I’ll be frank – Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors was just not my thing. But others will love it (and I think already do).

At the guts of it, three sisters return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister, Nicky’s, death (from an overdose). Each of the sisters is battling her own demons, and each in her own unique way. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles and hung up the gloves after a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways.

A year after Nicky’s death, the sisters are all navigating grief in different ways. When their parents decide to sell the apartment they grew up in, they come together and are forced to confront the circumstances of the past.

The main theme is grief and in this respect, I’m not sure that Mellors offers anything new. Granted, I’m a tough customer. Bonnie and Lucky’s coping behaviours are amplified (which is expected) – Bonnie struggles to contain her rage, and Lucky wipes herself out at parties. Avery, who has been sober for more than a decade, is the most interesting. She doesn’t succumb to alcohol or drugs but observes –

… she didn’t know how to handle the grief. It was the surprise that hurt most. She had lived her entire adult life minimising risk to avoid being caught off guard by pain, yet she had not protected herself from this.

The relationship between the sisters was interesting, although again, I don’t think offered any fresh perspective. I don’t have a sister but I recognise that there are dynamics particular to sister relationships. Lucky captures this –

Against their parents, against the world at large they were fiercely allied. But among themselves, everything was a competition.

One aspect of this book that really didn’t work for me, was the sisters’ attitude toward their parents, who are strangely absent from their lives. There are multiple references to Avery ‘raising’ the younger three, but the reason for why this was the case isn’t really clear, apart from the fact that their father is an alcoholic and that their mother made him a priority. Even then, I’m stating it more plainly than it is treated in the book. Have I missed something?

2/5

I received my copy of Blue Sisters from the publisher, Harper Collins Australia, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

There are very few mentions of food in this novel, although the sisters discuss multiple times the inadequecies of Nikki’s funeral, and agree that instead of the dry sandwiches that were served, there should have been confetti cake.

As part of the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge, I’m comparing the Belfast summer and Melburnian winter. The results for the day I finished this book (July 20): Belfast 10°-16° and Melbourne 9°-11°.