sisterly love

book: i see you everywhere
author: julia glass
completion date: 16/07/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i could have sworn that this book was written about my aunt and my mother. it was almost eerie how similar the main characters were- a bookish, serious older sister and the wild and impulsive younger shadow who have a very difficult, overbearing mother. also the fact that lou (the elder) spent a good amount of their childhood trying to control clem until clem got to be too strong and willful to be controlled.
for the fist half this book was so biographical (except for the failed marriages part) about my mum and her first sister. the way that lou and clem talked to each other, and how they fought and forgave was just so perfectly sisterly. i have a feeling that glass has at least one sister, because she understands what it's like to hate someone sometimes but not be able to live without them.
the book is narrated by both sisters at the same time, and i feel that this is where the book really falls apart, because unlike let the great world spin, both sisters have the same voice. often i found that i couldn't tell who was speaking until they mentioned the other. this book really could have been excellent if it weren't for the fact that you couldn't tell the narrators apart. it was a real downfall in my opinion.
i really got attached to both sisters though. they are both very strong characters who are living very different lives. because they're sisters, everything they do relates back to the other. perhaps that's the downfall of having a sibling- everything you do is compared to what they did. glass also deals with something interesting- the fact that the younger sister is clearly the favourite, meaning that everything lou does, however brilliant it is, she is never good enough. she is always haunted by this, because how do you deal with the fact that your mother loves your sister so much more. and where does that leave you when your sister is gone?
xo-ellebee