'Sisterland' by Curtis Sittenfeld

Sisterland, Curtis Sittenfeld (2)

While I enjoyed the beginning of this book, I was very disappointed at the climax. I felt the author had made the main character do something not credible based on her actions thus far. It was a relatively bad thing and normally I would assume that my affection for the character was driving my feelings of betrayal, but in this case I didn’t particularly like the character. The story is about identical twin sisters who live in St. Louis. They share an ability of ESP or ‘sense’, as they call it. One sister, the free spirit, embraces this and eventually makes it her vocation. The other, the practical voice of the novel, dislikes being different and worked over the years to diminish her capability. I enjoyed the concept of the sisters taking different paths and seeing how their lives were affected by their decisions. The family dynamics described in this book are painful, but rang true. The main plot of the story revolves around a prediction of an earthquake by the bohemian sister and how it affects both women and their families. I think the author tried to save the surprise by not giving hints to the protagonist’s climatic actions, but by not allowing for that possibility, the decision/action was not credible to me as the reader.