A review by calicos
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I enjoyed reading this and the cinematic way things were described. At times it got a bit too cinematic though like it was written specifically to be made into a movie. It felt like the vividness of the writing was used to compensate for issues with the plot. The characters were interesting but often fell flat as they seemed a bit too tropey and predictable. I enjoyed their messiness but it sometimes seemed off or overdescribed. They were definitely privileged and the more diverse side characters seemed a bit tokenized.

The themes covered were heavy, with a focus on grief, addiction, and dysfunctional family bonds. Some aspects of the more serious topics like endo seemed a bit misinformed. I wasn’t a fan of
Bonnie getting with Pavel, them meeting when she was so young felt icky.


Horrible lesbian “representation.”  There’s no excuse for a self-described lesbian character to
desire and sleep with a man and describe it as more enjoyable than sleeping with her wife. Avery should’ve been bi. The other lesbian character was written to be predatory as well.


There were certain phrases or  whole sentences that were repeated verbatim that ruined the flow, I kept thinking “didn’t I already read this?” Also a completely unnecessary offhand mention of an Isr@eli, highly questionable for a book published last year that also threw me off.

The epilogue seemed like it was slapped on to try to wrap things up neatly in what was otherwise a story about very messy lives. The last bit from
the baby’s perspective was ridiculous and fell completely flat, what an odd and disappointing way to end the book.
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