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Sister
"When my brother disappeared in 1984, I began to see myself in the third person as if my life were a story being told to someone else."
Abigail Schiller lives a seemingly normal childhood in a rural Catholic commuinity in Wisconsin. But that life is shattered when her younger brother, Sam, vanishes at the age of seventeen, fleeing their father's rigid rules of masculinity and the violence their mother denies. Finally, thirty years old and expecting a child of her own, Abby is determined to retrace her lost sibling's dark descent--embarking upon an emotional journey that will test the strength of her spirit, and contradict everything, she once believed about her family and herself.
A stunning work of rare poignance and unsettling power, A. Manette Ansay's Sister marks the literary maturation of a truly exceptional voice in contemporary American fiction. Deftly spinning triumph out of tragedy, the award-winning author of Vinegar Hill offers us a fresh understanding, of family, memory, faith.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
23 people are currently reading
581 people want to read
About the author
A. Manette Ansay
21Ìýbooks152ÌýfollowersA. Manette Ansay grew up in Wisconsin among 67 cousins and over 200 second cousins. She is the author of six novels, including Good Things I Wish You (July, 2009), Vinegar Hill, an Oprah Book Club Selection, and Midnight Champagne, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as a short story collection, Read This and Tell Me What It Says, and a memoir, Limbo. Her awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, a Pushcart Prize, the Nelson Algren Prize, and two Great Lakes Book Awards. She lives with her daughter in Florida, where she teaches in the MFA program at the University of Miami.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
April 7, 2023
3.5 stars rounded up. I found the writing to be easy to get invested into and the plot with the dysfunctional family. While it was a rather gloomy book it didn't feel to much and I got emotional invested. Altough the end wasn't the way I wanted it was still a good book and I would like to read more by this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2015
I will admit to not getting into Sister as quickly as I did with Vinegar Hill or Midnight Champagne. But around the 5th chapter of so, something happened. The groove of the story began to make an impression on me, and suddenly I found myself savoring the pages that followed. And upon completion of this wonderful novel, A. Manette Ansay has finally and wholly proved herself to me to be an author of incomparable merit and style.
Sister tells the story of 30-year-old Abigail Schiller as she prepares for the birth of her first child. During the course of her pregnancy, Abby reflects upon her childhood and its many facets. Growing up in the Schiller household was not easy. Abby's mother, a rigid Catholic housewife, was always good to her, but tended to turn the other cheek when it came to her father, a strict disciplinarian with chauvinistic views of male and female roles. And then there was Sam, Abby's lovable younger brother whom she protected and adored. Finally, after years of constant torment that dug at him by the picking hands of his father, Sam runs away for good. And over ten years later, Abby realizes, as a mother-to-be, she needs to reconcile her feelings of loss and love for her brother in order for her to move forward in her own life.
Revolving between past and present, Sister's chapters delve into a seemingly normal childhood and its secret, dark undertones, then flash-forwards to a seemingly normal adult life where every movement has some direct correlation to a moment in the past. A beautiful and powerful novel with action told in whispers that quietly unfolds as the pages are turned. Not a novel of great activity and one that may be hard to get into at first, but certainly after novel's end, readers will be left with a feeling of awe and satisfaction. Tremendously readable. Ansay will remain on my bookshelf for life.
Sister tells the story of 30-year-old Abigail Schiller as she prepares for the birth of her first child. During the course of her pregnancy, Abby reflects upon her childhood and its many facets. Growing up in the Schiller household was not easy. Abby's mother, a rigid Catholic housewife, was always good to her, but tended to turn the other cheek when it came to her father, a strict disciplinarian with chauvinistic views of male and female roles. And then there was Sam, Abby's lovable younger brother whom she protected and adored. Finally, after years of constant torment that dug at him by the picking hands of his father, Sam runs away for good. And over ten years later, Abby realizes, as a mother-to-be, she needs to reconcile her feelings of loss and love for her brother in order for her to move forward in her own life.
Revolving between past and present, Sister's chapters delve into a seemingly normal childhood and its secret, dark undertones, then flash-forwards to a seemingly normal adult life where every movement has some direct correlation to a moment in the past. A beautiful and powerful novel with action told in whispers that quietly unfolds as the pages are turned. Not a novel of great activity and one that may be hard to get into at first, but certainly after novel's end, readers will be left with a feeling of awe and satisfaction. Tremendously readable. Ansay will remain on my bookshelf for life.
June 7, 2015
Another deep and engrossing read from A. Manette Ansay.
What a real privilege to again read another excellent work by author A. Manette Ansay. I was first introduced to her writing with Vinegar Hill, whose extremely, vivid and realistic characters were so shocking and emotionally wounded one can not help but turn page after page hoping for healing or restitution of some kind. I knew having read that book that I would continue to seek out and read more of her work. Sister is an absolute page turner. I've been in a bit of a reading slump but this book knocked me right back on track. I hungry digested this book in a record two days. Or maybe technically one if I count the hours. When I say I couldn't put this down. I really mean it. Aside from food and sleep, this book was attached to my hands, eyes glued to pages, chest wide open heart hovering in the air. Like fellow author Jodi Picoult, A. Manette Ansay has this way of bringing the reader right inside the lives of her characters and making them so living and breathing that you find yourself so emotionally attached. One would be hard pressed to attempt to convince any of her readers that any of this is fictional. In these moments, locked hypnotically between the words of these pages this is real. Somewhere, in some place, at some time this did or is happening and the names are just changed to protect the innocent. That's ok, Ms. Ansay, your loyal readers won't tell a soul. We'll protect the innocent because that is exactly whom you are writing about. The brutality human. The raw human spirit. The injured and persevering. The wounded and walking. Your neighbors. My neighbors. The children on the milk cartons and Amber Alerts and the people who cry and hurt and held up by the ragged over polished wood of church pews begging God and blindly clutching faith for miracles. My tears wet the pages of one book. Now they have dampened the pages of another and with this I know that we are both real. Her for telling her stories and me..because for 228 pages I opened myself up to vulnerability that this type of story demands. I don't know how she does it but this is a book that will stay with me for some time.
Faith and religious fervor. I like to believe that everyone should have some religious fundamental belief that grounds them. A belief in a higher power gives the world and order life an ultimate purpose. Faith is something to hold on to and gives us hope. The essence of a religious beliefs is positive but some get caught up in the doctrine or their own distorted interpretation of the faith and make a complete mess of a good thing.
The Schillers are Catholic. They live on a large piece of land on the outskirts of a very Catholic small town in Wisconsin. You go to Mass. You revere the church. You get married. You don't get divorced. Wife quietly obey your husband as your master no matter what. Stay home take care of the home and the children. Husband you are obliged to provide for your family and besides that, act how ever the heck you want. Men are hard men. They do man things. Women are soft women. They do what men tell them and do women things. So says the Bible and the church, right? This is at least this town's interpretation.
Gordon Schiller believes he is the ultimate father. The church supports him as husband and father that whatever he says and does must be for the best. But Gordon Schiller is a brute, a bully and a puffed up insecure fool. His wife makes excuses for him as she tries to be a good Catholic wife and mother to her children Abigail and Sam. Abigail and Sam are one year apart in age. When they are little they are inseparable as twins. As two siblings so close in age living on a country farm it was completely logical for them to play together as eachothers best mate. There were no other children their age living on the adjoining farms. But their father found a boy child and a girl child so attached to eachother unnatural. Gordon, the insecure bully felt it his duty to separate the men from the girls. He did everything he could. He was harsh, rough, bawdy and down right inappropriate to both of them. This story is about what happens when people take their own past experiences, misgivings, inadequacies, griefs, insecurities, fears and push them off onto their children and use adherence to religion as an excuse for it.
This is also the sad story of children who want to be loved and accepted but how can a parent give this if they don't embrace this for themselves. There are the saved ones. There are the lost ones. So is life. Life itself is harsh, no one should have to be given these lessons at home. This is an emotionally involved story. I embraced the characters. I was so angry at some and felt so sorry and sad for others. And yes I did shed a few tears.
I give this 5 stars. I recommend this to readers of this authors other books and those who are looking for something that will grab you and make you feel. Even after you close the last page, you'll still be recapping. Of course I will read other books by this author.
What a real privilege to again read another excellent work by author A. Manette Ansay. I was first introduced to her writing with Vinegar Hill, whose extremely, vivid and realistic characters were so shocking and emotionally wounded one can not help but turn page after page hoping for healing or restitution of some kind. I knew having read that book that I would continue to seek out and read more of her work. Sister is an absolute page turner. I've been in a bit of a reading slump but this book knocked me right back on track. I hungry digested this book in a record two days. Or maybe technically one if I count the hours. When I say I couldn't put this down. I really mean it. Aside from food and sleep, this book was attached to my hands, eyes glued to pages, chest wide open heart hovering in the air. Like fellow author Jodi Picoult, A. Manette Ansay has this way of bringing the reader right inside the lives of her characters and making them so living and breathing that you find yourself so emotionally attached. One would be hard pressed to attempt to convince any of her readers that any of this is fictional. In these moments, locked hypnotically between the words of these pages this is real. Somewhere, in some place, at some time this did or is happening and the names are just changed to protect the innocent. That's ok, Ms. Ansay, your loyal readers won't tell a soul. We'll protect the innocent because that is exactly whom you are writing about. The brutality human. The raw human spirit. The injured and persevering. The wounded and walking. Your neighbors. My neighbors. The children on the milk cartons and Amber Alerts and the people who cry and hurt and held up by the ragged over polished wood of church pews begging God and blindly clutching faith for miracles. My tears wet the pages of one book. Now they have dampened the pages of another and with this I know that we are both real. Her for telling her stories and me..because for 228 pages I opened myself up to vulnerability that this type of story demands. I don't know how she does it but this is a book that will stay with me for some time.
Faith and religious fervor. I like to believe that everyone should have some religious fundamental belief that grounds them. A belief in a higher power gives the world and order life an ultimate purpose. Faith is something to hold on to and gives us hope. The essence of a religious beliefs is positive but some get caught up in the doctrine or their own distorted interpretation of the faith and make a complete mess of a good thing.
The Schillers are Catholic. They live on a large piece of land on the outskirts of a very Catholic small town in Wisconsin. You go to Mass. You revere the church. You get married. You don't get divorced. Wife quietly obey your husband as your master no matter what. Stay home take care of the home and the children. Husband you are obliged to provide for your family and besides that, act how ever the heck you want. Men are hard men. They do man things. Women are soft women. They do what men tell them and do women things. So says the Bible and the church, right? This is at least this town's interpretation.
Gordon Schiller believes he is the ultimate father. The church supports him as husband and father that whatever he says and does must be for the best. But Gordon Schiller is a brute, a bully and a puffed up insecure fool. His wife makes excuses for him as she tries to be a good Catholic wife and mother to her children Abigail and Sam. Abigail and Sam are one year apart in age. When they are little they are inseparable as twins. As two siblings so close in age living on a country farm it was completely logical for them to play together as eachothers best mate. There were no other children their age living on the adjoining farms. But their father found a boy child and a girl child so attached to eachother unnatural. Gordon, the insecure bully felt it his duty to separate the men from the girls. He did everything he could. He was harsh, rough, bawdy and down right inappropriate to both of them. This story is about what happens when people take their own past experiences, misgivings, inadequacies, griefs, insecurities, fears and push them off onto their children and use adherence to religion as an excuse for it.
This is also the sad story of children who want to be loved and accepted but how can a parent give this if they don't embrace this for themselves. There are the saved ones. There are the lost ones. So is life. Life itself is harsh, no one should have to be given these lessons at home. This is an emotionally involved story. I embraced the characters. I was so angry at some and felt so sorry and sad for others. And yes I did shed a few tears.
I give this 5 stars. I recommend this to readers of this authors other books and those who are looking for something that will grab you and make you feel. Even after you close the last page, you'll still be recapping. Of course I will read other books by this author.
November 29, 2009
I recommended this book to my mom, who has one of the most crystalline and ruthless literary-bullshit-detectors I have ever seen, although, to be fair, you see very few bullshit detectors as an English major. I really just can't think or say enough about Ansay - a book like this makes me happy I learned to read, the way a film like Precious makes me happy that movies exist, because I leave each more aware of the infinite complexity of other people's lives. I feel like being aware of this -- of actually internalizing that "it's complicated" tagline as it applies to the bitch in the Greyhound terminal, the needy employee, the whining child at the Met -- makes life closer to what it was intended to be.
Sister is ostensibly abouth the protagonist, Abigail, in relation to her missing brother. What Ansay does so well here, though, is to communicate how, by turns, it's really about Abby and her faith, Abby and her God, her grandmother, her father, her husband, her mother. How the sum of a person arises somewhere near these relationships and interactions, but not in any of them. So I can read Sister and want to read it again, because there is so much that is incidental in the words and (I am sure, as I finish the book) essential in real life. But I also am sure that the story I experienced is only somewhere near the book I just read. Everything significant indicates another, more significant thing, and those are the things I think about when the book is over.
Additionally, of course, the details of the book are so vivid -- the Catholic masses, the afternoons after church, the suffocating potluck functions and insufferable technical family members and the weirdly subversive conversations with cousins in church basements. She writes these things so clearly that a reader is simultaneously off-out and nostalgic. As in, I don't want to go back there, but I am more than comforted -- I am, in fact, somehow triumphant -- because it is as clear in her recollections as in mine. I feel more human, having read this. So much so, in fact, that I made a special trip to the library to pick up two more of Ansay's books, River Angel and Vinegar Hill.
Sister is ostensibly abouth the protagonist, Abigail, in relation to her missing brother. What Ansay does so well here, though, is to communicate how, by turns, it's really about Abby and her faith, Abby and her God, her grandmother, her father, her husband, her mother. How the sum of a person arises somewhere near these relationships and interactions, but not in any of them. So I can read Sister and want to read it again, because there is so much that is incidental in the words and (I am sure, as I finish the book) essential in real life. But I also am sure that the story I experienced is only somewhere near the book I just read. Everything significant indicates another, more significant thing, and those are the things I think about when the book is over.
Additionally, of course, the details of the book are so vivid -- the Catholic masses, the afternoons after church, the suffocating potluck functions and insufferable technical family members and the weirdly subversive conversations with cousins in church basements. She writes these things so clearly that a reader is simultaneously off-out and nostalgic. As in, I don't want to go back there, but I am more than comforted -- I am, in fact, somehow triumphant -- because it is as clear in her recollections as in mine. I feel more human, having read this. So much so, in fact, that I made a special trip to the library to pick up two more of Ansay's books, River Angel and Vinegar Hill.
August 29, 2015
Ansay is one of my favorite authors so when I saw this title, I bought it. Yes, some would say the plots of her novels are depressing, but to me, they are simply real. She writes about real life written in spectacular prose. Is her writing style for everyone? Absolutely not. It's a brutally honest style that I personally can relate to.
She's not an author that you can read back-to-back and expect to be in a jolly-good mood. You do have to take some time off in-between reads, but i am looking forward to reading more of her in the future.
She's not an author that you can read back-to-back and expect to be in a jolly-good mood. You do have to take some time off in-between reads, but i am looking forward to reading more of her in the future.
April 24, 2007
A woman is influenced by the disappearance of her brother when she was younger. A sad story that asks you to reflect on how much your family influences who you are. Religion too.
January 11, 2012
I am struggling to finish this disturbing, heart-breaking (please let it be) fiction. ....and I know it's not purely fiction, I know kids are growing up in the kind of households the author describes but, damn, story is very hard on the heart and mind.
~~~~~ Finished. Four stars because at least twice the writing was stunning but damn! that was a hard story to swallow.
~~~~~ Finished. Four stars because at least twice the writing was stunning but damn! that was a hard story to swallow.
December 29, 2015
I liked the writing, which is good because I bought two or three books by the same author without having read anything by her. It didn't have a neat nor a happy ending, but it was realistic. Other reviews mention how depressing the story is, but the plot was clearly described on the back so I chose too read it when I was prepared for sad.
September 17, 2019
This is a story about a rural family living in s close Catholic community. The family was very traditional with a stay at home mom and a somewhat distant and very rigid father who ran the family.
His discipline was fairly brutal and the full force of his ideas of manliness were foisted on his resistant son. Sam was rebellious, often left home, although always returning. One time however, he did not return. He had been involved in some house break-ins and possibly some other crimes, but there was no sign of him and eventually the case became cold. The father blamed Sam's problems on the fact that his wife chose to work outside the home, which gave her some personal satisfaction if not a lot of money. Meanwhile she was in denial about the distant and really terrible relationship Sam had with his father and the effects of the the physical punishments he meted out.
Years pass and the family basically disintegrates. The parents are divorced and the father leaves to live in a trailer park in Florida. Abby gets married and has moved to New York. When she returns for her grandmother's funeral, she has become determined to find out what happened to her brother, with whom she shared many childhood memories.
I won't say more as it would give away the main mystery of the book.
I found it to be well written and painful in the sense that so many families are so fractured by rigidity, inappropriate discipline and a lack of communication, that children fail to thrive and parents are unable to connect with each other over mutual blame.
I recommend this book!
His discipline was fairly brutal and the full force of his ideas of manliness were foisted on his resistant son. Sam was rebellious, often left home, although always returning. One time however, he did not return. He had been involved in some house break-ins and possibly some other crimes, but there was no sign of him and eventually the case became cold. The father blamed Sam's problems on the fact that his wife chose to work outside the home, which gave her some personal satisfaction if not a lot of money. Meanwhile she was in denial about the distant and really terrible relationship Sam had with his father and the effects of the the physical punishments he meted out.
Years pass and the family basically disintegrates. The parents are divorced and the father leaves to live in a trailer park in Florida. Abby gets married and has moved to New York. When she returns for her grandmother's funeral, she has become determined to find out what happened to her brother, with whom she shared many childhood memories.
I won't say more as it would give away the main mystery of the book.
I found it to be well written and painful in the sense that so many families are so fractured by rigidity, inappropriate discipline and a lack of communication, that children fail to thrive and parents are unable to connect with each other over mutual blame.
I recommend this book!
June 22, 2016
I’ve had this book on my TBR shelves forever. During the heyday of Oprah’s Book Club, I read and loved Ansay’s Vinegar Hill (about which I remember nothing), so I grabbed this one at a used book store years ago hoping to one day pick it up. I think this is the kind of novel I have to be in a particular mood for: quiet family drama where there is a big thing in the background, but generally speaking not much happens. The best thing I can say about this novel is that the writing was good and I halfheartedly cared about the characters. Is that bad? It was just okay.
One thing that bothered me immensely about the book is that Abigail’s father is extremely abusive and that abuse is never discussed or dealt with in any real way. As this is the second book in a row I’ve read with a similar abusive family situation that is not addressed, it particularly bothered me. He’s verbally, emotionally, sexually and mildly physically abusive. It was all kinds of terrible, and yet Abigail never once addresses it with either of her parents. It was difficult to read about, especially because it was clear that Abigail and Sam were truly damaged by the abuse they suffered and unable to voice their anger about it.
The ending was generally what I was expecting, so it wasn’t disappointing exactly, just not shocking at all. It was � boring? I guess is the best way to put it.
I was hoping for more from Sister. I certainly didn’t hate the novel but it was just okay.
One thing that bothered me immensely about the book is that Abigail’s father is extremely abusive and that abuse is never discussed or dealt with in any real way. As this is the second book in a row I’ve read with a similar abusive family situation that is not addressed, it particularly bothered me. He’s verbally, emotionally, sexually and mildly physically abusive. It was all kinds of terrible, and yet Abigail never once addresses it with either of her parents. It was difficult to read about, especially because it was clear that Abigail and Sam were truly damaged by the abuse they suffered and unable to voice their anger about it.
The ending was generally what I was expecting, so it wasn’t disappointing exactly, just not shocking at all. It was � boring? I guess is the best way to put it.
I was hoping for more from Sister. I certainly didn’t hate the novel but it was just okay.
September 11, 2014
This was an incredibly frustrating read for me. It started off with a lot of promise and for the first few chapters, it had me. But then...
Isn't it terrible when you can't put your finger on why something didn't work for you? I think for me it was because the summary of this book talked about a girl, all grown up, going back home to find her lost brother. And the book itself was...not about that at all. It meticulously goes over her childhood, hops, skips, and jumps around about a year of her actual adulthood, and seems to wander aimlessly between the time for a large portion of the book. Instead of being about a girl trying to find her brother, the author tried to make backhanded, not so subtle commentary on religion, feminism, the patriarchy, etc etc. It seems like she had about eighty real life topics she wanted to cover and decided to throw in the little bits of fiction as a guise for them.
I don't feel like we ever got answers in any meaningful way. The characterization of a handful of the characters changes overnight with no reasoning. I guess the author tried? But fell way short of any mark for me.
Isn't it terrible when you can't put your finger on why something didn't work for you? I think for me it was because the summary of this book talked about a girl, all grown up, going back home to find her lost brother. And the book itself was...not about that at all. It meticulously goes over her childhood, hops, skips, and jumps around about a year of her actual adulthood, and seems to wander aimlessly between the time for a large portion of the book. Instead of being about a girl trying to find her brother, the author tried to make backhanded, not so subtle commentary on religion, feminism, the patriarchy, etc etc. It seems like she had about eighty real life topics she wanted to cover and decided to throw in the little bits of fiction as a guise for them.
I don't feel like we ever got answers in any meaningful way. The characterization of a handful of the characters changes overnight with no reasoning. I guess the author tried? But fell way short of any mark for me.
October 13, 2016
You know you've been reading tragic tales when a novel about a dysfunctional family seems like a light read. This wasn't a light read, but it was a simpler read than recent books. I found myself quickly hooked by this story about a young woman, Abby, who struggles to recover from the disappearance of her 17-year old brother, Sam. As Abby returns to memories of her childhood, it doesn't take long for the reader to view her world from the frightened perspective of a little girl terrorized by an abusive father. As she gets older, Abby witnesses the systemic violence inflicted on her beloved younger brother by their father but she is powerless to protect him. Abby is an authentic voice - her story seems so very real. The story uncurls slowly as Abby recounts happy moments with her brother that are gradually overtaken by her dad's power over the family. I enjoyed the relationship of Abby and her mother. The story flowed well... this was a good, thoughtful read.
November 29, 2019
I've had this book on my shelf for awhile and finally selected it to read with the idea that if I didn't like it I would give it away and clear the shelf; it was so masterfully written I read it in two days. The author fluidly moved between past and current events, writing so evocatively I could feel myself in the settings she described: a grandmother's farmhouse and cooking; the smell of a musty linen drawer; the bleakness of a winter field. And underneath it all was the tension of the familial dysfunction and the mysterious disappearance of the son and brother. It was not a fast-paced book yet I could not put it down.
August 13, 2009
A number of years ago, I read a lovely book, called River Angel, by A. Manette Ansay. I had never heard of this author, had just chosen the book at random from the library. I picked up this one, Sister, because it was by the same author. However, I found it boring & essentially just skimmed the last half of the book. Disappointing.
February 8, 2014
As usual, A. Manette Ansay did not disappoint. This was another great book, even though it was very sad. She has such an incredible gift of words. I've read some of her other books and have loved them all.
January 21, 2012
very thought provoking........
November 30, 2014
Disturbing, engrossing, riveting -- like all of her books, I simply devoured it!
April 24, 2016
A haunting, beautiful, raw story of a family in pain. We meet the Schillers in the present, years after Sam, the youngest child and Abby's only sibling, disappears without a trace. Each in their own way, they show that they are unable to reconcile the traumatic loss, despite understanding their own roles in Sam's feeling isolated and unknown. Dipping back into the future, Ansay paints a picture of Sam's severe emotional abuse at the hands of his father, and of Abby's and their mother's helplessness to intervene. Woven throughout this heart-wrenching story is the theme of faith, each character questioning how to react in line with their devout Catholicism. Divorce is out of the question, and old-fashioned ways rule the family's interactions, influencing how they face conflict and confrontation. As Sam grows, he begins to fight back in increasingly damaging ways until he finally disappears, leaving everyone to question their actions and inaction. This is a sad story but beautifully written with important messages.
December 28, 2016
A musically gifted daughter is destined for college and a life beyond small-town Wisconsin until she becomes catatonic and is sent to live with her grandmother. There, she waits for a sign to indicate she is called to religious life like her cousin. No sign appears. She developed a significant fear of men based on the vulgar stories told to her by her father about men who "violate" women. The same father is abusive to Abbys' brother Sam, for the sake of not allwing him to become a "sissy". Sam disappears, after falling in with a rough gang of guys. The family keeps a vigil for him for years. The parents finally divorce and the dad moves to Florida where he becomes paranoid and displays signs of dementia....while neighbors watch his decline. Mom becomes more engaged in her Catholicism and her guilt over too many things. Abby drops out of college and meets a fine man, marries and they are expecting their first child when Sam's remains are found in an abandoned well. Sam is finally laid to rest but the parents still have not come to grips with who he really was ....
January 21, 2017
I think if I had noticed it says "(Mysteries & Horror)" after the title, I would not have chosen this book. I'm glad I didn't see that.
Part of the appeal of this book was that its protagonist grew up Catholic and in the midwest at the same time I did. She and her family took their faith much more seriously than I ever did but it was nice to see how the reliance on Catholicism changed over the years. For some of the characters, it deepened and for some it fell off. I found that very realistic. More than a story of faith, though, this is a story of family. Of the demands a father puts on his sons, his daughters and his wife. Of the rebellions small and large that come out of these demands.
Abby spends most of her adult life having had her brother missing. The way each family member (mother, father and extended family) cope with the missing Sam is woven through the story of Abby making her way in life. The story told is realistic, well-paced and moving.
Part of the appeal of this book was that its protagonist grew up Catholic and in the midwest at the same time I did. She and her family took their faith much more seriously than I ever did but it was nice to see how the reliance on Catholicism changed over the years. For some of the characters, it deepened and for some it fell off. I found that very realistic. More than a story of faith, though, this is a story of family. Of the demands a father puts on his sons, his daughters and his wife. Of the rebellions small and large that come out of these demands.
Abby spends most of her adult life having had her brother missing. The way each family member (mother, father and extended family) cope with the missing Sam is woven through the story of Abby making her way in life. The story told is realistic, well-paced and moving.
January 3, 2015
The story is set in a small rural community in Wisconsin. August 5th 1984 Abby's younger brother Sam disappears. Abby's mother works for a small advertising company and sends press releases of Sams disappearance to all other papers. Next came a series of break-ins. Suddenly the police arrive and are eager to find Sam but the police don't suggest that Sam had become a suspect. Abby's mother went through Sam's bedroom collecting rolling papers, loose joints and traces of white powder taking them to a field and buried them. This may sound the perfect story but I can positively say that I did find the whole story rather lacked the quality to shine.
September 22, 2019
Abigail Schiller grows up in a dysfunctional family in the 1970's in Wisconsin farmland. She loves her little brother Sam who disappears when he is 17 after becoming involved with the wrong crowd. Her dad is a car salesman who is overbearing with his children and wife. Her mom gets a job to get away from home life. Sister is about the emotions of Abby who grows up with a strong Catholic faith and her struggle dealing with family life and the loss of her brother.
December 14, 2008
A touching book, and disturbing- in a good way- because there is no concrete resolution. Very lifelike.
More important, the author's characterization is just superb. I loved getting into her protagonist's head, and the problems she faced (and how she faced them) seemed heartwrenching, yet realistic, too, and not over the top. Kudos.
More important, the author's characterization is just superb. I loved getting into her protagonist's head, and the problems she faced (and how she faced them) seemed heartwrenching, yet realistic, too, and not over the top. Kudos.
July 2, 2011
A pretty quick read, but a very good portrait of a mid-western Catholic family and how growing up with strictly enforced stereotypes and a strongly religious background affect a brother and sister. The brother disappears as a teenager, and the sister is left to deal with the guilt of wondering what happened to him and how their parents influenced each of them in different ways.
April 28, 2017
It has been a long time since I real Vinegar Hill, but Ansay's voice had always stuck with me. I devoured Sister in a few days, forcing myself to put it down to sleep. Abby is a beautifully drawn out character who tells her story with a deft eye and whose view the reader can trust. An absolute, heart rending delight.
August 14, 2010
I really like Ansay's writings, especially Sister and Midnight Champagne. Her writing is straight forward, but not too simplistic. It keeps your attention. It is a fairly easy read, but when you are finished, you realize you just read a really great book.
January 11, 2017
I haven't read anything by her before, but I will now. As a reader I wanted to reach into that book and strangle that A-hole of a father by Chapter 2! Mansay has a way with broken characters. Her writing is reminiscent of Gillian Flynn with an extra dose of redemption.
September 10, 2007
A quiet and sad book, but ultimately hopeful. Family dysfunction seems to be a theme in Ansay's novels.
February 1, 2008
I really loved this book - beautiful writing, and a story that really made you care about the characters.
September 4, 2009
Still my favorite of all her books. Could not put it down.
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