Book Review: Sister Crazy by Emma Richler

The story is of Jemima Weiss, a highly sensitive and observant little girl, growing up in a big family, with a genteel but distant British mother, a gruff idiot of an American (or Canadian?) father, three imaginative brothers and one super girly, fairy-like little sister. The story is told in vignettes, jumping around in time but not enough to become confusing, and each story concludes in a sudden leap to Jemima's life as an adult, in which she clearly suffers from depression and possible a mental illness, although it is never identified. The stories are actually pretty funny a lot of the time, (as in Jem and her brothers' detailed adventures with Action Man, which reminds me of my dad's stories of literally blowing up the soft-bodied action figures, or sister Harriet's discovery of the F-word), but they also keep hitting you with a sudden, sad realization that, yes, even as a child, Jem is not quite all there. What's odd is the way she struggles with things like understanding romantic love versus familial love, and how one carries on as an adult after you have left home. She is attached to the family she loves, especially her brother Jude, in almost an unhealthy way, but not actually incestuous (thank god). She just doesn't understand what else there is in life, and so as an adult, she is lost and muddled. She makes lists and rules for how to live life and tries to learn from movies.

"The truth is I am pretty worried about olden times, I am mixed up about them, I don't know if things were better then or just different, and mostly I can't see how we grew out of them."

As a child, Jem fantasizes that her mother is a witch, but a good witch, because she always seems to know what the kids are thinking, or that they have come up behind her, and she imagines her father is a cowboy (only natural - the few times I've heard Brits imitate American accents they sounded like John Wayne). She keeps careful notes on both of them. It's interesting to see the messy parenting that takes place as well, especially in one vignette about a drive in to town to pick up anti-depressants that have been prescribed for Jem; the mother pretends everything is fine and that they are just out for a drive, while the father sulks and treats Jem as if she's done something wrong.

The whole thing is done in a very delicate way, and while it can be sad, it is not depressing, even when you discover that the adult Jem is avoiding knives, because she has apparently cut herself before. What saves it from being too hard to handle is Jem's narration, which is always innocent and hopeful. Down to the end, she is still doggedly trying to figure life out and you keep rooting for her to eventually get there. If you were a dreamy kid, this is an important book to put things in perspective. You'll find yourself identifying closely with Jem right up until you suddenly realize a line is drawn, and she has crossed over, while you recognized the void and held back.

Go check it out. I'm going to find this sequel I just discovered existed.