top of page
Writer's pictureThe Bossy Bookworm

Review of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

Blue Sisters explores three surviving sisters' messy paths into and out of grief after the loss of their fourth sister Nicky. They make self-destructive decisions but ultimately settle into more settled futures while holding their memories tightly.

The Blue sisters are reeling from the death of their fourth sister, Nicky, from an overdose she experienced while attempting to cope with her longstanding endometriosis pain.

But they're each making poor choices, and each is in danger of falling apart. Lucky, the youngest, a model, is losing herself in drugs and alcohol. Avery, the oldest, ten years sober, is a married lawyer (her wife is her former therapist, eek) making an impulsive, destructive choice to try to feel something again. And steady Bonnie seems to be throwing away her future as a boxer--and pushing down her deep feelings for her longtime trainer.

Bonnie, Avery, and Lucky come together and push each other away throughout the story.

The sisters' formerly close relationships with each other grew in reaction to their emotional distance from both their mother--who by all accounts was poorly equipped to offer the girls security, support, or affection and at any rate was uninterested in doing so--and their father, an abusive alcoholic whose dark, dangerous presence haunted the girls' lives and whose drunkenness overshadowed Nicky's funeral.

I appreciated the exploration of grief and the many avenues the sisters take to cope with it, deny it, or wallow in it. I stayed very nervous while the three survivors made destructive decisions that seemed destined to cause them further pain, and as they railed against each other.

I listened to Blue Sisters as an audiobook, read by Kit Griffiths. I appreciated that Griffiths's New York accent was fitting for these New York characters, but the accent was such a departure from the non-accents of many of the narrators I'm used to, it took me some time to get used to it. Increased diversity in accents feels like an #audiobookgoal.

A note: at my preferred 2x speed, Griffiths's speech felt distractingly halting, with what felt like hard stops between each word. When I slowed down the speed, this speech pattern wasn't noticeable, so I'll take the blame for listening at a faster speed than the book was designed for.

I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book!

Coco Mellors is also the author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein.

To find more Bossy reviews of books about grief, check out this link.

Comments


bottom of page