Every now and then, when my lovely twin sister doesn’t know
what present buy to me for Christmas or our birthday she plays it safe and
goes for a book. How to survive your
sister by Ellie Campbell is my 2012 Christmas present.
Ellie Campbell is actually a pseudonym for two sisters that
write novels together using e-mail and Skype because one lives in England….the
other one in Colorado, U.S.A.
Here’e the plot (SPOILER ALLEART) :
The four MacLeod sisters couldn’t be more different. We have
the selfish and egocentric Nathalie and the plot develops all around her
wedding. She’s determined to make the following days about herself and nothing
(or no one) will take all the attentions from her. The other three sisters
are : Avril, who’s a cinematographic
agent, an indipendent woman with some trust issues in men…that’s why she only
has relationships with married ones. Milly is a fulltime mum of four kids with
post partum depression and a few pounds she can’t lose. She’s also very
patiente and calm. Then the younger one, Hazel. She travels the world without a
single worry running throu her mind.
And that’s her who brings home not only herself but also
Matt, a family friend. The wedding is in a few days and Nathalie’s acting
hysteric while facing organization problems. In the meantime, Milly is have some serious
problem handling her rebel teenage daughter and after that Nathalie said her to
lose some weight, she decided to take some american miracle pills…but they have
dangerous side effects that almost brought her to hospital.
At the rehearsal in the church with the posh groom’s
parents, Nathalie’s father showed up completely drunk and Nathalie kicked him
out yelling that she’s ashamed of him…A few days later her father’s died. So
the wedding is canceled and the four sisters have to face some burried problems
and secrets and be honest to one another. The entire family found out a secret
that Avril has kept for all those years and finally started to support each
other and act like sisters.
The novel is a comic introspection of sisterhood and how to handle
different personalities…sometimes during the reading you maybe would like to
kill Nathalie or Hazel, but in the end they will be finally themselves and won’t
act as they are perfect (especially Nathalie). I enjoyed reading this, it’s funny
and makes you ponder on family relations.
My vote: 8½/10
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