Customer Reviews

The Sister

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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

There's something inherently sinister about moths. Unlike their diurnal cousins, moths lurk about in the dark, brushing against bare arms, fluttering madly around porch lights, and hitching rides indoors on unsuspecting hosts who then have to hunt them down and kill them.

Maybe not everyone shares my aversion to moths, but plenty of people do --- and when Virginia Stone, the narrator of THE SISTER, reveals her lifelong near-obsession with moths, that was certainly a good tip-off that Poppy Adams's debut novel is not just a simple tale of a reunion between two long-estranged sisters. Indeed, as countless secrets unfold through the dispassionate voice of its narrator, before too long the book reveals itself to be just as sinister as those creepy moths.

Since the death of her mother and the subsequent dementia of her father, Virginia, now an old woman, has lived alone in Bulbarrow Court, the family's crumbling, ancient manor house, now cold (because she can't afford to pay the heating bills) and nearly empty (because she has sold almost all the family's furniture to make money). The only part of the house that remains intact is the attic, which is filled with the specimens of thousands of moths and butterflies, evidence of the family study of lepidoptery, an obsession that has stayed with Virginia since learning about moths and butterflies at her father's knee.

Into Virginia's compulsively ordered existence comes her younger sister Vivien, who has not returned to Bulbarrow Court since leaving as a young woman in the wake of a family crisis. Virginia does not know why Vivien, an unsettling presence with her styled hair, her fashionable clothing, her cell phone and her tiny dog, has returned home after so long. All she understands is that Vivien's arrival has thrown her tidy world --- and her personal sense of the past --- into disorder.

THE SISTER is so controlled in its storytelling, shifting back and forth seamlessly between Virginia's memories of the past and her behavior in the present, that it's hard to believe this is Poppy Adams's debut novel. Virginia is a classic example of the unreliable narrator, one so blinded by her own self-deception, so limited by her coldly methodical scientific mind, that she remains nearly unaware of her own situation. "If you were born unaware, at least you'd be blissfully ignorant," she reflects as she considers the purely instinctual moth. "It's not as if you're going to wake up one day and suddenly discover yourself." For Virginia, all of life is a scientific process that follows a pre-ordained formula. The result, in her case, culminates in a truly chilling conclusion.

Poppy Adams is a documentary filmmaker, and THE SISTER, with its strong sense of place and its vivid moth and butterfly imagery, is cinematic in its vision. She shows real promise as a novelist of psychological suspense, akin to such popular authors as Ruth Rendell, Morag Joss and Minette Walters.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

This novel is a fascinating exploration of the ways in which the mind can work, distort, and deteriorate. At the outset, this seems to be a fairly simple story of estranged sisters reuniting in their old age. While I could tell from reading the jacket that the real story would probably come in the possible scandal or heartbreak of their estrangement, I wasn't expecting the instability of the narrator.

It's the little things that tip you off gradually to what is happening here. Once you realize that Adams is using the classic technique of the unreliable narrator, it's impossible not to look beneath the surface of everything that she sees and remembers for the truth. It's also amazing how easily you can understand or sympathize with Ginny's logic, as twisted as it is - almost frightening once you realize how easily a mind can warp the truth.

The novel is a little slow to start out, but the story really picks up fairly soon. The descriptions of the moths and the processes that come with studying them may seem a little tedious, but I think they are necessary to completely immerse the reader in Ginny's mind - especially at the end of the novel. Adams includes little details in all the right places.

This is definitely a novel worth reading. Adams does a fantastic job of mapping the way Ginny's mind works, and also of manipulating the story. It's fascinating to see things from Ginny's point of view, all the while trying to figure out what's truly happening outside of her comfort zone and under the surface. This really is an impressive first novel - Adams certainly did her research, and knows what she's doing when it comes to her narrative.

*Review of ARC

Arthur: How can you tell a cannibal?
Vivi: Well, they're the only ones left, silly.
Arthur: No, before they've eaten the others.
Vivi: Oh, that. They've just got a look about them.

I will definitely be reading more of Poppy Adams' work when it comes out. The Sister is her first novel.

Originally titled The Time of Emergence, and called The Behaviour of Moths in the UK, The Sister is a book where, after reaching the end, the reader may be left with more questions unanswered than answered. There are multiple interpretations that could be made about several different occurrences in the book. For me, that's what makes this story so fascinating. I know that may be more of a frustration to some, though.

Vivien (Vivi) and Virginia (Ginny) are two sisters who grew up in a countryside mansion with lepidopterist ancestors. Their maternal grandfather and father were both lepidopterists, and Ginny becomes a lepidopterist. What is a lepidopterist? It's a person who studies moths and butterflies. There is much discussion of the behavior of moths in this book, but it is an essential aspect of the story. While reading and after finishing the book, I realized many parallels between the behavior of moths and the behavior of the characters in the novel. This is a book I'll probably re-read at some point to catch all the connections between the two.

Vivi and Ginny have been separated for decades, and the reasons why become apparent as the story unfolds. Very different from each other, Vivi is outgoing and leaves home for London at a young age, while Ginny is an introvert and a homebody. In fact, as the novel opens, we get the sense that Ginny hasn't left her home for many, many years. Vivien decides to come back to the house, stating to Ginny that as sisters, they should spend their old age together. The entire novel only takes place over a few days, but as each day unfolds, we are also given glimpses from the past and why they have been separated for so long. All of this is told from Ginny's perspective, though, and as Ginny and Vivi discuss their history together, they both realize that they saw their childhood in distinctly different ways. These differences are crucial to figuring out what is going on in the story.

What is going on in the story? I don't want to tell you much, because it has a really good, creepy, gothic, Hitchcock feel to it that is better left to finding out by reading the story. If you don't mind not having everything wrapped up in the end, and if you like having multiple interpretations of a storyline, you'll love this book. I really enjoyed it, and the more I think about it, the more I love it.

This book started out promisingly, but as I read, I realized that I didn't like any of the characters, so ultimately I didn't care what happened to them. That's a killing blow to any novel, but this one had several other problems as well.

The questions brought up in the plot are not adequately resolved and left me wondering what the point of the book was, except perhaps to be purposefully mysterious. I found the ending to be surprising, in a bad way, and I can't tell you how much gobbledygook about moths, some of it rather disgusting, I skimmed over along the way to get to it.

Additionally, the first person point-of-view was grating. The narrator's character sees the world through the lens of her issues and eccentricities, and while this is illuminating at first, it eventually becomes extremely tedious not only as she belabors things, but as you realize that the author is never going to properly bring together the threads of the story to explain what exactly is going on with her.

I have several other issues with the book that would involve spoiling plot points (nonsensical and outlandish plot points!) so I will leave them from this review, in case some poor soul actually wants to read this book, which I heartily do not recommend.

Ginny Stone has lived alone in the family mansion for decades, and her sister is returning for reasons unknown. . .
It's the perfect gothic setup, and the character of Ginny is somewhat fascinating at first. Other reviewers have puzzled at the flat and emotionless affect of the character, I "decided" early on that Ginny had Aspberger's Syndrome, a form of autism. I've read enough about Aspberger's that Ginny's various tics and peculiarities slotted into what I've read about the syndrome.
Unfortunately, that's not the sort of character that one can identify with, and this is a first-person tale. The other characters are little more than cutouts. The only thing that lifts this above the usual "someone's coming home to spill the family secrets" is the lepidoptery. I'm a fan of butterflies and moths, yet is was an over-used crutch, filling in what turned out to be too many gaps.
This would have been far better and creepier (in my opinion) as a shorter work. Rattling around in the head of Ginny for 300 or so pages became tedious because she was predictable as part of her nature. I knew what was going to happen a good 100 pages from the end. In fact, I knew from the moment Viv returned that a large portion of the plot would revolve around (something I don't want to spoil).
That said, I still give it 3 stars, because this is a debut novel. There's enough there that I'd like to see what Poppy Adams does next.

I'm not a reader who expects everything tied in a nice little bow at the end of a book, but this book leaves so many loose ends that you can't help but wonder why the author didn't follow up with all the threads she had going in the book. The book is very well written and suspenseful, with the author dropping hints throughout that keep the reader interested. But in the end, very few of the questions are answered, which is a big letdown for the reader. For instance:

Why did Vivi decide to move home after so many years?
What exactly is Ginny's diagnosis - is she autistic? A savant? Obviously her parents knew from an early age that something was wrong - why isn't this explained?
Did Clive kill Maud or did she fall in a drunken stupor?
Do the authorities taken Ginny away because they know she has killed Vivi, or are they just taking her to a nursing facility?
What is the purpose of Eileen and why does Vivi bring her to the house as a "surprise" for Ginny?

The author shouldn't leave all of these things up to the reader's imagination.

The Sister earns a spot as one of the best books I've read this year. Those readers who enjoy suspense will love The Sister. It is a top shelf psychological thriller that will have you reading long into the night.

The plot was excellent. Two sisters share a storied past that hopelessly intertwines their fate. While the elder sister stays behind to carry on the family career of lepidopterology (the study of moths) and to care for their mother and father, Vivien moves on to bigger and (she thinks) better things in London. Numerous tragedies plague the sisters throughout their lives: a terrible fall that Vivien narrowly survives and the decline of their parents, among others. In old age, Vivien decides to return to her childhood home to be with Ginny. The ghosts of their past stand between them, forcing a catastrophic conclusion.

I can't believe that this is a debut novel! It is written so superbly, shifting effortlessly from past to present. The plot is as much about what isn't said as what is said. I never thought that reading about moths could be very interesting but the author intertwines Ginny's career perfectly with the story and makes it fascinating. I can't wait to read Adam's next work. I have already passed The Sister on to my mother who I'm sure will love the story despite her being a very picky reader.