⋙ Read Gratis The Sisters A Novel Nancy Jensen 9780312542702 Books

The Sisters A Novel Nancy Jensen 9780312542702 Books

Download As PDF : The Sisters A Novel Nancy Jensen 9780312542702 Books

The Sisters A Novel Nancy Jensen 9780312542702 Books

Confusing hodgepodge of characters whom, other than the sisters, I found uninteresting. Sections about secondary characters are not sufficiently developed. For some reason, I had to keep referring to the relationship chart, which gets really tedious. I stuck with it only to find the ending has no resolution; it just ends. If Jensen is making a statement that life often works that way, the ending made no philosophical statement conveying that notion in any satisfactory way.


Tags : The Sisters: A Novel [Nancy Jensen] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV><DIV><I><DIV><I></I> </DIV><DIV><I>In the tradition of Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and </I><I>Elizabeth Strout’s </I>Olive Kitteridge,Nancy Jensen,The Sisters: A Novel,St. Martin's Press,0312542704,Family Life,Historical - General,Family secrets;Fiction.,Separation (Psychology);Fiction.,Sisters;Fiction.,AMERICAN FIRST NOVELISTS,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Historical General,Family secrets,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Literary,Fiction-Historical,GENERAL,General Adult,Literary,Separation (Psychology),Sisters,United States

The Sisters A Novel Nancy Jensen 9780312542702 Books Reviews

I liked the premise of this book and I liked the direction the plot took. I found the characters to be believable and interesting without being shallow. In fact, they were some of the more real characters I've read in awhile. Still, I found that the way the novel was written made it hard for me to really get into the story. The long gaps between chapters left me wanting much more information about what went on with the characters. I almost feel that this would have been better off as two separate books, allowing the author to flesh out the stories of all the women more and give us more detail about each one. Still, it was a pretty good book.
This book was unfullfilling in so many ways. The author left so many loose ends, almost hinting that a sequel is in order. It was difficult to keep track of all the characters, even with the family tree at the beginning of the book. I also felt some parts were very detailed while others were given little importance. The story line had the potential for a good read but it failed on many fronts.
I realize that this book was written by an MFA'er and I feel badly criticizing it. I have read 2 excellent first novels in the past few weeks and they have been extraordinary..."Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward and "Girlchild" by Tupelo Hassman were both unanticipated treasures."The Sisters" came highly praised and compared to 2 superior and very respected authors...Marilyn Robinson and Elizabeth Strout...Wow. So my expectations were really very high. Not fair, to me or to Nancy Jensen.

This was the most uneven book I have ever read. The author sets up a rather unbelievable scenario in which 2 sisters become estranged and it appears that she will take the reader on a chapter by chapter journey through the next several generations of this family. This does not happen though, because the story is centered on the life of one of the sisters...with the other one getting not only short shrifted but given an absolutely ridiculous narrative. Just awful...

I give "The Sisters" 3 stars because the the sister that becomes the book's protagonist is written beautifully. I have read that the story is somewhat autobiographical and this woman is obviously based on someone that the author has been intimately close to. The character of "Bertie" is so expertly drawn that she brought me to tears. The reverberations than rippled through Bertie's family, due to her being deeply hurt and betrayed early in her life, were so raw and honest. Brilliant, really. This part of the story reminded me of the wonderful Brett Lott and his masterful book "Jewel" of several years ago. Unfortunately...the rest of the story orbiting around this character was so dreadful that I just can't reccomend this book.

Nancy Jensen is a talented and nuanced writer...I hope to see her produce another novel. My advice to her is to write about what she is familiar with...and leave alone contrived and far stretching plot devices. And if writing a book with alternating chapters that are dedicated to individual characters, she must create them with some equality of interest.
In this, her debut novel, Nancy Jensen does an impressive job of resisting the temptation to wrap everything up in a pleasant resolution, such as reunion and reconciliation of estranged sisters Bertie and Mabel or their descendants. Instead, she delivers the tougher truth of broken families that there is no reconciliation as long as there are buried secrets. The best we can do short of the whole truth is what Bertie's granddaughter Grace does fashion art out of the few traces our ancestors left behind. So Grace weaves these meager strands - their names, dates, initials, photos, a faded ribbon from a dance eighty years ago - into a beautiful necklace, which she presents to her niece Taylor at a family gathering.
I don't know Mabel's story, Grace tells Taylor, to explain why the pattern of the intricately woven necklace is slightly out of balance. But even these secrets that disorder families, become part of our legacy. That Jensen knows this, and has found a way to show it so effectively in her first novel, is a major feat. Without giving readers what we hope for after the childhood break-up of the sisters in the first chapter an eventual reunion, Jensen instead carves a harder path through the thicket of family misunderstanding to a rare insight about human connection "Whatever we carry inside us shapes everyone we touch."
Mary Lee C. Fowler, Ptld., Maine
You can't put this down once you start, because you keep wanting the fairy tale, that is always near, maybe on the next page, but what comes is an even better story. You will weave through lives and learn what families can do to each other and yet love and have bonds that resist time and heartbreak. You will discover resiliency and strength. And discover that we each see love and life differently, yet make connections that last a lifetime and beyond.
Warning If you read this book before you need to go to an appointment or sneak in a few minutes before starting to cook dinner or going to bed, set an alarm. Otherwise, hours could go by, and you'll never know it. This engrossing first novel by Nancy Jensen begins in the early 1900s with the story of two sisters, a horrific secret and crossed paths that will forever change both their lives. Each chapter tells the story from the point of view of a different character, beginning with the sisters, Mabel and Bertie, and continuing with their children and grandchildren. The ending is absolutely astounding. I never foresaw it. This book will grab you on the first page and not let go. Excellent!
Confusing hodgepodge of characters whom, other than the sisters, I found uninteresting. Sections about secondary characters are not sufficiently developed. For some reason, I had to keep referring to the relationship chart, which gets really tedious. I stuck with it only to find the ending has no resolution; it just ends. If Jensen is making a statement that life often works that way, the ending made no philosophical statement conveying that notion in any satisfactory way.