Ramsay murder, replacing the famous family with the Rampikes—father Bix, a bully and compulsive philanderer; mother Betsey, obsessed with making her daughter, Bliss, into a prize-winning figure skater; and son Skyler, the narrator of this tale of ambition, greed and tragedy. Skyler's voice—leaden with grief and guilt—is sometimes that of the nine-year-old he was when his sister was killed, and sometimes the teen he is now, 10 years later, when a letter from his dying mother solves the mystery of Bliss's death. The emotionally wrecked Rampike children are collateral damage in a vicious marital battle; Sky is shunted aside, while Bliss is ruthlessly manipulated. Stylistic tricks (direct-address footnotes chief among them) lighten Oates's razor-sharp satire of a privileged enclave where social-climbing neighbors dwell in gargantuan houses; as Oates's readers will expect, the novel is long, propelled at breakneck speed and apt to indulge in verbal excess (as in the 55-page novella within the novel). Oates's psychological acuity, however, ranks this novel as one of the best from a dark observer of our lives and times. (June)
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From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—Oates examines a family made famous first by the success, and then by the murder of their six-year-old ice-skating star, Bliss Rampike. Through 19-year-old Skyler, readers are introduced to the family. They know that his younger sister has been killed. But by whom, and why? The author holds back nothing in this portrait of a family gone horribly wrong: two egotistical, noncommunicative adults raising their firstborn, who cannot live up to their expectations or their own dreams, and their daughter, who tries. Readers see not only the relentless striving of the mother for fame and fortune, but also the manipulation of her son. Skyler tells of his memories (he was nine when his sister died) and of the present with appropriately excruciating detail—the overwhelming intrusion of the outside world, the public damning of his family, and the repercussions he suffers. The first-person narrative requires close attention to the web of lies and intrigue that the author spins. The use of footnotes by Skyler may confuse some teens, but the insights contained in them are invaluable. This is not a quick read, but rather a painful scrutiny of society and the things people often value. Give this book to advanced readers who will want to solve the mystery, and who want to study the dynamics of a dysfunctional family and/or of a society driven mad by media coverage. Intelligent and thought-provoking.—Janet Melikian, Central High School East, Fresno, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1 edition (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061547484
• ISBN-13: 978-0061547485
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,089 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Re-Imagining An Infamous Case, July 17, 2008

By	Susan Y. Schoonover (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Very prolific author Joyce Carol Oates' latest lengthy novel MY SISTER, MY LOVE: THE INTIMATE STORY OF SKYLER RAMPIKE is quite obviously "inspired" by the still unsolved Ramsey murder case of over ten years ago. Names, locations, and a whole lot of facts have been changed to prevent lawsuits in this "re-imagining" but Oates still manages to put forth a pretty compelling tale of "what might have happened" in that infamous child murder. The story is told from the viewpoint of six year old ice skating princess and murder victim, Bliss Rampike's, brother Skyler. Nine years old at the time of the tragedy but writing his memoirs ten years later, he makes some sharp satiric observations about upper middle class suburban life in his rambling account. The Rampike parents "Bix" and "Betsy" come plausibly alive as shallow, upwardly mobile strivers both before and after the tragedy that changed their lives. The final quarter of the book includes a first person novella that describes Skyler's teenage years as a resident at a school for troubled rich kids (Skyler battles addictions among other problems) and his doomed romance with the daughter of a famous athlete who in a very familiar sounding manner was tried but not convicted of the murder of his ex-wife and her boyfriend. The book concludes with Skyler at age almost twenty visiting his mother for the last time, seeing his father for the first time in years and the revelation of what really happened to his sister. The style of the book is not for everyone as it is filled with footnotes, asides from both the narrator and author Oates and other devices Miss Oates often employs in her writing. The book is really quite a bit too long and could have benefited from an editor's pen but at this point in her career Joyce Carol apparently writes whatever she pleases.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Will you make me a red-ink heart, too?", July 28, 2008

By	H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Joyce Carol Oates has written fiction based on actual events before, BLACK WATER (1992) and BLONDE (2000). Now she has written a gargantuan novel (562 pages) that has its "genesis" in what she calls in her Author's Note/Disclaimer a "true crime mystery of the late twentieth century." Think the murder of Jonbenet Ramsey and tragic aftermath of events that followed. The family name here is Rampike; the parents are Betsey and Bix; the childen, Bliss, whose name was changed from Edna Louise, and Skyler. This rambling story unfolds through the eyes of Skyler, who is nine years old when his six-year-old sister, an ice skating prodigy, is killed in the upper-middle-class family's home in suburban New Jersey.

Ms. Oates' world view is nothing if not dark-- at least in her fiction I have read although I do not pretend to have read her 70 or so volumes. In MY SISTER, MY LOVE Ms. Oates satirizes a certain section of American society, the perennial social climber. Thr Ramikes must get into the most prestigious social club. Betsey arranges playdates for Skyler with the children of the most important neighbors. Then there is Bix, the red-blooded former football star who has a cliche ("who's complaining?" "cut your losses!"never say never!" for every occasion. So what are they to do with a troubled son with a limp who always appears to smirk in the obligatory publicity photos of Mummy, Daddy and Bliss, the holder of the title of "Little Miss Jersey Ice Princess" among many others?

Ms. Oates skewers fundamentalist get-rich religion as well. While Bix can take his religion or leave it-- he believes in a Caucasian god and is a nominal Episcopalean-- Betsey after the death of Bliss joins a pentecostal church and writes memoirs of her tragedy and produces a line of "Heaven Scent" products-- cosmetics, candies et cetera, to help heal her wounds. Her funeral in a mega-church, a "fervent/impassioned/'smiling-through-tears' Assembley of God" that seats 2,100 and is located "beyond Wal-Mart, beyond Home Depot and Big Savings Bonanza" with a copper cross twelve feet high floating over the stage-- there is no altar in sight-- is way past macabre.

Threaded through all this picture of modern American bad taste is Skyler's sometimes creepy, at other times moving, but always sad account of his love for his little sister-- at her insistence he inks a red heart in her palm-- and his own shipwrecked life. There are precious few people to like here. Both Rampike parents are despicable in twenty different ways. Oates is neither subtle nor merciful in her portrayal of them or many others as well. The two bungling detectives assigned to the murder invetigation are named Sledge and Slugg. She reserves her sympathy for the most part for the young people, Bliss and Skyler and Heidi Harkness, the teenager Skyler falls in love with at the Academy of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, a school for students with "special needs." Heidi is the troubled daughter of a celebrity murderer and former major league baseball star recently acquitted for the murder of his wife, her alleged lover and the wife's poodles Yin and Yang. Pastor Bob is a decent person too.

Ms. Oates in the end solves Bliss' murder. I wondered, as I finished this long novel, if she would have changed the ending, knowing what we now know about the DNA evidence in the Ramsey case. Additionally, even though Skyler is a brilliant young man, at times he has to be channeling Ms. Oates for he knows far too much and writes too well for even the most precocious of nineteen-year-olds.

Finally- believe it or not-- this novel ends on a mildly optimistic note with just a whiff of hope. Maybe that is all we need in the end.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tabloid Hell, July 23, 2008

By	Laurel-Rain Snow - Raine- "Author of 'Miles t... (Fresno, California) - See all my reviews

In this dark novel of family dysfunction at its most terrifying, Joyce Carol Oates weaves a tale of a wealthy suburban family, obsessed with its youngest family member's stardom as an ice-skating princess, and how the older sibling, awkward and unable to keep up with the family image, is shunted aside.

Young Bliss Rampike ("Bliss" being a stage name) is pushed to excel. Dolled up (literally), she resembles a porcelain image. Nothing about her seems real, and when any possibility of a real girl emerges, her mother, terrifyingly adroit in her stage-mother role, is there to prod
her on.

The older brother Skylar is also there, with his dark thoughts and terrifying moments of clumsiness. In family portraits for the media, he is pushed to remove the "pain" look from his face.

Behind these moments, of course, Skylar also remembers a time...before Bliss, before his awkwardness...when he was "the little man", his mother's adored child.

This could simply be a tale of sibling rivalry, or one of living in the eye of the media. But it all becomes "tabloid hell", when one mysterious night, Bliss is found dead in the furnace room.

Most of the book is presented from the perspective of Skylar Rampike, who takes the reader down a long and winding road of awkwardness, terror, and emotional disturbance...However, the story is uneven, diverging frequently, and full of footnotes to explain and describe events.

At the end, something of the mystery is revealed, but many unanswered questions remain. Is anything true? Is it all just a fabrication by a disturbed young man? Did the young boy suffer from more than emotional abuse at the hands of his mother? The relationship is twisted to the point that Skylar "leaves" the family shortly after the murder...first to be hospitalized and then for many years to reside in "special schools"...But even after he is an adult, he stays away. The reader suspects this detachment is more than escape from the media storm...He seems to be struggling to save his very soul.

In this family horror tale, resembling the story of Jon-Benet Ramsey, the beauty queen murdered at approximately the same time as the child in this book, Ms. Oates has crafted a truly ingenious description of family life gone awry. At times, I found the story tedious, with its winding and weaving down many paths...but I couldn't put it down or discard it. I had to plod along to the gory finish.

I would not recommend this book for those who are in search of light-hearted stories with a happy ending. The reader has to be enthralled by the pursuit of the answers the book can provide in order to hang in there.

I was unsure of how to rate this book, since it would not have wide appeal. I decided on four stars...it is excellent writing and a beautifully crafted exploration of the psyche of the characters...but many would find it tedious and rambling.

Ms. Oates is not everyone's "cup of tea", and after reading this one, I'll probably wait awhile before submerging myself in another of her books, although I have several awaiting me on my To Be Read stack.