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ksoles
Oct 14, 2013ksoles rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Following her extraordinary debut, "Prep" (2005) and two subsequent best sellers comes Curtis Sittenfeld's newest novel, "Sisterland," a rich but somewhat tedious and incredulous portrait of intricate family relationships. As young girls, identical twins Daisy and Violet Shramm both possessed “the senses.” Daisy eschewed her abilities during her transformation into Kate Tucker, wife to Washington University professor and mother of two whereas Violet becomes a bisexual seer. When Vi goes public with her premonition about an upcoming earthquake, Kate feels mortified despite her inability to ignore her sister's prediction. Skillfully, Sittenfeld highlights the differences between the twins that make their interactions so fraught; the present day narrative interweaves with Kate's memories of childhood and explains why she felt so threatened by her own powers. At times, scenes from the past do irritatingly interrupt the flow of the compelling main story but the powerful denouement largely makes up for this flaw. Ultimately, Sittenfeld's weakest effort to date still showcases the talents of one of fiction's sharpest, most perceptive writers.