Shred Sisters
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister.
"I love this book. It moves like a souped-up pickup truck." - Patti Smith, author of Just Kids and M Train
From Betsy Lerner, celebrated author of The Bridge Ladies, comes a wry and riveting debut novel about family, mental illness, and a hard-won path between two sisters
It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds. Olivia is the sister in the spotlight until her stunning confidence becomes erratic and unpredictable, a hurricane leaving people wrecked in her wake. Younger sister Amy, cautious and studious to the core, believes in facts, proof, and the empirical world. None of that explains what's happening to Ollie, whose physical beauty and charisma mask the mental illness that will shatter Amy's carefully constructed life.
As Amy comes of age and seeks to find her place--first in academics, then New York publishing, and through a series of troubled relationships--every step brings collisions with Ollie, who slips in and out of the Shred family without warning. Yet for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Ollie cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them.
Spanning two decades, Shred Sisters is an intimate and bittersweet story exploring the fierce complexities of sisterhood, mental health, loss and love. If anything is true it's what Amy learns on her road to self-acceptance: No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister.
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Community Reviews
* I wish I could give this a 4.5!
What’s it about?
Amy Shred is both in awe and overshadowed by her older sister, Ollie. But the whole family must deal with the fallout when Ollie’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic.
What did it make me think about?
The effects mental illness has on a family.
Should I read it?
Anyone with a sister knows this is a very important, sometimes complicated, relationship. “My first tormentor, she was ingenious in keeping her tactics beneath my parents’ radar.” Any girl would be altered by having a sister like Ollie. This novel was such a good reminder of how little we knew about mental illness when I was growing up and how much we still have to learn. Betsy Lerner does a masterful job of creating a family that is doing its best and still often falls short. I liked these characters- they were imperfect and struggling but felt like real people. In general, I just liked this book! It tackles a tough subject with humor, kindness, and empathy.
Quote-
“If you were looking for fun, danger, or magic, if you needed to blow up your marriage, your job, or your life, Ollie could help you out. You could call it a pattern, though it was more of an algorithm: Ollie would steal something, smash something, cause a disturbance. She would get caught, cause a scene, crash.
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