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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Moth woman, July 8, 2008
Clive Stone is a lepidopterist - one of the most respected in the field. And, when she grows up, his daughter Ginny follows in his footsteps, first as his assistant, then as a renowned specialist in her own right. Clive's wife Maud is his direct opposite - vivacious to his staidness, extravagant to his self-containment, warm to his reserved. And second daughter Vivien takes after her mother. One happy family divided right down the middle. . . Why then, having been expelled from prep school, does Vivi abruptly leave the bucolic 'if somewhat creepy', Victorian mansion that the Stones call home? As The Sister opens, that is the central question, because Vivi is about to return after an absence of nearly 50 years, most of it filled with silence. Narrated by Ginny, whom the villagers eye warily and refer to as "The Moth Woman", as the story progresses, more and more questions emerge, usually heralded by a trenchant remark by Ginny. And chapter by chapter, the ambience grows menacing. Some of the turns and tangles that drive this plot are foreseeable, and some less so. But its mood develops increasingly gothic undertones, sinister and stony. It is obvious that Ginny is mentally ill, but what of the other members of this strange quartet? . . The Sister is not a comfy family saga, but despite it's menacing aspect, the narrative sometimes grows too introverted and rather flat. The detailed information about lepidoptery in parts is repulsive. But its ending truly comes as a shock, an unanticipated solution to Ginny's disturbed emotional state. To which sister does the title refer? I'm still trying to decide.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
(4.5) "Vivian walked into my head and littered it with doubt and anger and turbulence.", June 17, 2008
I am struck from the start with the eerie déjà vu of this strange tale, two sisters reunited in the rambling Victorian home in the Dorset countryside after fifty years. Ginny has always lived here, but for a few years of schooling with her vivacious younger sister. Vivi left home long ago, not content to bury herself in her father's extensive interests in lepidopterology, the scientific study of moths and butterflies. Many rooms in the rambling Bulburrow Court are dedicated to such study, an entire library of specimens, as well as the artifacts of generations of relatives, the mansion grown thick with antiques, furniture, books and priceless collectibles. Like a colorless moth, Ginny has clung to this place since her youth and through the death of her mother, Maud, who falls to her death down the cellar stairs. Later, when her father, Clive, sinks into dementia, Ginny remains the sole inhabitant of a slowly decaying fortress against progress.
It is this author's skillful weaving of subtle threat and poisonous jealousy that fills the chapters with an aura of unsettling, indefinable menace. Ginny's voice carries the narrative, recounting childhood memories of Vivi, the steadfast, reliable elder sibling who holds the family together when Vivi sets out to conquer the world. The sad results of a childhood accident taint the joy of Vivi's existence, robbed of the one thing she desperately wants but cannot have. In her endless capacity for appeasement, Ginny endures a great personal sacrifice on her sister's behalf, but as we eventually learn, she exacts terrible payment from those she favors. Ginny's reaction when Vivi returns home to share their final years together is surprising only in how quickly the sisters revert to a lifetime pattern of leader and follower, the patient Ginny deftly honing her passive-aggressive skills.
This insular family interacts with the world only through Clive's scientific forays, Ginny his proud understudy; for a long time the gregarious Maud is the center of the home in social matters, mindful of the needs of friends and neighbors, complementing a pedantic husband, a colorful peacock who infuses cheer into an oppressive home. But Maud falls victim to the burden of her household, her indomitable spirit turned morose, then angry for lack of appreciation. Adams beautifully portrays Maud's descent into unhappiness, the slow unraveling of a positive, tenacious woman. Ginny is always there to soothe and interpret, a role-reversal of the competing personalities of the sisters in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Like the film (perhaps also reminiscent of "The Bad Seed"), something is seriously amiss in this union, Vivi bursting onto the scene only to be confronted with the most terrible of realizations. Other than the often ponderous, if important chapters on the development of moths and butterflies ("I see the inequity of life, the immorality of nature"), the unspoken menace is pervasive in Adams' fine psychological thriller. Luan Gaines/ 2008.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
What if you do not like Moths?, June 20, 2008
THE SISTER by Poppy Adams is a novel with "hidden agendas" narrated by the book's most puzzling and complex character (Ginny). The reader meets the narrator/protagonist in the very first page of the book when she is anticipating the return of her sister Vivian after a lengthy absence. When the novel begins, the reader is filled with hope and anticipation as to why this sister is returning and what kind of a homecoming this will be. At the onset there are hints that this is a welcome reunion which might diminish Ginny's isolation. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are all sorts of things that the reader learns and figures out solely on their own as they discover the tricks that the human mind can play on a person. It is quite a good psychological probe into the human mind in its varied states.
The book could have been filled with all sorts of answers to the many questions that the reader would have after meeting the Stone family . However, for some inexplicable reason, many more facts were given which validated the behavior of moths versus the behavior of Ginny or other characters. If you are interested in moths and their unique characteristics and features; this book is most definately the one for you. I am not too keen on insects so you can figure out already how delighted I must have been with these extensive discussions.
Overall, there was a Hitchcock atmosphere to the novel and if you are a reader who likes to come to your own conclusions, then you will love this book; if you like well developed characters and like to trust in the validity of your narrator; then this novel will twist and undermine your literary beliefs. I found the book and the plot development unsettling; but the ending did surprise and maybe at a deeper level even shock me.
I think if you give this book a whirl it may unsettle you in parts as it did this reader; but Adams does have more than a few surprises in store for the reader in this her debut novel.
A good first effort; but not an outstanding one.
Bentley/2008
3 stars
The Sister
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