SISTER ACTS

In Reyes’ novel, a mother's death and a father’s end-of-life care brews bitterness in a dysfunctional family.

Sophie Malinsky’s death, due to a malignant brain tumor, has life-altering consequences for her four daughters—10-year-old Betti, 14-year-old Marla, and their older sisters Naomi and Rose. Each sibling deals with it differently. Rose can’t bear the sight of happy people, so she prefers to stay indoors and pull the curtains over the window in their living room; Naomi and Marla begin to shoplift in the absence of parental supervision; and Betti imagines herself to be a bird who can fly. Their father, Max, seeks companionship with a girlfriend who’s just 10 years older than Rose. Reyes shows, with skill and sensitivity, what coping mechanisms can look like when one’s world falls apart and one must face a new reality. Her description of Rose’s response to grief is particularly moving: “When she had to go out, she didn’t notice the blue of the sky, or feel the warmth of the sun, or smell the chrysanthemums lining her front walk. She just wanted the day to end, to get out of other people’s sunshine.” The effects of this traumatic childhood event continue into their adult lives: They treat each other harshly, and simmering tensions reach a peak when they disagree about Max’s medical care after he shows signs of cognitive decline.

Reyes prepares readers for this dynamic with some explicit foreshadowing on the dedication page with a quote from feminist psychologist Phyllis Chesler: “If one is hurt or offended by another woman, one does not say so outright; one expresses it indirectly, by turning others against her.” Marla takes on this role frequently to spite Rose—for instance, by turning Rose’s daughter, Natalie, against her, and by inviting Rose’s ex-husband, Hector, to Thanksgiving. Marla refuses to listen to Rose’s thoughts regarding their father’s care because it threatens her ego. It’s heartbreaking to see Rose weather this undeserved backlash, when all she’s trying to do is help her dad, who was stern with her when she was a child. Overall, the author paints a terrifying portrait of how cruel people can be toward siblings, parents, and children, as when Marla is shown to be judgmental about her sisters. For instance, she thinks that Naomi, a poet, “ought to be out looking for a decent job instead of writing more embarrassing drivel that will never be published.” The author also writes about questions of identity and ethnicity in nuanced and thought-provoking ways. Naomi, for instance, changes her name to Noemí after moving from Milwaukee to Guanajuato, Mexico. Rose, whose children have Puerto Rican ancestry, wonders whether her sister is guilty of cultural appropriation or if she simply dislikes her Jewish heritage; Naomi says, “The past is just a big ugly blot I’d like to forget.” The past, of course, can’t be ignored; Sophie reveals, earlier in the novel, that all families have secrets, and the Malinskys are no exception.

An eventful and emotionally intense family saga.