The Almost Sisters
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Average rating4.2
"With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of gods in Alabama pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality--the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are. Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs' weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She's having a baby boy--an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old's life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel's marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she's been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood. Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother's affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she's pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she's got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie's been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family's freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows"--
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I loved this book. The characters are developed in a way that make you want to know more and the story is told in a way that had me gasping at one point and laughing more than once. Beyond the story there is a point that is made so well about race and privilege and the South. Great book.
This is my first Joshilyn Jackson book, which was recommended by Modern Mrs. Darcy's Anne Bogel. The novel THE ALMOST SISTERS has many moving parts, but they all fit together very nicely, and you can follow the story easily enough. It was the audible version read by Ms. Jackson and I absolutely fell in love with her accent by the end of the book.
There are some good twists, turns and secrets revealed. Some parts were easy to figure out and a bit predictable, but the characters—especially Leia, are well drawn and they kept me entertained and engaged until the end. There are funny moments in the book that I genuinely chuckled out loud at parts. I loved that Leia is a nerd and imperfect, I love that her perfect sister isn't as perfect as she appears, and her grandmother and Wattie could easily have stolen the book if Leia and Rachel weren't rendered so realistically.
The author portrays race and social class relationships in the south, both past and present, though I found Leia's nativity about racism still existing a bit of a character flaw, especially at the age of 38. Endings are always the big issue with me, but I liked how it ended. While neatly tied up, it was not unrealistic and more importantly it wasn't rushed. I only gave it 4 stars because while I really enjoyed it, it did not leave me totally wanting more and regretting that it was ending.
”The South I'd been born into was all sweet tea and decency and Jesus, and it was a real, true place. I had grown up inside it, because my family lived there.”
”The second South was always present, though, and in it decency was a thin, green cover over the rancid soil of our dark history. They were both always present, both truly present in every square inch.”
At first, I thought this might be a girly beach read, but found that this novel goes far deeper than that. The story made me have a difficult time putting the book down, and the quality of Jackson's writing had me loving every bit of it. I loved her characters – they were well developed and spot on.
The themes of family and race are really well done. I think Jackson did an amazing job of capturing the spectrum of family relationships that we all have in our lives, and the book made me think about my own relationships.
I recommend The Almost Sisters to anyone who enjoys great fiction that explores family relationships and race, and how those themes shape who we are as sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, husbands, wives – all kinds of family. Even the hidden kinds.
For my full review, visit http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2017/07/review-almost-sisters/
