Scan barcode
A review by literarystrawberry
The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
This was a real page-turner, and I was completely engrossed until I finished it. I only have a few minor quibbles with the ending. I agree with Lee ( https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/510bb86c-6444-40a8-bf3c-afd270c85406 ) that the character in the last chapter would probably not be that self-aware; to me it just felt like the author's way of tying up loose ends by spelling things out for the reader instead of trusting that we could figure out the implications ourselves. I think the book would have been stronger without that epilogue.
Another small thing that bothered me a little: I wish that a character hadn't thrown in at the end that the antagonist probably had narcissistic or borderline personality disorder. I'm no expert on either, but it's my understanding that people who are diagnosed with those disorders are already frequently villainized, and I guess I'm just sensitive to the twist being "They're scary because they're mentally ill!" I do understand that mental illness can influence some people to do awful things, and it does seem clear that there's /something/ wrong with the antagonist, but I just don't feel like it was necessary to throw in a specific label so casually. I especially think this since I don't believe the word "autism" was used once in Fern's case (though it was pretty clear that's how she was coded), so it could have been interesting to leave both open to interpretation on the reader's part and let there be some ambiguity and speculation about why the antagonist did what they did.
So yeah, I feel that the ending could have been stronger, but I was definitely invested, and overall I did enjoy it.
Another small thing that bothered me a little: I wish that a character hadn't thrown in at the end that the antagonist probably had narcissistic or borderline personality disorder. I'm no expert on either, but it's my understanding that people who are diagnosed with those disorders are already frequently villainized, and I guess I'm just sensitive to the twist being "They're scary because they're mentally ill!" I do understand that mental illness can influence some people to do awful things, and it does seem clear that there's /something/ wrong with the antagonist, but I just don't feel like it was necessary to throw in a specific label so casually. I especially think this since I don't believe the word "autism" was used once in Fern's case (though it was pretty clear that's how she was coded), so it could have been interesting to leave both open to interpretation on the reader's part and let there be some ambiguity and speculation about why the antagonist did what they did.
So yeah, I feel that the ending could have been stronger, but I was definitely invested, and overall I did enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent and Child death