TITLE: Sister
AUTHOR: Rosamund
Lupton
GENRE: Crime/Literary
Blend
AUDIENCE: Adults
VOICE: Haunting,
powerful yet fragile
TONE/MOOD: Gripping, frightening, spooky,
THEMES: Families,
Murder, Relationships, Sisterly bonds
FIRST IMPRESSION:
Debut Novel by a script writer whose
background is very evident in the writing. The cover is intriguing with a
solitary figure in a red coat walking in the snow.
PREMISE/PLOT:
Beatrice’s sister goes
missing and she flies back to the UK from her home in the States to try and
find her. Along the journey Beatrice discovers as much about herself as well as
lots of things she didn’t know about her sister and her family dynamics.
ORGANISATION:
Twenty-three chapters of
varying length all readable in one short sitting. Some chapters are set within
a time frame e.g. Monday evening which helps to place the time and place of the
story
NARRATION/POV:
First person POV hard to
maintain but author manages this extremely well over 358 pages, this is a long
story. We see the world through the eyes of Beatrice but also through emails
and flashbacks of telephone conversations we see how the other characters see
things particularly the sister, Tess.
SETTING:
Set exclusively I London,
although Beatrice lives in the US the story starts with her coming over to try
and find Tess. Some links to famous well-known sights helps to place the story
and make it familiar to read.
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESS:
I was eager to get to the
end because I wanted to find out what happened, so lots of hooks and suspense.
However, I felt this dragged a little towards the end, almost to drawn out but
it did add to the ending which was very unexpected so looking back it was
probably the right thing. It was beautifully written with a very distinctive
voice.
OVERALL IMPRESSION:
The author’s script writing
skills are demonstrated very well in this story, with very clear scenes which
are acted out with a sense of wholeness and distinction. The suspense slowly built up and the sense of
Beatrice’s desperation about the disappearance of her sister is very real.
Don't Think Just Write
