Your Reviews of The Sister -- should not contain spoilers [ Edited ]

[Maria_H]

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Message Edited by Maria_H on 03-20-2008 09:42 AM

[dhaupt]

I give the Sister 3 stars

A Disturbing look at a dysfunctional family

I liked the sister and I think it was well written, however I am one of those simple minded people who like the story played out in the pages of a book and do not like to come up with my own answers. The characters were all very interesting and I really wanted to know more about them and the book was narrated by the most disturbed of the bunch. So it left me wanting more. After discussing the book with the author I intend to reread it to see if I can see some of the things she talked about. I really enjoyed the detail she took in explaining the moths and found that added to my enjoyment of the book. I think this book will really appeal to people who are more intellectual than the average reader and will find it's niche there.

Other book I would recommend are:
The Dark Tide - Andrew Gross
Nameless Night - G.M. Ford
The Woods - Harlan Coben

[Elmerfletch]

Four Stars

I really liked this one - it was a slow start but once it got going it made me think.  I found myself trying to figure out the two sisters - question sanity and insanity, reality and make-believe, motivations, etc.  The only disappointing thing is that there were so many loose ends... many "hints" at much more behind each remembrance... each sister, their parents, even Michael... while more on each thread could have led us down a rabbit hole, I would have liked a bit more "explanation".  However, the unsettling feeling with which this left me may have been part of the author's intent.  

It was intriguing and I recommend it!

Message Edited by Elmerfletch on 03-20-2008 11:37 AM

[LillyAndLola]

5 Stars -- Moody and Mysterious

Wonderfully creepy and compelling story of two sisters who reunite after an estrangement that lasted their entire adult lives. Beautifully written, paced, and plotted. The mood is similar to Shirley Jackson's WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. Whose view of childhood events is accurate? Who is responsible for their mother's death? Is someone in this story insane or is it just a difference of perspective? I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.

Other books I would recommend:

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky

Have You Found Her by Janice Erlbaum

Message Edited by LillyAndLola on 03-20-2008 12:14 PM

[kiakar]

I enjoyed this book alot. I love a mystery that is enhanced with romance and is full of life. And of course this book supplied it all. I am one though, who does not want to answer questions left by the author. It makes it seem more realistic for the author to unveil all the secrets at the end. It makes it a perfect novel to me. I love secrets but just make it real by giving the answers to those secrets. For the beautiful words and phrases the author used, I was delighted with. I will give the book a ra ting of 4.  Linda

[DSaff]

"The Sister
Rating - 5 Stars

A Mystery with a twist or two

I was drawn into this psychological family drama from the very first page. Meet Clive, Maud, Vivien, and Ginny; and delve into the family profession of Lepidoptery. This book will make you think, question, and learn. What is normal? What is the correct time? If you like books that make you think, this is a book for you!

Other Recommendations:
"The Lovely Bones" Alice Sebold
"Dead Watch" John Sanford
"The Husband" Dean Koontz

Message Edited by DSaff on 03-20-2008 12:50 PM

[CAG]

Interesting science and good suspense!

I give "Sister" five stars.

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. It is one of the best premier novels that I have ever read. This book kept me thinking. It is well written, different and deep. The characters were fascinating and the plot made me want more. Ginny is one character that I will never forget. I look forward to another novel by the gifted Poppy Adams. I highly recommend this book.

Other books I would recommend are:

"Blood Memory" by Greg ILes

"Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult

"Blood Noir" by Laurell Hamilton

[thefamilymanag…]

3 stars

A Haunting and Distressing Book

I felt this book was extremely unsettling and had too many scientific details.  It was nice character study of a highly disturbed individual.  Unfortunately, there are many loose ends the author expects the reader to tie up for himself or herself.  This book does not have a typical beginning, middle, and end but instead takes on one character’s point of view for the entire book.  If you enjoy being part of the story by drawing your own conclusions, you will enjoy this book.  You should also enjoy scientific details. Otherwise, it will be quite frustrating.

Other Books I recommend:

John Adams by David McCullough

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Message Edited by thefamilymanager on 03-20-2008 10:52 AM

[momgee]

4  stars for this truly captivating and intriguing tale by the debut novelist, Poppy Adams. I was totally drawn into the book's eerie qualities from the get-go. Ms. Adams does such a fine job with the descriptions of the surroundings and the feelings of the narrator Ginny, it was almost as if I were in her head looking out through her eyes as she anxiously awaits the return of her sister after an almost 50 year absence. The story is slowly revealed through Ginny's perspective and it gives the reader an insight into how easily  family dynamics can go  awry.There were numerous twists and turns through out the book that by the end I could not read it fast enough.  This is a novel that will make you wonder, think, ask questions and overall highly enjoy. Buy a copy for a friend and you will be discussing it for months! Yes, it is that highly impressionable. Thank you Ms. Adams  for the opportunity to read your first novel. I eagerly await the next and hope to see The Sister in a movie format in the future.

 Kaye

[Jeanie0522]

4 Stars

Imaginative and Creative

I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced reading copy of this novel.  My first reaction after finishing the book was that there were loose ends that had not been neatly tied up for me.  The interesting part was that I kept thinking back on the story.  The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that I have become a rather lazy reader.  Life does not give you all of the answers, so why should a novel.  This novel does make you think.  You will have to determine the "why's and how's" yourself, but that is actually the beauty of the story.  I ended up reading it twice to come to that conclusion and would recommend it. 

Other books I would recommend:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen 

The Lottery by Patricia Wood

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Message Edited by Jeanie0522 on 03-20-2008 12:56 PM

Message Edited by Jeanie0522 on 03-20-2008 01:03 PM

[krb2g]

Three stars: Uncanny, or, the Return of the Repressed

This debut novel by Poppy Adams has its moments. I particularly enjoyed its ambiguities, its structure (the narrator reveals increasingly more information about her past as she describes the events of a weekend), and its instabilities (the narrator is not particularly reliable, so it ends up feeling like a mystery the reader has to solve for himself or herself). Ms. Adams includes a lot of scientific information about moths; ultimately this information aligns with the story symbolically, but I think this aspect of the story is over-determined. I found the writing style (in terms of syntax and diction specifically) to be unremarkable: the text was readable, but didn't contain many moments over whose beauty I wanted to linger or which I wanted to quote. The plot starts slow, but gets too fast and complicated in the middle. Analyzed by parts, then, this book is quite smart and attempting some very ambitious modes of storytelling; as a whole, I found it very difficult to care about the characters, especially the narrator. So, I would characterize this story as one with a lot of potential that's not realized. I would probably not recommend this book to a friend, but I will definitely read Ms. Adams's next book.

Also recommended:
Pale Fire by Vladmir Nabokov
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

[cocospals]

I will give this one a 2 and I am being a bit generous.  I was very disappointed in this one. I was fully expecting it to be really good and I don't know, the moth thing really held me back. Yes it was twisty at the end but I guess it was just not "my kind of book"

[BookSavage]

3 Stars

Confusing yet Stimulating

I easily could have given this book 1 or 2 stars, but the last fifty pages had enough redeeming value to bump it up to a three star book.  This is not a book to read if you do not want to think for yourself, the author simply does not spoon feed you anything.  The twists in the story are wonderful, but the author really does a fairly poor job of developing her characters and the book has little to no plot line.  Once again, most of this book is not worth reading, but if you can stick with it until the last fifty pages, I think you will enjoy it as well.

Other books I would recommend:

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

The Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver

[Dulcibelle]

3 stars

I'm not really sure what I think of this book. It's dark - almost Gothic in tone - and I didn't find the characters all that sympathetic. Even so, I was anxious to see just what was going to happen next. After I finished it, though, I wasn't sure I actually LIKED the book. Well-written, yes; with an interesting plot and lots of character development, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. However, this is the author's first book, and she impressed me enough that I will take a long look at anything else she may write.

[Deenow]

I'll give this one three stars. The book was exciting and interesting at times, but it took forever to get to the interesting parts. I learned more about moths than I did the characters and I still have tons of unanswered questions.

[Lildove3]

I'm not use to book clubs..so therfore this is a plain and simple thought from an average person.

I felt the book "The Sister"...should be given a 3.... At times the characters seemed interesting...it was not until the end of the book did the story seemed captavating.  Too much reading about moths ect...Maybe the

title of the book should have been..."The land of the moths"???   I did enjoy the twists and turns in the story,

Which gave me the incentive to read to the end.  Thankyou Poppy Adams for allowing me the privilege to

read your first novel...and Thankyou Barnes and Noble for supplying the book.

[bentley]

The Behavior of Ginny


The Sister by Poppy Adams is a novel with "hidden agendas". 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. 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. 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 me.

3 stars

Message Edited by bentley on 03-20-2008 05:24 PM

[MSaff]

A Fascinating Read

4 Stars

I enjoyed reading "The Sister," and also found myself questioning many parts of the story along the way. I was intrigued and made to think. Cheers to Poppy Adams for writing this wonderful book.

[Mary1234]

I would give this book four stars. It is an interesting look at a family that may at one time have been close, but certainly not in later years. Not only is there disfuntion, but also there is sorrow in the loss of what could have been. I  would recommend reading this book as an insight to how tangled our lives can become, if we let it happen!

[Bonnie824]

3 stars

A fascinating look inside a dysfunctional woman's mind

This book had an interest grabbing beginning, intriguing characters, and a disturbing twisty ending. If I could have missed the middle I might have given it 4 or even 5 stars. It got bogged down in too much scientific moth information and meandered plotless for awhile. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys family drama, interesting peeks inside the minds of those unlike yourself, and is willing to read a lot of details about moths to get to the meat of the story.

Other recommended books- Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern, The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult, When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton.

Message Edited by Bonnie824 on 03-20-2008 07:05 PM