I’m lucky to be in a fantastic relationship
with my sis, but I’ve found that in the pages of books, I’ve learned a thing or
two about deepening our relationship even further. I know, I know — to say
that a book “teaches” us something sounds almost juvenile. I’m not talking
about a moral tied up in a little bow, however, but rather a story and its
language that shines a light into the corner of my own heart, illuminating
something true.
These 12 books do just that. They present many vastly different women in varied circumstances with diverse relationships, but all 12 have something true to say about what it means to be a sister. They don’t preach, but they do explore, question, and reveal the challenges, joys, and heartbreaks that accompany this unique, irreplaceable relationship.
The Hunger
Games by Suzanne Collins
What it
teaches us: Your sister can be your
greatest vulnerability and your greatest strength.
Katniss’ sister Prim is the one person Katniss
would literally lay down her life to protect; time and time again throughout
the series, Prim is invoked by President Snow and even by Katniss’ own tortured
psyche, as Katniss’ weakness, her Achilles heel. But if her love for Prim makes
Katniss vulnerable, it also demands greatness from her — her bravest, her most
determined, and her most compassionate. The
Hunger Games shows how one extraordinary act of ordinary sisterly love
can inspire strength and incite a revolution.
Sense and
Sensibility by Jane Austen
What it teaches us: Sometimes our
sister’s most inexplicable, frustrating qualities are what we need to emulate
the most.
Famously close with her own sister Cassandra,
it’s no surprise that Jane Austen had a deft hand for portraying the
complicated, unique relationships between sisters. Sense
and Sensibility’s Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are two very different
types: Elinor is reserved and reasonable, while Marianne is emotional and
impetuous. As their fortunes and romantic affairs change, the Dashwood sisters
come not only to understand and accept each other’s differences, but to realize
that each of them could stand to emulate a little of the other’s best qualities
from time to time.
Shanghai
Girls by Lisa See
What it
teaches us: When push comes to shove, sisters can overcome
even the most fraught, complicated circumstances.
Between parental expectations and a patriarchal society that constantly pit women against each other, the relationship between sisters can become tainted with jealousy. Smart, educated Pearl and beautiful, flirtatious May compete for attention and affection from their parents and even from the same man. But when crises occur, Pearl and May discover a bond that even they could not have imagine.
Fangirl by Rainbow
Rowell
What it teaches us: Sometimes sisters need a little emotional space
to bring them closer together.
The transition from kid to independent adult can be
messy, complicated, and a little bit heartbreaking, and that’s even more true
when creating your own grown-up identity means figuring out who you are away
from the one person who has always know you best. Ostensibly the story of
fanfic writer Wren, Fangirl also examines the relationship between Kath and her
twin sister Wren as they begin college and their adult lives.
The
Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
What it teaches us: How little we can
know about the people closest to us.
In Margaret Atwood’s Iris and Laura, we see echoes
of Austen’s Dashwood sisters, with their hot-and-cold temperaments: Laura is
dramatic and emotional, while Iris is restrained and reserved. As the story of
Laura’s untimely death unfolds, the heartbreaking truth of her life becomes
clear, and with it a chilling warning of how how little we can know — and how
little we can see — about our own sisters.
Little
Women by Louisa May Alcott
What it
teaches us: No matter what she does or how angry she makes
you, you never really want your sister to go jump into a lake (or, in this
case, fall in a river).
The relationships between all four March girls are
rewarding to a reader with an eye for fictional sisters, but it’s the Jo-Amy
relationship that is the most rewarding. The tension between two young women,
far apart in age, with vastly different personalities but similarly hot tempers
offers the richest drama and character development. After all, one of the most
iconic interludes in the whole novel is a story of this pair: when Amy burns
Jo’s manuscript and then falls into the frozen river after Jo deliberately
neglects to tell her she is literally skating on thin ice. This moment is so
resonant because even the closest pair of sisters recognize that moment of too far, when
anger, spite, or even righteous indignation turn sickeningly to guilt and panic
and inevitably (if you’re lucky), to relief and a renewed appreciation for your
sister.
All
My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
What it
teaches us: Loving your sister can
sometimes mean listening to her even when what she says breaks your heart.
Elfrieda is an acclaimed pianist who is well-off and
happily married, while her sister Yolandi is broke and lonely —
but it’s Elf who desperately wants to die. After Elf makes yet another suicide
attempt, Yoli must figure out how to nurse her sister back to health in time
for Elfie’s next big rectial — or indeed, if she should honor her sister’s wish
to die. This novel is classic Miriam Toews:
alternately funny and dark and sweet and tragic, but always very true.
The
Aguero Sisters by Christina Garcia
What it
teaches us: It’s never
too late to connect (or re-connect) with your sister.
The Augero Sisters offers another take on the “couldn’t
be more different” model of sisterhood: Reina is a formidable, pragmatic former
Cuban revolutionary with a string lovers, and Constacia is a quiet, devoted
Miami wife who believes in miracles and portents at every turn. As alternating
narrative perspectives unravel the source of the sisters’ separation and their
mother’s death, this novel builds to a much-anticipated reunion between two
remarkable women.
His Fair Assassin Trilogy by Robin
LaFevers
What it
teaches us: No matter where your path takes you, with your
sisters, you’re always home.
Ismae, Sybella and Annith are technically half-sisters;
they are all the daughters of Death, raised in a convent and destined for life
as His handmaidens — assassins. Each book follows a different girl as she finds
her way in the world and her own destiny, but through it all, the bond between
these half-sisters provides a strength, support and grounding in each other, no
matter where they are.
The
Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
What it teaches us: Shared stories can
bring even the most different women together.
When her Chinese-born sister Kwan comes to live with her,
American-born Olivia is mortified by Kwan’s poor English, offbeat demeanor, and
claims that she can see the yin or ghost world. However it is precisely Kwan’s
dispatches from the yin world — myths, stories, and history — that help unite
the sisters and allow them to create a shared identity.
Beezus
and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
What it
teaches us: Loving your
sister doesn’t always mean you like her all that much — and that’s OK.
So many books about sisters focus on the complexities
that attend the sisterly bond with the influx of adulthood — independence,
financial woes (or lack therof) romantic attachments, education, careers and
children — but the relationship
between two little girls can be just as rich and complicated. Still fresh after
more than 50 years, Beezus and Ramona looks
at the pressures girls face to get along and love each other. Beezus’ struggles
to live up to the expectations of her super-close mother and aunt, and to love
her wild, destructive little sister Ramona.
We
Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
What it
teaches us: Being
sisters is about so much more than blood.
Rosemary and Fern have all the classic hallmarks of a
sisterly relationship—- a unique, intense connection, a shared language, and a
healthy dose of sibling rivalry. The only thing special about them is that Fern
is a chimp. Fowler’s heartbreaking tale of two sisters who, against all reason,
are more alike than they are different, illuminates truths about family guilt,
old wounds, loyalty, and love. Frankly, it’s one of the most honest, touching
fictional portrayals of sisterhood in recent memory, DNA be damned.
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