September Sister Read - The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

Synopsis (as taken from Goodreads):  
Alice Hoffman’s previous novel, The Third Angel, was hailed as "an unforgettable portrait of the depth of true love" (USA Today), "stunning" (Jodi Picoult), and "spellbinding" (Miami Herald). Her new novel, The Story Sisters, charts the lives of three sisters–Elv, Claire, and Meg. Each has a fate she must meet alone: one on a country road, one in the streets of Paris, and one in the corridors of her own imagination. Inhabiting their world are a charismatic man who cannot tell the truth, a neighbor who is not who he appears to be, a clumsy boy in Paris who falls in love and stays there, a detective who finds his heart’s desire, and a demon who will not let go.

What does a mother do when one of her children goes astray? How does she save one daughter without sacrificing the others? How deep can love go, and how far can it take you? These are the questions this luminous novel asks. 

At once a coming-of-age tale, a family saga, and a love story of erotic longing, The Story Sisters sifts through the miraculous and the mundane as the girls become women and their choices haunt them, change them and, finally, redeem them. It confirms Alice Hoffman’s reputation as "a writer whose keen ear for the measure struck by the beat of the human heart is unparalleled" (The Chicago Tribune). 

S’s Rating: ❤❤❤❤1/2  (out of five hearts)

D’s Rating: ❤❤❤❤1/2  (out of five hearts)


S’s Thoughts:
"The Story Sisters" is the first book I've read by Alice Hoffman and I can assure you it won't be the last.  Though a relatively short novel, TSS was a dense read filled with allegory and (my favourite) magical realism in spades.  There's nothing like a good read with a bit of magical realism thrown in... my personal favourite is Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude", but TSS gives even that classic a run for its money in my opinion.

I think the reason why TSS appealed to me at the start was the "sister factor"... I mean, given this is a blog written by two sisters it seemed a perfect fit.  Like in TSS, there are three of us which I thought was a nice similarity anyhow.  And it was weird/funny but, while reading TSS, I pictured myself and my sisters as certain characters.  I saw L (who doesn't do much reading so you won't ever see her on here) as Claire, surprisingly... D as Meg, not surprisingly.  Me?  I identified the most with Elv, especially given the current relationship I have with members of my family. 

Elv is the oldest of three sisters... like me.  Elv is her own spirit... like me.  Pre-kidnapping she's a typical little girl, loves her family/sisters, takes care of them, and in the case of Claire saves them.  Then, well, things happen and she stops living so much for others but instead living for herself.  She gets involved in drugs and crime, is somewhat rehabilitated, meets the love of her life, leaves behind her family and... I won't reveal the rest.  I can identify with that... minus the drugs/crime/rehab. I won't go into the details here because it's quite personal, but also like Elv my relationship with some members of my family is quite strained. 

Anyhow... what did I like a book?  Well, that my fear of moths is justified!  (I hate those damn things... I've always told my husband they were evil!)  Joking (and magical realism) aside, I did enjoy TSS and will definitely be reading more of Hoffman's work soon.  I already have The Dovekeepers on my Kindle so that'll be next I suppose.  If I'm honest, there wasn't really much of anything I didn't like about this book... I even liked the ending!
Standout Quotes:
"Love is what matters," she said.  "Real love.  The kind that turns you inside out."

Demons were said to be cruel, but a demon would never have been so brutal as this.  A demon merely called you by name, threw his arms around you,  whispered his plight, understood yours, then took you for his own.  

The rest of the world didn't matter.  She was one thing only, and that was his alone.  When the counselors held up a mirror, Elv wasn't like the other girls, who cried and covered their heads.  She wasn't like her sister, willing to betray her own flesh and blood.  She didn't flinch when she saw her reflection.  Now that her hair had been shorn, the black rose at the base of her neck was visible, as if in  bloom.  So much the better.  This was who she was inside.

Album to listen to while reading this book: Passerby by Allie Moss

D’s Thoughts: The only reason I won't go as in-depth into TSS as S is because our thoughts are nearly identical. This book reads like a faerie tale, and that's what made it hard to put down. Hoffman puts so much thought into colors of light, the scent of various people, and other such details...it's extremely reminiscent of my own writing. Call me an egomaniac, but I like it when others parallel my literary style. S's comparison of the three sisters being like ourselves is spot-on, so let me go a little more in-depth about the character I identified most with: Meg. Meg is the the middle sister (which is unlike me, as I am the youngest). She is the first to deny the fantasy world that Elv created, and she is also the most aware when Elv no longer "lives for others", She bears most of Elv's later abuse. Meg is book-smart, but her people skills are poor, in part due to the fact that she is not as close to Claire or Elv as those two are to each other. Nonetheless, her sisters care about her, and Meg trusts them...in one case, to a fault. There are fewer details about Meg than there are the other two sisters (once you've read the book, you'll understand why), but I still feel closest to her for a completely different reason. About halfway through the book, while Claire, Meg, and their mother are in Paris, Meg decides that she wanted each of them to remember the way the sunlight looked at that moment: orange. In response, she found a piece of paper and scribbled the word orange, then folded it in half. The motif of sunlight colors does not seem important at first, but it will be discovered later that good memories of Meg will need to be revived regularly throughout the rest of the book because...sorry, not spoiling it!

Perhaps my only complaint was that the time frame of the book was so spread out--upwards of 15 years--that it was hard to remember the beginning once you reached the end. It was necessary, but I wish there would have been a shorter way for every problem to find its solution.

Otherwise? Flawless. There is so much love in this book: not just romance, but the kind of love that sisters have that can't ever break. That, I believe, is what Elv was really searching for in love "that turns you inside out".
Standout Quotes: "[Elv] tried not to let on how excited she was. She was seventeen and ready for the world, whether or not it was ready for her. She could actually feel things after all."


"He wished he could show Claire what love was. The ability to ask for something. The desire to give someone what they asked for."

"Maybe some love was guaranteed. Maybe it fit inside you and around you like skin and bones. That is what she remembered and always would: the sisters who sat with her in the garden, the grandmother who stitched her a dress the color of the sky, the man who spied her in the grass and loved her beyond all measure, the mother who set up a tent in the garden to tell her a story when she was a child, neither good nor bad, selfish nor strong, only a girl who wanted to hear a familiar voice as the dark fell down, and the moths rose, and the night was sure to come."

Album to listen to while reading this book: Hard Candy by Counting Crows (in case you haven't noticed, Counting Crows is by far my favorite band)


October’s book is D’s choice and is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

See you soon! S & D