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hunni_reads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
bethantg's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The writing style here is very pleasant to read - it flows in a very natural way, where I can easily read a scene and feel completely caught in it. The characters are vivid, I can see them in my head. Unfortunately, there is very little that is realistic to me about them, as I have seen them described in other reviews - these characters, to me, are straight from a movie, not from real life, and I do feel that that took away a lot of the relatability and some of the enjoyment for me while reading this. Bonnie was absolutely the most 'real' to me, but her lack of development hinders this - not that she doesn't grow as a character, but that she remains a character, a list of traits, never quite becoming a person. This is most exemplified in Lucky, who we're told is "exceptional" without ever being shown how - I think we get two comments on her having skills - and who we're simultaneously told is much more than her appearance or her body, but also that she really is so beautiful and so thin, and have we mentioned her lupine smile yet? She is so uninteresting. For a character-focused book, especially one for which the focus is heavily in her favour (eg. a Bonnie chapter skipped in favour of returning to Lucky, and another Bonnie chapter focusing entirely on Lucky), this is unfortunately a pretty significant problem.
Additionally, the book feels like it lacks purpose. It's just a little glimpse into these women's lives, but why? At the centre of the story is addiction and the pain that this brings into families suffering from it, but so little depth is given to these discussions that I gained nothing from it.Something I found particularly difficult was how Nicky's addiction and her death were spoken about. The consensus ends up being that her sisters couldn't have done anything, but this lacks volition. It just feels like a plaster being put on the wound. Because Avery and Lucky are both shown to clearly need support when facing their addiction, and they know that Nicky didn't have this, and they acknowledge that they noticed the signs that she was struggling with this, but didn't attempt to support her through it, and allowed it to be swept under the rug. Maybe if they had supported her, she still would have died. But they don't know that, and Avery's rush to accept her mother telling her that "you're not that important," even though the importance of family support has been so central to this book, just feels like the need to accept comfort from an empty platitude. She doesn't go through the process of learning how to live with such a harrowing mistake. She just accepts these empty words, which have been proven to be untrue, and moves on. So there was no emotional release at this climactic moment, just disappointment for me.
I still do feel that this has a special place in my heart because I love books about family :D
Additionally, the book feels like it lacks purpose. It's just a little glimpse into these women's lives, but why? At the centre of the story is addiction and the pain that this brings into families suffering from it, but so little depth is given to these discussions that I gained nothing from it.
I still do feel that this has a special place in my heart because I love books about family :D
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
corporatelobotomy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
pipisonstage's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Chronic illness, Violence, Vomit, and Death of parent
nataliekh's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness and Infidelity
Minor: Vomit and Sexual harassment
beate251's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and 4th estate for this ARC.
This is the story of the four Blue sisters: Avery (the gay one) who is a lawyer living in London, Bonnie (the scary one) who is a boxer turned bouncer living in LA, Lucky (the hot one) who is a model living in Paris and Nicky (the dead one) who was a teacher living in New York. They have awful parents (alcoholic father, cold mother) and display a lot of self-destructive behaviour, including but not limited to alcoholism, drug abuse and infidelity. They also constantly fight with each other. Honestly, if you needed a guide book on how to fuck up your life, these people could write it no problem. Lucky's posh drug-fuelled party is so distasteful I skipped a few pages.
I get it, the death of their sister Nicky at 27 from an overdose of pain medication (she suffered from debilitating endometriosis), leaves a hole in their lives they struggle to come to terms with but I simply couldn't connect with these well-to-do women who willingly burn down their lives at every turn while using words like "lycanthropic" and "prurience". Just go have therapy already!
It is well-written literature, but it's not for me. Too much misery and unhappiness in a book, combined with chapters that are ten miles long, makes me lose the will to live.
“Lucky,” said Lucky. “That’s a funny name,” said Flopsy. Lucky gave her a sideways look."
This is the story of the four Blue sisters: Avery (the gay one) who is a lawyer living in London, Bonnie (the scary one) who is a boxer turned bouncer living in LA, Lucky (the hot one) who is a model living in Paris and Nicky (the dead one) who was a teacher living in New York. They have awful parents (alcoholic father, cold mother) and display a lot of self-destructive behaviour, including but not limited to alcoholism, drug abuse and infidelity. They also constantly fight with each other. Honestly, if you needed a guide book on how to fuck up your life, these people could write it no problem. Lucky's posh drug-fuelled party is so distasteful I skipped a few pages.
I get it, the death of their sister Nicky at 27 from an overdose of pain medication (she suffered from debilitating endometriosis), leaves a hole in their lives they struggle to come to terms with but I simply couldn't connect with these well-to-do women who willingly burn down their lives at every turn while using words like "lycanthropic" and "prurience". Just go have therapy already!
It is well-written literature, but it's not for me. Too much misery and unhappiness in a book, combined with chapters that are ten miles long, makes me lose the will to live.
“Lucky,” said Lucky. “That’s a funny name,” said Flopsy. Lucky gave her a sideways look."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape
bloomed's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
a really gorgeous slow-burn exploring grief, sisterhood, motherhood, and addiction.
blue sisters didn’t land for me quite as hard as cleopatra and frankenstein did, but i think that’s just a personal thing—for people who have sisters, i feel like this could be the book, given how vividly the familial dynamic is written! each sister individually is also lovely; they’re all extremely flawed people, grappling with their own secrets, but the way they’re written makes them feel unbelievably human.
the only con this book really has, at least for me, is that it’s a pretty slow burn; with the synopsis of the book being what it is, i kind of expected that the sisters would be together sooner and spend a little bit more time together. as-written, it did still work, but something about the mismatch between what i thought the structure of the book would be vs the reality did make the first half or so feel a tiny bit stretched out.
regardless, coco mellors’ writing is stunning, and if she writes it, i’ll read it and love it. 4/5 stars!!
and, as always, thank you to netgalley and the publisher both giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!
blue sisters didn’t land for me quite as hard as cleopatra and frankenstein did, but i think that’s just a personal thing—for people who have sisters, i feel like this could be the book, given how vividly the familial dynamic is written! each sister individually is also lovely; they’re all extremely flawed people, grappling with their own secrets, but the way they’re written makes them feel unbelievably human.
the only con this book really has, at least for me, is that it’s a pretty slow burn; with the synopsis of the book being what it is, i kind of expected that the sisters would be together sooner and spend a little bit more time together. as-written, it did still work, but something about the mismatch between what i thought the structure of the book would be vs the reality did make the first half or so feel a tiny bit stretched out.
regardless, coco mellors’ writing is stunning, and if she writes it, i’ll read it and love it. 4/5 stars!!
and, as always, thank you to netgalley and the publisher both giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Lesbophobia and Sexual harassment
alwayskeara's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The prose was amazing, but the story fell flat. Instead of focusing on 4 sisters this book would have been stronger with only 3. There simply wasn’t enough time to explore Nicky or Bonnie when 85% of the story focused on Avery and Lucky. A story on the complexity of addiction is hard to achieve and I don’t think this book does well enough of a job. Removing the character of Bonnie and instead focusing on the relationship between Avery and Lucky after the death of Nicky and how their similarities and self destructive tendencies clash would have made this a 4 or 5 star read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment