I feel like I might be slightly bias because I really liked Cleopatra & Frankenstein but I loved this book. I don't know if it was a 5 ⭐ but it's bloody close. It feels like Coco Mellors took on board a lot of things that didn't work out with Cleo & Frank to hone the things that definitely worked into a lot of the brilliant parts of Blue Sisters. She has such a unique way of telling things and crafting characters - her characters are so pointedly flawed, human and... likeable? By the end of this book, I found myself fond of each of the Blue sisters even if I didn't initially start out that way. Except for Bonnie. We always love Bonnie.
Growing up with only a brother, maybe I don't get a lot of the mysticism that comes from the way sisters are seen here. My mother has told me a litany of stories about growing up with my aunt and honestly it sounds very stressful lmao I'm not going to lie I think that Coco Mellors definitely captures the cattiness, the fighting, the judging and the overwhelming complex love that comes from sisterhood. This book has some real ugly matters that it wants to discuss - the eldest sibling becoming a surrogate parent, the way we overlook warning signs, grief, addiction, compulsion, mental illness, abuse to the self and also abuse given by others, belief, faith, moving on, failure, maternity, femininity, exploitation... there's a lot to unpack in this just over 300 page book. And frankly, it's exactly what I expected.
But...then we get to see the path to healing and I've never been happier/prouder. Don't get me wrong, this book is very outlandish but it's...grounded outlandish. From the background characters being just that big enough amount of suspended belief to the fact that we're following a supermodel, a world-class boxer and a high-stakes ex-commune living lawyer deal with their grief. Some of the critique I've seen is that people are sick of seeing beautiful NY sad, weird girls go through their trauma - but my argument is...does that take away from what Coco Mellors is trying to bring forward in her work? And that characters make this book. Never have I been more frustrated and endeared to a group of damaged women in my life. ...I'll also add a shout out here to Troll Doll who filled me with such real repulsion that I felt my nose wrinkle every time she did anything. What the heck was up with her taking a picture of Lucky like that?
I feel like the author has great insight into writing the spiraling, mentally unwell aspects of addiction - the whiplash that came from the scene in chapter 10 following Lucky falling off the wagon after one beer in a moment of weakness comes to mind immediately as something really well-written and borderline harrowing. The aversion to AA seen in the mother at 'being judged' is also pretty fascinating.
This book isn't going to be for everyone, plus I feel like if you caught someone in the wrong mind-frame, this book would be wholly unappealing but I was in the right place at the right time to fully enjoy this read.
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