Blue Sisters is a moving story about the four March sisters- yes, it was not lost on me that they share the same last name as the sisters from Little Women. They were born and raised in New York City, and are the product of a highly dysfunctional family. When Nicky, the most beloved sister, unexpectedly passes away one day, it sends the other three sisters reeling with grief and loss. As the story unfolds and we learn about the three sisters, it becomes clear that even though they share a deep love for Nicky and experience a common trauma, each of them is highly individualistic, the sisters have distinct personalities, careers, and outlooks. We observe each of them managing their grief privately and in their own unique way. The characters feel alive and the dialogues feel believable. While there is attention to detail in the writing, it was a miss for me, something about it read as if it were a bit too matter-of-fact. It could have been a little less “tell”, and a bit more “show”.
Blue Sisters is my first book from the author, and it left a lasting impression. Mellors presents an unflinching exploration of complex family dynamics, grief, and addiction. I read this as someone who didn’t grow up with sisters but has always wondered what it would be like to have grown up surrounded by women. In that regard, I have a soft spot for Blue Sisters, because much like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, it’s a compassionate and discerning exploration of sisterhood.
Here are some of my highlights.
- “I think you’re the opposite of insufferable, I suffer you gladly.”
- “It was easy to love someone in the beginnings and endings; it was all the time in between that was so hard.”
- “I believe that everything happens”, she said. “Period. Or full stop, as you would say. That’s it. Things happen and we have to learn to live with them, as long as suicide is off the table, that is. If we can find meaning in them, fine, but even if we can’t, we still have to live with them. The meaning is an afterthought, an anesthesia. Happens is the only word in that statement that’s empirical. The rest is whatever helps you sleep at night.”
- “The concert was three hours of heaven, all of them scream-singing the words to every song along with thousands of other girls, lifted together on a tide of riotous, unapologetic joy, the feeling that to be a girl with other girls was not some weakness, as they had been told, but a power, the best and luckiest power on earth.”