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A review by ladytiara
The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee
4.0
Once upon a time, the Sullivan sisters were a close-knit trio, but as the years passed, they've fractured into three distinct units. Eileen once dreamed of being an artist, but now she's given up on art, works a dead end job, and nurses a growing drinking problem. Claire is determined to leave her small Oregon town behind. She's got straight As and a successful small business, but her dream school has just turned her down. Murphy is the youngest, and she's scared of being left behind. It's Christmas, the girls are alone because their mother has won a cruise, and Eileen learns that they have an inheritance from an uncle they've never heard of. This leads to the sisters going on a Christmas road trip to visit the old Victorian house they've inherited, and they learn about a murder mystery that involves their family.
I'm a sucker for dysfunctional family stories, and this one is the sort of thing I love. The Sullivan family is a mess. Their father died before Murphy was born, and her mother was left with huge medical bills that she's still trying to pay off, 14 years later. She works constantly at a drug store, and the girls have been raising themselves for the last few years. The narration moves among the three sisters, and we see inside their heads.
Claire was the most interesting character to me. As a queer teen in a small town, she's just waiting to finish high school and start life over in a new place. She's a devotee of a social media influencer, and her path to success follows the influencer's teaching, which are both depressing and funny. She's built her dream of escape around getting into Yale on early decision admission, and when she's rejected, she's devastated because she didn't apply anywhere else and she feels like her whole future is on the line (I did wonder why she couldn't just apply somewhere else. It's only December, and most regular admissions deadlines are in January as far as I know.).
Eileen's narrative was a little hard to read at times. She's had a really rough time, and she's turned to alcohol to ease the pain. She's a mess and much of it has to do with a secret she discovered two years before, which is related to the mystery inheritance. Murphy is a sweetheart. She's 14, and she's taken the fractured relationship the hardest. She just wants her family to go back the way we were (and to become a famous magician).
The three voices are very distinctive and the triple narrative structure works really well for the story. The family mystery is an interesting one and it works well as a device to force the sisters to deal with each other. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes broken family stories.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
I'm a sucker for dysfunctional family stories, and this one is the sort of thing I love. The Sullivan family is a mess. Their father died before Murphy was born, and her mother was left with huge medical bills that she's still trying to pay off, 14 years later. She works constantly at a drug store, and the girls have been raising themselves for the last few years. The narration moves among the three sisters, and we see inside their heads.
Claire was the most interesting character to me. As a queer teen in a small town, she's just waiting to finish high school and start life over in a new place. She's a devotee of a social media influencer, and her path to success follows the influencer's teaching, which are both depressing and funny. She's built her dream of escape around getting into Yale on early decision admission, and when she's rejected, she's devastated because she didn't apply anywhere else and she feels like her whole future is on the line (I did wonder why she couldn't just apply somewhere else. It's only December, and most regular admissions deadlines are in January as far as I know.).
Eileen's narrative was a little hard to read at times. She's had a really rough time, and she's turned to alcohol to ease the pain. She's a mess and much of it has to do with a secret she discovered two years before, which is related to the mystery inheritance. Murphy is a sweetheart. She's 14, and she's taken the fractured relationship the hardest. She just wants her family to go back the way we were (and to become a famous magician).
The three voices are very distinctive and the triple narrative structure works really well for the story. The family mystery is an interesting one and it works well as a device to force the sisters to deal with each other. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes broken family stories.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.