Shred Sisters

Betsy Lerner

Novel 2024 | 266 pages

four-hearts

I love the quote that is associated with this book in most reviews and descriptions:  "No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister."  I do not have a sister, but this quote tugs at my heart every time I read it.

I quite enjoyed this book about two sisters, based primarily in New York.  Amy is four years younger than Olivia, and Olivia (Ollie) is mentally ill.  The time frame is the mid-70s to the mid-90's.  Especially when Ollie is younger, we see how our knowledge of mental illness and how to address it was really just at its infancy.  Once Ollie hits puberty, she becomes quite unmanageable ... often doesn't come home for days on end, steals, become promiscuous, ignores the drug regimen her doctors put her on.

Amy, meantime, is stable, smart, and trying to live a normal life with a "crazy" sister whom she loves.  Their parents ... especially their father ... always forgives Ollie her excesses, but miraculously, Amy doesn't seem to be injured by the imbalance.  It is like a child in a family with most any disability ... that child receives more than his or her share of attention.

I really liked both of these characters, Amy and Ollie.  I like where Amy developed and shepherded her career, and the ways in which Ollie avoided anything that smacks of a "profession."  They both were involved with a number of men, which became just a tad confusing at times, but it is difficult for Amy to develop real friendships ... in this way, she HAS been hurt by the instability of her sister and the challenges associated with emotional intimacy.

This is an easy read, though it just might make you think. I recommend it for a winter weekend.  This is Lerner's first novel.

January 2025