"Shred Sisters," by Betsy Lerner

As I was reading "Shred Sisters" (Grove Press, 2024), by Betsy Lerner, I was thinking about how very often novels are about sisters. Although (or maybe because?) I have three terrific brothers but no sisters, I often wonder about what it would be like to have and be a sister. Of course (of course!) I get much of my information about sisters (as I do about life in general!) from books. Among novels about sisters that I have read and enjoyed are my beloved Jane Austen novels ("Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility"), Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women"; "Atonement," by Ian McEwan; "They Were Sisters," by Dorothy Whipple; "The Story Sisters," by Alice Hoffman; "Atlas of Unknowns," by Tania James; and many, many more. Reading "Shred Sisters," I was reminded of how often sister-focused books follow certain tropes, subtly or not. One is that each sister has a distinctly different character and role. Another is that there is usually deep love among sisters, but also deep divisions and violent emotions. Often the novel focuses on the latter, but by the end of the novel, the sisters have gained a new appreciation of each other, and/or have reconciled or at least reached a place of resolution and even peace. Along these lines, the sisters in "Shred Sisters" are very different from each other. Olive (Ollie) is dramatic, glamorous, fearless, and utterly unpredictable. Amy is serious, careful, successful at her studies, and a little dorky. Amy feels a lot of worry and fear, but also anger, about the ways Ollie flits in and out of their family's lives, often flirting with danger along the way, and seeming not to care about the effects of her unpredictable and irresponsible behavior on her family. Amy is very conflicted about constantly having to pick up the pieces Ollie leaves behind. But the basic connection and love between them persists. This is all disturbing and difficult, yet the basic love in the family (including Ollie's and Amy's longsuffering parents) comes through. Of course not all fiction about sisters is like this, but authors often do make sure to clearly differentiate their sister characters from each other, assigning them different characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, and describing conflicts between or among them.