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Blue Sisters
Win a free print copy of this book!
1 day and 03:28:58
50 copies available
U.S. only
Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister's death in this unforgettable story of grief, identity, and the complexities of family.
The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.
But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize the greatest secrets they've been keeping might not have been from each other, but from themselves.
The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.
But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize the greatest secrets they've been keeping might not have been from each other, but from themselves.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2024
About the author
Coco Mellors
3 books3,677 followersCoco Mellors is a writer from London and New York. She received her MFA in Fiction from New York University, where she was a Goldwater fellow. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband. Cleopatra and Frankenstein is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,573 reviews
June 17, 2024
I knew this was going to be a 5 star read from the very first paragraph and it somehow just got better and better
Gorgeous writing with meticulous attention to detail; characters so real they walk off the page; dialogue so believable you forget there’s a page between you and the characters talking
Coco Mellors you’ve done it again……. but somehow even better!!!
Gorgeous writing with meticulous attention to detail; characters so real they walk off the page; dialogue so believable you forget there’s a page between you and the characters talking
Coco Mellors you’ve done it again……. but somehow even better!!!
September 5, 2024
some of the best things in the world:
- sisters
- books with pretty covers
- most anticipated books living up to your expectations.
(review to come)
------------------------
tbr review
well. one of my most anticipated books of the year, from the author of one of the most exciting debuts in recent years, is about my favorite topic (sisters) has the prettiest cover i’ve ever seen in my life (look at it) and is now in my possession.
i’m not sure what happens now but it might be spontaneous combustion.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by emma (@emmareadstoomuch)
(thank you to the publisher for the arc!)
- sisters
- books with pretty covers
- most anticipated books living up to your expectations.
(review to come)
------------------------
tbr review
well. one of my most anticipated books of the year, from the author of one of the most exciting debuts in recent years, is about my favorite topic (sisters) has the prettiest cover i’ve ever seen in my life (look at it) and is now in my possession.
i’m not sure what happens now but it might be spontaneous combustion.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by emma (@emmareadstoomuch)
(thank you to the publisher for the arc!)
July 9, 2024
i love coco mellors. she has saved my ass from a somewhat embarassing, definitely a sign of me being utterly jobless at the end of this semester, sticker burning session. yes. i wanted to burn stickers. nay, i needed to. after a month of reading nothing except a few travel logs from 1987 telling me to “explore the soviet union”, i was stuck in a rut and had a longing to burn little stickers with my least favorite book characters on them. i even have one on my nightstand with xaden something-or-other’s face on it.
but with a hallelujah (say it. say the hallelujah.), mellors so wonderfully gifted me with an arc of blue sisters! and i really cannot recommend it more. if you love sisterhood, if you love lgbtqia+ representation (who doesn’t), and if you love bonnie blue– you don’t yet but you will! read blue sisters when it releases in september.
avery - the oldest, most tragically perfect sister. avery of course is the poster girl for older sibling trauma, essentially having to parent her younger sisters. now, all grown up, avery is a mask with tears streaming down her face that only she must wipe herself. her environment is mature, but is she? the answer lies in what avery chooses to do with her life. she grapples with readiness for children with her wife, who so desperately is trying to convince her that she does want this, and loyalty to what matters most. that, she does not know yet. i could delve into the psychology of this particular relationship, but i won’t because i’d go on for hours! her path is a path of self-discovery in her 30s, and we soon find out whether avery needs to hurt people in order to find her way.
bonnie - bonnie is tough. she is brave. she is strong, inside and out. i found bonnie to truly have a heart of gold. her other sisters rely on her so very much and i think that we really do have to commend her for taking on the burden of so many other people while still trying to stay afloat. that’s why she’s my favorite character <3
she must deal with her feelings for her coach of 15 years in the boxing ring as well, so…read it to find out? i can’t say more but if you’re still not convinced. read blue sisters for bonnie.
lucky - lucky is dying inside. and her part of this book makes you feel like you are too. she struggles with overdosing and sharpening the hazy boundaries of her relationships, whether that’s with her sisters or with her flings. she stumbles through life without bothering to look for the light, and because of this, has a jumbled up mess in her heart from so much abuse during her time on earth.
nicky - all of the blue sisters handle nicky’s death and try to come to terms with it in coco mellors’ second novel. nicky may not have been the so-called best in anything, or really had stood out against her sisters before her untimely demise, but she was theirs. and she isn’t anymore.
there is SO much going on in blue sisters, which meant that i had to often take a breather or like stare at a blank wall to understand what i just read. that might be a problem for other people, but i love books that are overwhelming in the best way! similar to a cup of coffee that overflows but it’s so good that you might want to drink the rest that’s on the table. DON’T MAKE ME FEEL EMBARASSED, okay? just imagine that it's super clean and very hygienic and i swear to fucking god if you make me feel bad about that terrible analogy i will find you. but, moving on, my point is that all the flaws in blue sisters are really just dressed up positive traits. at least for me.
to finish off this absurdly long review, dear reader, dear lovebug, do pick up this book when you see it in a bookstore or library this fall. you won’t regret it. but if you do, like please just don’t tell me because coco mellors does have my entire heart and we are getting engaged tomorrow. she just doesn’t know it. so.
but with a hallelujah (say it. say the hallelujah.), mellors so wonderfully gifted me with an arc of blue sisters! and i really cannot recommend it more. if you love sisterhood, if you love lgbtqia+ representation (who doesn’t), and if you love bonnie blue– you don’t yet but you will! read blue sisters when it releases in september.
avery - the oldest, most tragically perfect sister. avery of course is the poster girl for older sibling trauma, essentially having to parent her younger sisters. now, all grown up, avery is a mask with tears streaming down her face that only she must wipe herself. her environment is mature, but is she? the answer lies in what avery chooses to do with her life. she grapples with readiness for children with her wife, who so desperately is trying to convince her that she does want this, and loyalty to what matters most. that, she does not know yet. i could delve into the psychology of this particular relationship, but i won’t because i’d go on for hours! her path is a path of self-discovery in her 30s, and we soon find out whether avery needs to hurt people in order to find her way.
bonnie - bonnie is tough. she is brave. she is strong, inside and out. i found bonnie to truly have a heart of gold. her other sisters rely on her so very much and i think that we really do have to commend her for taking on the burden of so many other people while still trying to stay afloat. that’s why she’s my favorite character <3
she must deal with her feelings for her coach of 15 years in the boxing ring as well, so…read it to find out? i can’t say more but if you’re still not convinced. read blue sisters for bonnie.
lucky - lucky is dying inside. and her part of this book makes you feel like you are too. she struggles with overdosing and sharpening the hazy boundaries of her relationships, whether that’s with her sisters or with her flings. she stumbles through life without bothering to look for the light, and because of this, has a jumbled up mess in her heart from so much abuse during her time on earth.
nicky - all of the blue sisters handle nicky’s death and try to come to terms with it in coco mellors’ second novel. nicky may not have been the so-called best in anything, or really had stood out against her sisters before her untimely demise, but she was theirs. and she isn’t anymore.
there is SO much going on in blue sisters, which meant that i had to often take a breather or like stare at a blank wall to understand what i just read. that might be a problem for other people, but i love books that are overwhelming in the best way! similar to a cup of coffee that overflows but it’s so good that you might want to drink the rest that’s on the table. DON’T MAKE ME FEEL EMBARASSED, okay? just imagine that it's super clean and very hygienic and i swear to fucking god if you make me feel bad about that terrible analogy i will find you. but, moving on, my point is that all the flaws in blue sisters are really just dressed up positive traits. at least for me.
to finish off this absurdly long review, dear reader, dear lovebug, do pick up this book when you see it in a bookstore or library this fall. you won’t regret it. but if you do, like please just don’t tell me because coco mellors does have my entire heart and we are getting engaged tomorrow. she just doesn’t know it. so.
April 22, 2024
remarkably fine. idk, this book thinks it is innovative and important and I would have to disagree. The last quarter of the book is leagues above the rest of it. Tired of reading this “weird girl” lit about depressed beautiful models and manhattanites who take too many drugs and have too much meaningless sex. I just don’t care, it’s been done — find something new moshfegh wannabes. final thoughts are just: meh. The writing itself is pretty good, I was engaged I guess but yet, upon finishing, I feel no sense of satisfaction of accomplishment. It exists and I read it, I guess. 2.5/5 stars
September 12, 2024
Welcome to the heartfelt, cry-your-eyes-out, teary, angsty story of the Blue Sisters, which reminded me of a modern tale of the March sisters with horrible, self-absorbed parents!
This is a captivating sisterhood saga and tale of a dysfunctional family where three sisters, living in different cities and leading their own paths, deal with the grief of Nicky’s first death anniversary.
Each sister has a different approach to the hand the world dealt them. The eldest sister, Avery, graduated from Columbia, experienced a breakdown with drug addiction, joined a cult, slept on the streets, and had a quick awakening to rewrite her life story. She became a successful lawyer, found her beautiful wife, and now lives in domestic bliss at the age of 33. Avery is the analytical, reasonable one and often the real mother to the girls due to their own mother’s lack of maternal instincts.
Bonnie, the second daughter, 31, had a brief connection with their alcoholic father, who tried to raise her as the son he never had. He paid for her boxing classes, which led to her rising and falling career as a boxer. After a devastating defeat, she changed careers to become a bouncer in LA, channeling her resentments and missed opportunities into physical pain. She is the stoic one of the family.
Nicky, the sister they are grieving, was the most joyful one. She found happiness in little things, was more sentimental and caring, and was a good teacher. She suffered from endometriosis and bore her pain alone until the day she died.
The youngest sister, Lucky, 24, never considered herself lucky despite her early success as a model at the age of 14. She earned big money, traveled around the world, and filled her emptiness with alcohol and drugs until her body gave out.
The common thread among them is their reliance on addictive behaviors to cope with their grief, unhappiness, and hatred for their dysfunctional family. Avery is a kleptomaniac, Bonnie is addicted to pain, and Lucky is an alcoholic and drug addict, though they have not confessed this to anyone, not even themselves.
When their parents decide to sell the two-bedroom family house they grew up in and tell them to share their late sister’s belongings, the sisters unite against their parents to stop the sale. Their meeting in New York brings out long-simmering emotions, including anger, sadness, and unsaid secrets that threaten to become an avalanche, potentially tearing apart what they have preserved for years. Can they learn to let go of the past and rebuild by healing their own brokenness?
Each sister is broken inside, and to heal, they must learn to trust and support each other. But can they achieve this crucial task?
Overall: Bring out your napkins! This book will bring out your ugly tears and is guaranteed to tear your heart open. Each connection with the characters may resonate with your own life story, vices, resentments, family problems, and redemptions. The powerful, genuine, and profound story of the Blue Sisters Saga is a must-read!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for sharing this heartfelt fiction’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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This is a captivating sisterhood saga and tale of a dysfunctional family where three sisters, living in different cities and leading their own paths, deal with the grief of Nicky’s first death anniversary.
Each sister has a different approach to the hand the world dealt them. The eldest sister, Avery, graduated from Columbia, experienced a breakdown with drug addiction, joined a cult, slept on the streets, and had a quick awakening to rewrite her life story. She became a successful lawyer, found her beautiful wife, and now lives in domestic bliss at the age of 33. Avery is the analytical, reasonable one and often the real mother to the girls due to their own mother’s lack of maternal instincts.
Bonnie, the second daughter, 31, had a brief connection with their alcoholic father, who tried to raise her as the son he never had. He paid for her boxing classes, which led to her rising and falling career as a boxer. After a devastating defeat, she changed careers to become a bouncer in LA, channeling her resentments and missed opportunities into physical pain. She is the stoic one of the family.
Nicky, the sister they are grieving, was the most joyful one. She found happiness in little things, was more sentimental and caring, and was a good teacher. She suffered from endometriosis and bore her pain alone until the day she died.
The youngest sister, Lucky, 24, never considered herself lucky despite her early success as a model at the age of 14. She earned big money, traveled around the world, and filled her emptiness with alcohol and drugs until her body gave out.
The common thread among them is their reliance on addictive behaviors to cope with their grief, unhappiness, and hatred for their dysfunctional family. Avery is a kleptomaniac, Bonnie is addicted to pain, and Lucky is an alcoholic and drug addict, though they have not confessed this to anyone, not even themselves.
When their parents decide to sell the two-bedroom family house they grew up in and tell them to share their late sister’s belongings, the sisters unite against their parents to stop the sale. Their meeting in New York brings out long-simmering emotions, including anger, sadness, and unsaid secrets that threaten to become an avalanche, potentially tearing apart what they have preserved for years. Can they learn to let go of the past and rebuild by healing their own brokenness?
Each sister is broken inside, and to heal, they must learn to trust and support each other. But can they achieve this crucial task?
Overall: Bring out your napkins! This book will bring out your ugly tears and is guaranteed to tear your heart open. Each connection with the characters may resonate with your own life story, vices, resentments, family problems, and redemptions. The powerful, genuine, and profound story of the Blue Sisters Saga is a must-read!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for sharing this heartfelt fiction’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
medium.com
July 8, 2024
reading this as an eldest sister (of 3)... this ripped my heart out
January 5, 2024
this made me think of the tiktok post about siblings saying "my sister passed recently. i hope she haunts me" ❤️💔
i love you coco mellors i will read anything you write
i love you coco mellors i will read anything you write
May 29, 2024
unnecessary mention of an isra*li man left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of this book yeah no thanks
September 19, 2024
THIS IS THE HOTTEST NEW BOOK OF THE FALL… and for good reason!!! i ✨loved✨ it and haven’t wanted to pick up a book since. my heart is with the blue sisters 🤍
read if you like: HELLO BEAUTIFUL, family + sibling drama, character driven novels
Read with Jenna nailed another book club pick!!! they’re on fire this year. consider this for your fall book club choice 📖
if you have a sister—you NEED to read this book! as a middle child with two sisters, the author put so many of my feelings and subconscious family dynamics into words. i was truly in awe and saying “YUP!” “YUP!” “YUP!” (cue the Wendy Williams meme iykyk) and it was so damn relatable. i was absolutely obsessed with each sister and their personal story arc.
if you’re looking for a plot driven book, this isn’t it—it’s super character driven and you travel through the POVs of each sister who is dealing with the loss of their sister so differently. my friend said the author used grief as a plot line and boy is it ever—she handled such complex and heavy topics with grace (grief, addiction, overdosing). i felt every single thing the characters were feeling and going through. and the ending??? GTFO!!! UGH i miss Lucky, Avery and Bonnie already 🥹
BLUE SISTERS follows three sisters that return back to their childhood house for sale in NYC. they’re all dealing with the unexpected loss of their sister very differently. alongside their grief and the move, they start to uncover the truth about themselves and the secrets they’re all keeping from each other—and themselves 💙
i saw someone say the characters walk right off the page and it is perfectly put. this book is emo and heavy but so moving. not to mention it had me SOBBING at the end 😩 idk what else to say besides the writing was beautiful, the story was powerful, the author put so many of my feelings and thoughts down on paper and i just loved this so much 🫶🏼
this is a new-to-me author but now i’m so excited to go checkout her backlist book! add this to your fall TBR and thank me later 🍂
fave quotes (could have tabbed them ALL):
"Her life had been reduced to two days, the day Nicky was still alive and the day she died. The rich and subtle patchwork of years and seasons tha made up her life before she was gone."
"It is good you have each other, the artist had said, regarding them seriously as she worked. You never have to explain yourself to sisters. It was true. Being one of four sisters always felt like being part of something magic. Once Bonnie noticed it, she saw the world was made up of fours. The seasons. The elements. The points on a com-pass.
Four suits in a pack of cards. Four chambers of a human heart. Bonnie loved being a part of this mystical number, this perfect symmetry of two sets of two."
“Lucky is twenty-six years old, and she is lost. In fact, all the remaining sisters are. But what they don't know is this: As long as you are alive, it is never too late to be found."
"How could she not have known how deeply her sister was struggling? How could she have missed the signs? She was the big sister; it was her job not to miss things."
"There's just no end to the missing. There was life before and there's life now. And I can't seem to accept it. I can't accept that I'll have to miss her forever. There will never be relief.”
"A sister is not a friend. Who can explain the urge to take a relationship as primal and complex as a sibling and reduce it to something as replaceable, as banal as a friend? Look at an umbilical cord-tough, sinuous, unlovely, yet essential-and compare it to a friendship bracelet of brightly woven thread. That is the difference between a sister and a friend."
read if you like: HELLO BEAUTIFUL, family + sibling drama, character driven novels
Read with Jenna nailed another book club pick!!! they’re on fire this year. consider this for your fall book club choice 📖
if you have a sister—you NEED to read this book! as a middle child with two sisters, the author put so many of my feelings and subconscious family dynamics into words. i was truly in awe and saying “YUP!” “YUP!” “YUP!” (cue the Wendy Williams meme iykyk) and it was so damn relatable. i was absolutely obsessed with each sister and their personal story arc.
if you’re looking for a plot driven book, this isn’t it—it’s super character driven and you travel through the POVs of each sister who is dealing with the loss of their sister so differently. my friend said the author used grief as a plot line and boy is it ever—she handled such complex and heavy topics with grace (grief, addiction, overdosing). i felt every single thing the characters were feeling and going through. and the ending??? GTFO!!! UGH i miss Lucky, Avery and Bonnie already 🥹
BLUE SISTERS follows three sisters that return back to their childhood house for sale in NYC. they’re all dealing with the unexpected loss of their sister very differently. alongside their grief and the move, they start to uncover the truth about themselves and the secrets they’re all keeping from each other—and themselves 💙
i saw someone say the characters walk right off the page and it is perfectly put. this book is emo and heavy but so moving. not to mention it had me SOBBING at the end 😩 idk what else to say besides the writing was beautiful, the story was powerful, the author put so many of my feelings and thoughts down on paper and i just loved this so much 🫶🏼
this is a new-to-me author but now i’m so excited to go checkout her backlist book! add this to your fall TBR and thank me later 🍂
fave quotes (could have tabbed them ALL):
"Her life had been reduced to two days, the day Nicky was still alive and the day she died. The rich and subtle patchwork of years and seasons tha made up her life before she was gone."
"It is good you have each other, the artist had said, regarding them seriously as she worked. You never have to explain yourself to sisters. It was true. Being one of four sisters always felt like being part of something magic. Once Bonnie noticed it, she saw the world was made up of fours. The seasons. The elements. The points on a com-pass.
Four suits in a pack of cards. Four chambers of a human heart. Bonnie loved being a part of this mystical number, this perfect symmetry of two sets of two."
“Lucky is twenty-six years old, and she is lost. In fact, all the remaining sisters are. But what they don't know is this: As long as you are alive, it is never too late to be found."
"How could she not have known how deeply her sister was struggling? How could she have missed the signs? She was the big sister; it was her job not to miss things."
"There's just no end to the missing. There was life before and there's life now. And I can't seem to accept it. I can't accept that I'll have to miss her forever. There will never be relief.”
"A sister is not a friend. Who can explain the urge to take a relationship as primal and complex as a sibling and reduce it to something as replaceable, as banal as a friend? Look at an umbilical cord-tough, sinuous, unlovely, yet essential-and compare it to a friendship bracelet of brightly woven thread. That is the difference between a sister and a friend."
May 2, 2024
dialogue/prose/characterisation so cringe it made me want to claw my eyes out
June 6, 2024
“Being one of four sisters always felt like being part of something magic.”
Blue Sisters is the kind of book that, depending on my mood, I will either detest or adore. Fortunately, this time around, it was the latter. Having given Coco Mellors’ debut a hard pass, I was weary of reading more by her, yet, the premise for Blue Sisters sounded a lot less insipid than the one for C&F. While certainly not flawless, Blue Sisters makes for a tender, if occasionally too sentimental, exploration of sisterhood, grief, and self-sabotage. It should definitely appeal to fans of the people-fucking-up genre (examples being films like: The Worst Person in the World, Passages, Return to Seoul, Frances Ha and series like The Bisexual) or readers who enjoy complex sibling dynamics (such as in Yolk, Sunset, Butter Honey Pig Bread, The Arsonists' City) or female-centered books like Writers & Lovers, We Play Ourselves, and Self-Portrait with Boy.
“Their family had always been good at hellos and goodbyes, moments ending even as they began. It was easy to love someone in the beginnings and endings; it was all the time in between that was so hard.”
The characters are messy and there is a lot of friction among the sisters, so yes, we get a lot of arguments. With the exception of perhaps one or two cases, these come across as very authentic, sometimes overwhelmingly so. Hurtful words are hurled, sometimes with the intention to hurt, sometimes not. Things escalate, but not always. Mellors’ approach to these scenes felt cinematic yet intimate, and I appreciated how she is able to convey the conflicting feelings of her characters. The sisters are often unable to escape the dynamics of their childhood, with Bonnie acting as a pacifier, Avery as the mother, and Lucky as the rebellious youngest one. Avery and Lucky are assholes a lot of the time, something the narrative knows and doesn’t shy away from. Yet that doesn’t make them any less rounded or sympathetic. While Mellors doesn’t use their loss or childhood to excuse their actions, she allows those things to inform our understanding of her characters. I found her very empathetic, and loved many of the reflections around love (be it sisterly or romantic), insecurity, loneliness, and grief.
“She was home, the only one she knew, not because she always lived in it, but because it always lived in her.”
Through alternating chapters, the novel follows three of the Blue sisters, Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky, a year after the death of the fourth sister, Nicky. At the beginning of the novel, the Blue sisters are in different parts of the globe, but they are all similarly not coping, if not downright freefalling. Bonnie, once a boxer, is now working as a bouncer in LA. She does find herself making her way back to NY, where she is forced to confront her grief, the shame over her last match, and the feelings she’s been long harboring for her former mentor, Pavel. Avery works as a lawyer in London where she is married to Chiti, an older woman who was once her therapist. Chiti wants a child but Avery isn’t ready, in fact, ever since Nicky’s death she has been withdrawing from her marriage. Chiti has noticed but mostly relies on therapyspeak to remind Avery that she too has lost Nicky (as if being reminded of that would help avery…). Avery finds escape in rigorously attending AA meetings. There she meets a younger man, a poet, and their attraction is mutual and has disastrous consequences for Avery’s marriage. Lucky is a model who has spent most of her adulthood in relishing a carefree partier lifestyle. But Nicky’s death has changed things, and now Lucky is not so much as partying because it’s fun, but because as a means of oblivion. After screwing up her latest gig in Paris, she travels to London. Her and Avery’s relationship is more frayed than ever and the two sisters end up driving a further wedge in their bond. Lucky sees Avery as sanctimonious, smothering, and a hypocrite, whereas Avery is exasperated by Lucky’s careless attitude to others and herself. Eventually the three sisters reunite in NY, but their reunion is far from smooth.
The prologue serves as a character introduction, one that, through the use of literary devices such as alliteration, succeeded in lending this tale of the Blue sisters the rhythms of a fairy tale. Despite the novel taking place over a fairly contained period of time, the characters have a lot of history with each other and a lot of personal baggage, yet, these forays into the past never weighed down the narrative, and if anything they made the characters more rounded. We come to understand why they act the way they do, the origin of some of their insecurities and anxieties, and why some of them try to escape their grief by avoiding what they once loved, sabotaging their relationships, and opting for self-destructive ‘coping mechanisms’. Bonnie is the more grounded of the sisters, and her arc is not a downward spiral, as it is for Avery or Lucky’s. Still, Bonnie feels responsible for Nicky’s death, and is unsure whether she can box like she used to. Avery has a tendency to shut out other people, something that makes her a hard character to get into. Yet, we can see how hard she has tried to make up for her parents, to look out for her sisters in all the ways they didn’t. She also believes that she was the one to have let down Nicky, but is not fully able to admit this, so she lets her hurt and guilt fester. She misdirects her anger towards Lucky, who is also as lost as she is.
I thought that the novel was very self-assured, and that for the most part, it sticks the landing. Sure, one could say that Mellors was trying to cram in too much into the novel. Take the Blue sisters jobs…they are giving ‘try out different careers with Barbie’ (lawyer, model, boxer). They are also too beautiful and not-like-other people at times (Avery and her tattoos…sure, cool aesthetics, but it didn’t seem in line with her character). Even their mother, a character whose presence is mostly relegated to the outskirts of the narrative is subjected to this beautification: “at the time, she had silky auburn hair down to her waist and a beautiful, tulip-shaped face”. While I understood Lucky being beautiful, and her having a troubled relationship with her beauty (she takes it for granted, especially when it comes to what she can get away with, for instance, her beauty glamorizes how unpleasant, rude, and selfish she can be; she is also burdened by it, with other people unwilling to truly see her, or becoming obsessed with her because of her looks, or thinking she is a dumb shallow blonde) when it came to the other characters…these descriptions weakened the novel. They were syrupy and somewhat affected.
Avery was the type of lesbian character that feels that has been written by a non lesbian, as in, the writer, in their attempts to avoid clichés about lesbians, ends up writing the straightest lesbian character ever. I did not understand why Avery is made into a lesbian character, given that the person she has an ‘affair’ with is a man…one thing is someone who is still for whatever internal or external reasons unable to identify and/or live as a lesbian, but Avery has been in a relationship with a woman for a long time, she describes herself as a lesbian who is interested in being with women…so why have her cheat with a man? A man she is insanely attracted to. It was a Choice™, one that seemed to me to exist only for dramatic effect (not only she cheats, but she cheats with a man!). Their sex scene also consolidated my perception of her as a very straight character. I just wish the author could have made her bi, queer, or pan. I also find the whole image of the (outwardly) strait-laced lesbian a bit of a bore, but thankfully Mellors does manage to make Avery into a flawed yet complex character. I didn’t like how the cheating plotline is handled,.
Lucky also skates close to being a bit of a cliché, but thankfully the narrative doesn’t romanticize her self-destructive ways. I did found that musician subplot very cheesy—it felt like something straight out of Hollywood—and I thought it was an unnecessary add-on. Similarly, the epilogue, despite the author's heartfelt acknowledgments, felt more corny than touching.
However, these aspects didn't significantly detract from my overall enjoyment of the novel. I still loved it (which just goes to show how good mellors can be). The characters and their dynamics were compelling, and I particularly admired Mellors' prose style and ability to establish atmosphere. Mellors also adeptly balanced action and introspection, ensuring that the story never felt either rushed or slow-paced. Additionally, I appreciated that certain elements remained unresolved, such as the sisters’ complex relationship with their mother, adding depth to the narrative. Mellors' portrayal of grief is heartfelt and authentic. Through the lens of the surviving sisters' memories and flashbacks, she paints a vivid picture of Nicky, allowing readers not only to empathise with her but to miss her presence. Mellors' depiction of addiction and the journey to recovery feels genuine and relatable. She captures the struggles and setbacks with honesty, which in addition to making for a candid portrayal of addiction, also made the sisters' experiences all the more compelling and real.
I can definitely see myself re-reading this as I found it to be a captivating tale. It had dramatic moments and plenty of emotional beats. Evocative and thoughtful, Blue Sisters made for a compelling read, full of imperfect people and fraught relationships, all underscored by an undeniable heart. I think readers who are less averse to sentimentality than I am will likely adore it even more than I did. I look forward to Mellors' next novel, hoping that it will align more closely with the style and depth of Blue Sisters than C&F.
I'm grateful for this arc and (depending on my funds) will purchase a copy of my own once it is released.
September 5, 2024
𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝?
one of the earliest memories i have of my sister is from the time she ruined my chances to become an actress. when i was 3, (as you can guess i do not have this memory but our mother told us about it) some agent asked my mom if she wants me to be a child actor at the mall and in that moment my 6 years old sister peed herself (embarrassing at that age) because she didn’t like the attention i was getting😒 so we rushed home and my acting career ended before even started. there are also two incidents where she hide me behind sofa when i was 2 and when she left me at the park when i was 6 in the hopes of me never returning😒
so you see a big sister is like your own tormentor. but she’s also your guardian angel, second mom, more than best friend and a lot more things.
for me, sisterhood is like having a secret island with your sister. it’s a judgement free island where we allow no one else to come because we’re happy alone in there🫶🏼
𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚋, 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚜, 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎’𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚏𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚈𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝.
avery.
Around her sisters, she was always the eldest, which meant, in comparison to them, she was never young. But she was tired of being the grown-up. She was tired of being herself.
she is the one i have most complicated feelings. the second mother, perfectionist but also fucked up in her own way. as much as i love my sister, i don’t like older sisters. there, i said it. i find my friends who are older sisters very annoying and controlling. so i thought avery as an annoying and controlling person too. and the gasp i gasped during their fight🤚🏻 you do not say that to your sister.
lucky.
No matter how many people Lucky surrounded herself with, part of her was always swimming alone through a wide, dark lake. The only time she ever felt that there was someone in the water with her was when she was with her sisters.
youngest sibling syndrome. it was easy to relate to her even though she had a lot of problems. she will always be under her sister’s shadow, her success will be ignored, she’ll never feel as successful as her sisters, they will always think of her as a baby. but i loved her character, i felt her grief and the things weighing her down
bonnie.
Being one of four sisters always felt like being part of something magic. Once Bonnie noticed it, she saw the world was made up of fours. The seasons. The elements. The points on a compass. Four suits in a pack of cards. Four chambers of a human heart. Bonnie loved being a part of this mystical number, this perfect symmetry of two sets of two.
my precious. since i’m not their mother i can play favorites and admit that bonnie was my fav. middle child���� she’s the peacemaker of the family. both sisters depends on her while she has her own problems. her need to be independent, need to be loved by certain people, the way she’s always there for her sisters🥹
nicky.
Nicky was not like the rest of them; she loved makeup and scented candles and bubble baths and beauty treatments. Nothing made her happier than when she got to share these enchantments with her often skeptical sisters.
i miss her even though i don’t know her.
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜; 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍.
anyways, enough yapping for today, i cried and laughed. it was the perfect sisterhood book. definitely recommend <3
~~~~~
i know this will hit hard because i have an older sister and i love her more than anyone in the world <3 but i’ve been wanting to read this for so long so i’m really excited!
one of the earliest memories i have of my sister is from the time she ruined my chances to become an actress. when i was 3, (as you can guess i do not have this memory but our mother told us about it) some agent asked my mom if she wants me to be a child actor at the mall and in that moment my 6 years old sister peed herself (embarrassing at that age) because she didn’t like the attention i was getting😒 so we rushed home and my acting career ended before even started. there are also two incidents where she hide me behind sofa when i was 2 and when she left me at the park when i was 6 in the hopes of me never returning😒
so you see a big sister is like your own tormentor. but she’s also your guardian angel, second mom, more than best friend and a lot more things.
for me, sisterhood is like having a secret island with your sister. it’s a judgement free island where we allow no one else to come because we’re happy alone in there🫶🏼
𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚋, 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚜, 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎’𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚏𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚈𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝.
avery.
Around her sisters, she was always the eldest, which meant, in comparison to them, she was never young. But she was tired of being the grown-up. She was tired of being herself.
she is the one i have most complicated feelings. the second mother, perfectionist but also fucked up in her own way. as much as i love my sister, i don’t like older sisters. there, i said it. i find my friends who are older sisters very annoying and controlling. so i thought avery as an annoying and controlling person too. and the gasp i gasped during their fight🤚🏻 you do not say that to your sister.
lucky.
No matter how many people Lucky surrounded herself with, part of her was always swimming alone through a wide, dark lake. The only time she ever felt that there was someone in the water with her was when she was with her sisters.
youngest sibling syndrome. it was easy to relate to her even though she had a lot of problems. she will always be under her sister’s shadow, her success will be ignored, she’ll never feel as successful as her sisters, they will always think of her as a baby. but i loved her character, i felt her grief and the things weighing her down
bonnie.
Being one of four sisters always felt like being part of something magic. Once Bonnie noticed it, she saw the world was made up of fours. The seasons. The elements. The points on a compass. Four suits in a pack of cards. Four chambers of a human heart. Bonnie loved being a part of this mystical number, this perfect symmetry of two sets of two.
my precious. since i’m not their mother i can play favorites and admit that bonnie was my fav. middle child���� she’s the peacemaker of the family. both sisters depends on her while she has her own problems. her need to be independent, need to be loved by certain people, the way she’s always there for her sisters🥹
nicky.
Nicky was not like the rest of them; she loved makeup and scented candles and bubble baths and beauty treatments. Nothing made her happier than when she got to share these enchantments with her often skeptical sisters.
i miss her even though i don’t know her.
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜; 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍.
anyways, enough yapping for today, i cried and laughed. it was the perfect sisterhood book. definitely recommend <3
~~~~~
i know this will hit hard because i have an older sister and i love her more than anyone in the world <3 but i’ve been wanting to read this for so long so i’m really excited!
January 17, 2024
Blue Sisters tells the story of 3 estranged sisters trying to navigate their complex relationships and personal lives in the wake of their sister’s death.
Made clear by the title, the core of this novel is just about the unique bond that sisters share. As I was reading this book, I was reminded of a tweet along the lines of ‘you won’t let your sister borrow your clothes, but you’d give them a kidney in a heartbeat’ - which I think just sums up sisterhood perfectly.
Though heavy in subject matter, Blue Sisters makes for a a somewhat ‘fun’ read as it switches between the cities of Paris, London, New York, and L.A., plunging you into a new location as each sister desperately tries to find a sense of home again after their sister’s death.
Mellors doesn’t shy away from discussing the difficult aspects of life, exploring grief and how it manifests differently in each person, especially through the different coping mechanisms of each sister. The novel also largely focuses on addiction, and the determination to break the cycle of addiction within a family.
Blue Sisters has a lot of heart and emotional tenderness, and will relate to anyone who has sisters (I also have 3 so the relatability was high for me). It’s about letting go, moving on, and learning how to live again.
Thank you 4th Estate Books for the arc copy! Blue Sisters is out in the UK on 23 May
3.75
Made clear by the title, the core of this novel is just about the unique bond that sisters share. As I was reading this book, I was reminded of a tweet along the lines of ‘you won’t let your sister borrow your clothes, but you’d give them a kidney in a heartbeat’ - which I think just sums up sisterhood perfectly.
Though heavy in subject matter, Blue Sisters makes for a a somewhat ‘fun’ read as it switches between the cities of Paris, London, New York, and L.A., plunging you into a new location as each sister desperately tries to find a sense of home again after their sister’s death.
Mellors doesn’t shy away from discussing the difficult aspects of life, exploring grief and how it manifests differently in each person, especially through the different coping mechanisms of each sister. The novel also largely focuses on addiction, and the determination to break the cycle of addiction within a family.
Blue Sisters has a lot of heart and emotional tenderness, and will relate to anyone who has sisters (I also have 3 so the relatability was high for me). It’s about letting go, moving on, and learning how to live again.
Thank you 4th Estate Books for the arc copy! Blue Sisters is out in the UK on 23 May
3.75
July 9, 2024
humongous review to come
there it is:
when i first read cleopatra&frankenstein, i saw that there were some... problematic moments, but i still enjoyed it. on the reread, i noticed the worst parts much more - the cringe writing, bizarre characterization, weird obsession with specific countries/ethicities... and after reading blue sisters, i am crestfallen to report that all these worst parts of c&p are pretty much 100% of blue sisters.
overall, there was much to digest. the concept seemed intruigning, especially to me as the oldest of three sisters and four siblings in total, but i think it is absolutely treated in the most obvious ways possible. wow, the oldest sister being a control freak overachiever? never done before! (if i want a story like this, i just read my own journal) youngest sister being the wild child? crazy. of course, middle sister being an accomplished boxer is hm, not an existing trope, but it truly means just one thing: she is strong. coco mellors, you queen of nuance. like, some metaphors here are just too advanced for my silly brain - for example, they're called the blue sisters because they're... sad. insane twist. and then there's of course the dead sister, whose smile lit up a room and all children loved her. her condition - endometriosis - is a very worthwhile topic, but i found her surface-level characterization made it all fall flat. i have no sense of her as a person whatsoever, and i think it wouldve been more interesting if literally any other sister died instead.
the cringe writing which already reared its head in c&f here takes full force. ah yes, the lament of the city being the police sirens. "drugs, terrible things" is a direct quote. i mean, hard to disagree. "wolfish grin" was mentioned to often i was half-heartedly expecting green orbs and harry styles to make an appearance too. it just all smells of fanfiction too strong, and not in a good way.
the characterization of all the sisters falls incredibly flat, and their mother is even more cartoonish. weirdly enough, they all don't feel like a family - coco mellors is hitting me over the head with the sentences about how much they love each other, but she never shows it. i also don't see any similarities or influence over each other between them. like, me and my siblings are very different people, but i've been told it's very obvious we're related - we have the same sense of humour, similar interests, we talk the same way. nothing of the sort happens in blue sisters. they feel more like grief acquitances than sisters.
moreover, mellors doesnt say anything interesting about sisterhood. she actually just lures you in with this premise and then gives a book ostensibly about addicition, but even there, she doesn't have anything fresh or interesting to say - like, addiction bad. AA good. we get it. she also doesn't show any other coping mechanisms beside AA, which is... curious. to say the least.
the only good part for me was the ending, which gave at least a bit of katharsis, but an probably undeserved one. i mightve been just projecting my own feelings there.
thats more or less my main takes, HOWEVER, this would not be a helena review if i didn't mention the plotline that bothered me the most - and it truly read like a plotline genetically bred to infuriate me, as it combined a problematic depicition of slavic people (much like myself) and a romanticization of a teacher-student relationship. light spoilers ahead.
so, one of the sisters, bonnie, is a boxer, and her trainer is russian. and listen - i am as anti-russian as any other polish bitch around here. HOWEVER it is fucking insane that miss coco mellors wrote this characters that cannot speak basic english despite living what, 25+ years in the us. "you want fight?" "is difficult this life"??? hello?? does she think primitive little eastern europeans are unable to learn a language in this time, while of course one of her perfect little blond americqn protagonists picks up japanese in three years like it's nothing? what infuriated me even more was this weird-ass moment when pavel (the russian trainer) says they dont have cheesecake in russia? aha??? cheesecake is literally one of the most popular, if not the most popular, dessert in eastern europe, and some even claim it was invented in poland??? coco. google is free. please use it sometimes. i know from your depiction of poland in c&f that you're allergic to it and you use your woman intuition only to guide your portrayal of eastern europe, but im begging you. just one time, google if the primitive slavs you like fetishizing so much have cheesecake. or, should i say it like pavel? me stupid slavic woman have cheesecake?
and then when pavel, who was 30 upon meeting bonnie, and bonnie, who was 15 upon meeting pavel, get together, it's seen as a great romantic moment. girls, i thought we moved past that in the discourse. like, what the actual fuck. as a slavic victim of grooming, i felt double hate-crimed by the entire pavel storyline.
on the topic of weird cultural fixations, which sadly continue from c&f, there's of course a phonetic depiction of jamaican accent in peachy's scenes, but that i leave to discuss to someone more qualified.
all in all, coco mellors once again proves - sometimes the most oppressed person of earth can be a beautiful rich (oh, im sorry, they're allegedly poor. they OWN only two properties in new york.....) able-bodied woman in the us......
there it is:
when i first read cleopatra&frankenstein, i saw that there were some... problematic moments, but i still enjoyed it. on the reread, i noticed the worst parts much more - the cringe writing, bizarre characterization, weird obsession with specific countries/ethicities... and after reading blue sisters, i am crestfallen to report that all these worst parts of c&p are pretty much 100% of blue sisters.
overall, there was much to digest. the concept seemed intruigning, especially to me as the oldest of three sisters and four siblings in total, but i think it is absolutely treated in the most obvious ways possible. wow, the oldest sister being a control freak overachiever? never done before! (if i want a story like this, i just read my own journal) youngest sister being the wild child? crazy. of course, middle sister being an accomplished boxer is hm, not an existing trope, but it truly means just one thing: she is strong. coco mellors, you queen of nuance. like, some metaphors here are just too advanced for my silly brain - for example, they're called the blue sisters because they're... sad. insane twist. and then there's of course the dead sister, whose smile lit up a room and all children loved her. her condition - endometriosis - is a very worthwhile topic, but i found her surface-level characterization made it all fall flat. i have no sense of her as a person whatsoever, and i think it wouldve been more interesting if literally any other sister died instead.
the cringe writing which already reared its head in c&f here takes full force. ah yes, the lament of the city being the police sirens. "drugs, terrible things" is a direct quote. i mean, hard to disagree. "wolfish grin" was mentioned to often i was half-heartedly expecting green orbs and harry styles to make an appearance too. it just all smells of fanfiction too strong, and not in a good way.
the characterization of all the sisters falls incredibly flat, and their mother is even more cartoonish. weirdly enough, they all don't feel like a family - coco mellors is hitting me over the head with the sentences about how much they love each other, but she never shows it. i also don't see any similarities or influence over each other between them. like, me and my siblings are very different people, but i've been told it's very obvious we're related - we have the same sense of humour, similar interests, we talk the same way. nothing of the sort happens in blue sisters. they feel more like grief acquitances than sisters.
moreover, mellors doesnt say anything interesting about sisterhood. she actually just lures you in with this premise and then gives a book ostensibly about addicition, but even there, she doesn't have anything fresh or interesting to say - like, addiction bad. AA good. we get it. she also doesn't show any other coping mechanisms beside AA, which is... curious. to say the least.
the only good part for me was the ending, which gave at least a bit of katharsis, but an probably undeserved one. i mightve been just projecting my own feelings there.
thats more or less my main takes, HOWEVER, this would not be a helena review if i didn't mention the plotline that bothered me the most - and it truly read like a plotline genetically bred to infuriate me, as it combined a problematic depicition of slavic people (much like myself) and a romanticization of a teacher-student relationship. light spoilers ahead.
so, one of the sisters, bonnie, is a boxer, and her trainer is russian. and listen - i am as anti-russian as any other polish bitch around here. HOWEVER it is fucking insane that miss coco mellors wrote this characters that cannot speak basic english despite living what, 25+ years in the us. "you want fight?" "is difficult this life"??? hello?? does she think primitive little eastern europeans are unable to learn a language in this time, while of course one of her perfect little blond americqn protagonists picks up japanese in three years like it's nothing? what infuriated me even more was this weird-ass moment when pavel (the russian trainer) says they dont have cheesecake in russia? aha??? cheesecake is literally one of the most popular, if not the most popular, dessert in eastern europe, and some even claim it was invented in poland??? coco. google is free. please use it sometimes. i know from your depiction of poland in c&f that you're allergic to it and you use your woman intuition only to guide your portrayal of eastern europe, but im begging you. just one time, google if the primitive slavs you like fetishizing so much have cheesecake. or, should i say it like pavel? me stupid slavic woman have cheesecake?
and then when pavel, who was 30 upon meeting bonnie, and bonnie, who was 15 upon meeting pavel, get together, it's seen as a great romantic moment. girls, i thought we moved past that in the discourse. like, what the actual fuck. as a slavic victim of grooming, i felt double hate-crimed by the entire pavel storyline.
on the topic of weird cultural fixations, which sadly continue from c&f, there's of course a phonetic depiction of jamaican accent in peachy's scenes, but that i leave to discuss to someone more qualified.
all in all, coco mellors once again proves - sometimes the most oppressed person of earth can be a beautiful rich (oh, im sorry, they're allegedly poor. they OWN only two properties in new york.....) able-bodied woman in the us......
August 9, 2024
Coco Mellors writes some of the most beautiful lines I've read in a novel. Her writing made this book decadent to read, and given the subject matter, I think it's quite a feat. This is a book about addiction and the default roles people take in their families. It's a story about grief, and responsibility, and longing, and failure. By showing a moment in time from three points of view, the reader is given insight into the pain and longing of modern women.
I love how delicately Mellors expressed the impact of heartbreak on a woman's desire to forge and grow a family of her own. I love how she explored the ways people manipulate the ones they love most. She deftly wrote the irony of self-sabotage and the magic of having someone believe in you.
Best of all, Mellors delivered a redemptive and hopeful end note, that colored the story in shades of healing and optimism. It's just the sort of story worth reading when being human feels like the loneliest thing in the world. It's the kind of thing that reminds us life is complex, and people contain multitudes. I loved this.
I love how delicately Mellors expressed the impact of heartbreak on a woman's desire to forge and grow a family of her own. I love how she explored the ways people manipulate the ones they love most. She deftly wrote the irony of self-sabotage and the magic of having someone believe in you.
Best of all, Mellors delivered a redemptive and hopeful end note, that colored the story in shades of healing and optimism. It's just the sort of story worth reading when being human feels like the loneliest thing in the world. It's the kind of thing that reminds us life is complex, and people contain multitudes. I loved this.
June 2, 2024
"A sister is not a friend. Who can explain the urge to take a relationship as primal and complex as a sibling and reduce it to something as replaceable, as banal as a friend?"
Blue Sisters has an eerily similar set-up to another recently released novel I read, and gave a similar rating. That being The Alternatives. Both follow the lives of 4 sisters, each highly accomplished and successful when judged by our “typical societal standards” (attractive, wealthy, with exceptional careers), yet each struggling with complex emotional troubles. In each story, these siblings reconnect after one of them has vanished from their lives, and old dynamics resurface. Whilst I love the family-dynamic aspect of both these novels, reading them made me realize something vital: I’m so tired of this subgenre of “the woes of the wealthy women’s fiction”. Sally Rooney, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and yes, the authors previous work Cleopatra and Frankenstein: to me, they all started to feel like a dime a dozen.
The story:
The Blue sisters, despite growing up closely together, couldn’t have been more different. There’s Avery; a successful lawyer who’s built a seemingly perfect life with her wife in upstate London after recovering from a past of substance abuse. Bonnie: a professional boxer of top class touring the world with her trainer. Nicky, the middle child and connecting factor of the family, working as a teacher, but struggling with chronic pain from endometriosis. And finally Lucky, an international model who has graced billboards around the world.
When Nicky unexpectedly passes away, it sends the 3 remaining sisters spiraling out of control and away from each other. A year later, when their mother announces it’s time to sell Nicky’s apartment which has been kept in a state of suspension ever since her death, the three finally reconnect and confront their individual and shared grief.
What I loved:
The novel wears its themes up its sleeve; grief and addiction in many forms, and the special bond between siblings that allows (and sometimes forces) the characters to stick together through it all. The Blue sisters carry this story, and their character development is solid enough to support that. It feels like the author knows them through and through individually ánd as a family unit. This allows her to infuse each of their sections with a lot of personality. Even without reading the name above each chapter, there would have been no confusion as to which perspective we are reading from (something that was a problem for me in The Alternatives at times.
When it comes to the writing, Mellors has some greatly quotable lines and a few profound scenes. That being said, often it feels like well-trodden ground. Lines and insights are quite formulaic and even cliché and lack the depth to support their quasi-profound delivery. More on this in the next section.
What I didn’t love:
Apart from the genre just not being my jam in particular, I had 2 major issues with Mellors writing style. Retrospectively, I recognized these from my attempt at reading Cleopatra and Frankenstein. There’s the general adagio of “show, don’t tell” in writing, and Mellors choses to do the exact opposite. She describes and tells us everything about these characters, their feelings towards each other and even the deeper traumas that lie at the foot of those interactions, without ever showing them through their actions on page. We are told “Avery and her mother have always had a strained relationship. It’s because Avery never felt like her mother wanted her in the first place”, rather than being shown their uneasy interaction. It’s almost like you’re reading the authors character-profile-notes, rather than the fully fledged novel that was supposed to spawn from it.
Secondly, the pacing is way off. The first 70% of the page count is taken up by individual selfdestruction-city. It’s repetitive and almost made me way to DNF the story multiple times. Only after that, when we get to see the true interpersonal conflict and resolution play out between the sisters that the story becomes good.
Overall, I’m sad to say that this was about as middle-of-the-road as it gets for me. I feel like fans of the works I mentioned earlies might still love Mellors sophomore novel. To me, it made it clear that this is a genre that I’m burned out on.
Blue Sisters has an eerily similar set-up to another recently released novel I read, and gave a similar rating. That being The Alternatives. Both follow the lives of 4 sisters, each highly accomplished and successful when judged by our “typical societal standards” (attractive, wealthy, with exceptional careers), yet each struggling with complex emotional troubles. In each story, these siblings reconnect after one of them has vanished from their lives, and old dynamics resurface. Whilst I love the family-dynamic aspect of both these novels, reading them made me realize something vital: I’m so tired of this subgenre of “the woes of the wealthy women’s fiction”. Sally Rooney, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and yes, the authors previous work Cleopatra and Frankenstein: to me, they all started to feel like a dime a dozen.
The story:
The Blue sisters, despite growing up closely together, couldn’t have been more different. There’s Avery; a successful lawyer who’s built a seemingly perfect life with her wife in upstate London after recovering from a past of substance abuse. Bonnie: a professional boxer of top class touring the world with her trainer. Nicky, the middle child and connecting factor of the family, working as a teacher, but struggling with chronic pain from endometriosis. And finally Lucky, an international model who has graced billboards around the world.
When Nicky unexpectedly passes away, it sends the 3 remaining sisters spiraling out of control and away from each other. A year later, when their mother announces it’s time to sell Nicky’s apartment which has been kept in a state of suspension ever since her death, the three finally reconnect and confront their individual and shared grief.
What I loved:
The novel wears its themes up its sleeve; grief and addiction in many forms, and the special bond between siblings that allows (and sometimes forces) the characters to stick together through it all. The Blue sisters carry this story, and their character development is solid enough to support that. It feels like the author knows them through and through individually ánd as a family unit. This allows her to infuse each of their sections with a lot of personality. Even without reading the name above each chapter, there would have been no confusion as to which perspective we are reading from (something that was a problem for me in The Alternatives at times.
When it comes to the writing, Mellors has some greatly quotable lines and a few profound scenes. That being said, often it feels like well-trodden ground. Lines and insights are quite formulaic and even cliché and lack the depth to support their quasi-profound delivery. More on this in the next section.
What I didn’t love:
Apart from the genre just not being my jam in particular, I had 2 major issues with Mellors writing style. Retrospectively, I recognized these from my attempt at reading Cleopatra and Frankenstein. There’s the general adagio of “show, don’t tell” in writing, and Mellors choses to do the exact opposite. She describes and tells us everything about these characters, their feelings towards each other and even the deeper traumas that lie at the foot of those interactions, without ever showing them through their actions on page. We are told “Avery and her mother have always had a strained relationship. It’s because Avery never felt like her mother wanted her in the first place”, rather than being shown their uneasy interaction. It’s almost like you’re reading the authors character-profile-notes, rather than the fully fledged novel that was supposed to spawn from it.
Secondly, the pacing is way off. The first 70% of the page count is taken up by individual selfdestruction-city. It’s repetitive and almost made me way to DNF the story multiple times. Only after that, when we get to see the true interpersonal conflict and resolution play out between the sisters that the story becomes good.
Overall, I’m sad to say that this was about as middle-of-the-road as it gets for me. I feel like fans of the works I mentioned earlies might still love Mellors sophomore novel. To me, it made it clear that this is a genre that I’m burned out on.
Want to read
June 11, 2024shut the front door DID I JUST GET THE ARC ??
August 6, 2024
This book is not only painfully boring but just said a hysterectomy is a cure for endometriosis. Please stop writing about chronic pain conditions that you know NOTHING about. I am tired of having to go on a soap box advocating for myself because authors love to write about things they don’t have the facts for.
Endometriosis is a condition where tissue SIMILAR to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus. This tissue is not the same. Endometriosis can occur in women who don’t have a uterus. A hysterectomy is not a cure. Please let’s do better and stop spreading false information therefore making it more difficult for myself and others to find appropriate care and research.
Endometriosis is a condition where tissue SIMILAR to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus. This tissue is not the same. Endometriosis can occur in women who don’t have a uterus. A hysterectomy is not a cure. Please let’s do better and stop spreading false information therefore making it more difficult for myself and others to find appropriate care and research.
Read
June 13, 2024“Não vou apontar nenhum defeito a este livro porque, mesmo havendo alguns, eu não reparei ou consegui desvalorizar por tudo o que a história me estava a fazer sentir. A única parte menos boa para mim foi ter acabado porque eu queria continuar com as Blue Sisters durante mais tempo.”
Review completa aqui: https://ritadanova.blogs.sapo.pt/blue....
Review completa aqui: https://ritadanova.blogs.sapo.pt/blue....
Want to read
March 12, 2024pre-read.
𓏲⋆. 🧺 °｡thank you to random house publishing and the author for a physical copy of the arc! can't wait to read this soon <3
𓏲⋆. 🧺 °｡thank you to random house publishing and the author for a physical copy of the arc! can't wait to read this soon <3
Want to read
September 19, 2024fighting the urge to buy this for $17 when i'm alr waiting for a copy at the library...
read the prologue and i think this might be my new favorite book
read the prologue and i think this might be my new favorite book
Read
July 15, 2024Clean up on aisle cornyyyyyyyyt
August 22, 2024
Explorations of grief are challenging - but I love books like this when I'm trying to be mentally calm.
Reasons I Loved It:
- Mellors does a great job with character studies. I know exactly who our four main characters were at 10% of the way in.
- The character growth? *phenomenal*
- Sisterhood described, explained, wrenched from the universe? Unparalleled. I highlighted so many sections while reading, but I couldn't get enough.
My favorite quote of the whole book:
'True sisterhood...You don't chose each other, and there's no furtive period of getting to know the other. You're part of each other, right from the start.' - It's hard to explain this if you're not a woman with a sister.. but it's so true. I don't remember a single day without my sister in my life. Almost 3 decades of love wrapped in catfights, shared Polly Pockets, forced cuddles and ridiculous jokes all wrapped in one relationship that I couldn't explain better if I tried.
The Reason I Removed One Star:
- I felt that the sections from 60-80% of the way through were sluggish and I wanted to quit. I'm glad I didn't, but something about that was just almost an overload of sadness and I desperately wanted it to get better. Thankfully it did but I can't handle THAT much sad.
*We leave for a road trip in 8 days and I'm excited but MUCH to do until then! Getting through my ARCs at record speed so be prepared to be peppered with reviews.
**Thank you Ballantine for the advanced reader copy. All thoughts are my own. - SLR
Reasons I Loved It:
- Mellors does a great job with character studies. I know exactly who our four main characters were at 10% of the way in.
- The character growth? *phenomenal*
- Sisterhood described, explained, wrenched from the universe? Unparalleled. I highlighted so many sections while reading, but I couldn't get enough.
My favorite quote of the whole book:
'True sisterhood...You don't chose each other, and there's no furtive period of getting to know the other. You're part of each other, right from the start.' - It's hard to explain this if you're not a woman with a sister.. but it's so true. I don't remember a single day without my sister in my life. Almost 3 decades of love wrapped in catfights, shared Polly Pockets, forced cuddles and ridiculous jokes all wrapped in one relationship that I couldn't explain better if I tried.
The Reason I Removed One Star:
- I felt that the sections from 60-80% of the way through were sluggish and I wanted to quit. I'm glad I didn't, but something about that was just almost an overload of sadness and I desperately wanted it to get better. Thankfully it did but I can't handle THAT much sad.
*We leave for a road trip in 8 days and I'm excited but MUCH to do until then! Getting through my ARCs at record speed so be prepared to be peppered with reviews.
**Thank you Ballantine for the advanced reader copy. All thoughts are my own. - SLR
August 9, 2024
REVIEW TO COME!!!!!!!
September 28, 2024
dysfunctional family, sisterhood, substance abuse, addiction, compulsive disorders, grief and loss, coming to terms with our lives. The writing is quite addictive. The characters stand out and are quite realistic. If you love books by Taylor Jenkins Reid, you will definitely love this one!
September 18, 2024
✨ Resenha disponível no youtube: https://youtu.be/QpirG8aeQB8
É livro sobre famílias disfuncionais que você quer? Pois é isso que você vai ter. Terminei de ler As Irmãs Blue e, dessa vez, a Coco Mellors me conquistou!
A história gira em torno de quatro irmãs que vieram de um lar tóxico causado pelo alcoolismo do pai e a distância do amor da mãe. Depois da morte de uma delas, as feridas ficam ainda maiores e impossíveis de ignorar.
Dessa vez, a autora buscou concentrar toda a sua atenção e construção da narrativa em apenas três narradoras, o que deixou a história muito mais coesa. Ou seja, tudo que existe nas páginas tem o objetivo de colaborar para a trama principal.
Coco Mellors não tem medo de falar sobre assuntos difíceis e escreve diálogos de tirar o fôlego. Agora eu tô ansiosa para ler qualquer novo livro dela!
É livro sobre famílias disfuncionais que você quer? Pois é isso que você vai ter. Terminei de ler As Irmãs Blue e, dessa vez, a Coco Mellors me conquistou!
A história gira em torno de quatro irmãs que vieram de um lar tóxico causado pelo alcoolismo do pai e a distância do amor da mãe. Depois da morte de uma delas, as feridas ficam ainda maiores e impossíveis de ignorar.
Dessa vez, a autora buscou concentrar toda a sua atenção e construção da narrativa em apenas três narradoras, o que deixou a história muito mais coesa. Ou seja, tudo que existe nas páginas tem o objetivo de colaborar para a trama principal.
Coco Mellors não tem medo de falar sobre assuntos difíceis e escreve diálogos de tirar o fôlego. Agora eu tô ansiosa para ler qualquer novo livro dela!
Want to read
March 9, 2024thank you random house for the arc!
August 31, 2024
yeah......... yeah. yeah well she was perfect really wasn't she. cleo & frank is a fave and i knew miss coco had my back and would NOT let me down with her newest!!!
i loved this book - it has her authorship signatures but it's totally its own magnificent beast. the same prose that lets you abandon reality. the same astonishing yet quiet characterisation. new and beautiful and brilliant thoughts and questions and hardships and happiness.
thank you to harper collins nz for the arc!!! also i stand in defense of long chapters xo
i loved this book - it has her authorship signatures but it's totally its own magnificent beast. the same prose that lets you abandon reality. the same astonishing yet quiet characterisation. new and beautiful and brilliant thoughts and questions and hardships and happiness.
thank you to harper collins nz for the arc!!! also i stand in defense of long chapters xo
May 26, 2024
I am surprised I managed to finish this one because nearly every aspect annoyed me. It was very heavy-handed and even though I liked having the POV of each sister as the story progressed, it made it feel obvious in a way that ended up being boring. The writing style overall didn't work for me and there was one metaphor about orcas that genuinely made me laugh. Even though the book deals with pretty heavy topics, a lot of it felt superficial. The sense of connection or understanding was assumed, but it never really felt like anything developed throughout the novel or really mattered. It was quick bursts of activity, characters changed, and then everything was wrapped up neatly with an epilogue.
June 4, 2024
4,5 with a big heart
Little Women for the 21st century
Little Women for the 21st century
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