Sister by Rosamund Lupton

“Grief is love turned into an eternal missing”  - Lupton

Do I even know how to access my blog anymore…? It’s definitely been way to long since the last time I read a book. I think that life can be explained just by looking at this blog – as time passed the less book reviews, not because I’ve grown lazy, but because I feel like I’ve lost the time to read. But with some of my tests over, I gave myself a quick break before I have to get back to my studies. Needless to say, I devoured two books in two days and will hopefully read another one today. Enough about me.

Rosamund Lupton’s Sister, is a thriller (well at least for my standards, as I am not really used to scary things) and almost detective fiction. It follows Beatrice’s journey as she looks for her missing sister. When the police end the case, Beatrice is unsatisfied with the verdict. It becomes all up to Beatrice to uncover the truth. She doesn’t just uncover the mystery but also learns about herself and her relationships.

Maybe it’s the fact that I hadn’t read a book for a long time, or that someone left this book on their fence for someone to take it for free or just simply because I always get to attached to novels, but I absolutely loved it! The language was simple and it was quite easy to read. The only hard part was figuring out when the settings switched - when Beatrice was talking to the detective or talking to her sister through the letter. But this form is perfect for the novel when you get to the end and learn the truth about this ‘letter’. I didn’t start reading expecting much but by the end I was screaming out loud at the plot twists.

As per the title, ‘Sister’, this book is really about exploring familial relationships. Not in a cliché sort of way, but on a deeper level. Beatrice loves her sister and mother but she often thinks that she is the ‘good’ sister and daughter. She really learns about her place in the relationship as the novel goes on. I think we spend so much time judging others that we forget to judge ourselves. Sure, we are our biggest critics but we are often blind to the truth in our incentives, our reasons for action. Beatrice often thought she was protecting everyone and that her sister was wrong for being too blasé. In the end she learns that it was her sister who was supporting Beatrice, who had always been there for her. Lupton takes us on this journey through the structure of the novel that allows us to empathise with the character and join her in her self-discovery. Beatrice also learns that despite her mother’s apparent lack of affection and father’s distance, they both do love her no matter what.

Overall it just opened my mind up to be critical of my own actions. Do we judge others because we think we’re right or because we don’t see their side of the story? And even those people who we think we are close to, do we really know them? Or do we take them for granted, use them, shape who they are by what we expect of them? And most of all, are we really the people who we think we are? In Beatrice’s state of madness and grief she actually learns more about herself than her 26 years of life. This leads her to understand her relationship with her fiancée and also with her sister. She begins to act like a ‘different’ person, almost like her sister, but I think deep down that was who she always was.

If this book was a film, I would find it too terrifying to watch, but, my limit for gore seems to be much higher when it comes to books. I didn’t expect much, but by the end I had become completely engrossed in the narrative and I loved the plot twists. I will definitely recommend this book.