So elegantly written; such a joy to read. This is a quick, satisfying novella, and very compelling -- I was drawn in by the first person narration, the strong emotions and sense of immediacy in the prose. This is the story of a marriage haunted by the husband's first wife; it doesn't really stand on its own two legs. The dialogue with the children from the first marriage reinforce this, and frequent snapshots nostalgically recollecting the narrator's pre-marriage life contribute to the sense of overwhelm by the past. The ending is quietly shocking and perfect.

I will recommend this title to fans of Joyce Carol Oates, short story lovers, and those who enjoy a sense of gothic in their fiction.

Sisters is a story told in the first person narrative by the second wife. She is totally obsessed with her husband’s first wife, who he divorced. The first wife is referred to as “she”. This novella focuses on the husband and the two,near adult, step-children along with the first wife. Unfortunately wife number two has low self-esteem and her husband is a real piece of work. I did enjoy the story from wife number two’s perspective. Interesting and well worth the read.

Beautifully written short novella. Very quick read. Shocking ending.

I didn't get it. There was no "story", which is what I was expecting, just someone musing on what the first wife might have been thinking and/or doing. Not my kind of book I am afraid.

I really like Lily Tuck’s prose style. She always writes a sparse and elegant sentence. In “Sisters”, she has taken that sparsity a few steps further. There is no spare text here, and the reader might be forgiven for thinking that perhaps a few more details might have been added. Several times this summer, I’ve felt like an author was under-estimating my intelligence. Tuck expects you to keep up. If you don’t, she will leave you behind!

This is a strange little story. I couldn't really identify with the character at all though I could understand somewhat the fascination she seemed to have for her husband's ex-wife. It was rather prophetic that she seemed to identify with the ex - even admire her. I got the feeling she would have liked to be friends with her. Perhaps now she will be.

3.5 Prose that is simple, exact and elegant. An inside look at a second marriage, and a wife that tries to fit herself into the shape left by the divorced wife. One of the quickest books I have read lately as these are snippets, snapshots, of different observations. The second wife is our narrator, and it is from her we find out about the husband, herself, she has a remarkable memory for places and things. The children from the first marriage, their conversations. When she talks about the first wife the she is always in italics, in this way her jealousy of the former marriage is noted. Almost dreamlike, but the ending comes quicky, jolts us out of our revelry.

ARC from Netgalley

In the absence of knowledge, people create stories to explain situations that confuse them. For insecure second wives, that knowledge gap only increases over time, especially with a controlling husband. A husband with a predilection towards affairs. Enter our narrator without a name and her obsession with wife#1, referred to as "her", and the two children from the first marriage, a girl and boy. Our narrator becomes obsessed with "her" and seeks to figure out, lacking much real knowledge, what her skills, hobbies and feelings were and are. She develops a kinship with "her" even as she lacks any ability to speak with "her" when they meet.

This novella feels like you have sat down next to a very chatty seat-mate while getting a pedicure and she just must tell all. You won't remember the various details but the overall theme will stay with you for days and days. You'll wonder what she is doing now and how she is coping. But, it's probably best not to give her a call. She'd probably start the saga all over again; it seems far from resolved. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

This is a very short book -- a novella I guess -- that admittedly packs a lot into a very short amount of space. Wife #2 is obsessed with wife #1 after meeting husband while he was still married to wife #1. Nobody gets names in this novel: the anonymous narrator calls wife #1 "she." I wasn't fond of the not-quite-out-of-left-field ending, or our narrator, but why I really didn't enjoy this book very much was that I felt it tried much too hard to be literary and sophisticated, with all these references to other works that took up a lot of space. It ended up reading like an episode of literary Chopped, where the author had all these various unrelated works in her basket and had to weave a story around them. The final product just didn't win me over -- it was not tasteful to me at all.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Sisters by Lily Tuck is a quick novel about a woman who marries a man with two children. She becomes obsessed with his ex-wife and throughout the book constantly probes the kids for information about their mom. This book is light in its tone while dealing with serious matter in its content. There is something about it that reminds me of a Woody Allen film. I found it enjoyable for a quick read, but will not be adding it to my collection.

Dark and unsettling despite the scant page count and sparse prose, Sisters accomplishes so much in its short span that it makes a brilliant case for similarly brief novels. Perfect for fans of Harriet Lane's Her.

Interesting and very short meditation of sorts on being the second wife. Some of the internal monologue wanders like our minds do, which can be a tad annoying, but it also makes the protagonist more human. This is a stream of consciousness novel, which you might love or hate, but it's definitely worth the hour or so of your time it will take to read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. Try this one if you liked Rebecca.

5★
“First and second wives are like sisters.
—Christopher Nicholson (Winter)”
[Quotation before the title page]

What a delightful surprise! I don’t remember what prompted me to read this small book, but if I’d listened to it instead of reading it, it would have been like sitting next to an interesting fellow traveller telling me about her life. (I don’t mean the dreaded boring, smelly guy who spills over onto my armrest and chair.)

I've heard it said that a couple who have children together remain related as siblings do, even after they've all moved on. I hadn't thought of successive wives being related, although multiple wives in a polygamous relationship can be like sisters, I believe. As caring and as catty!

She is the second wife and gradually reveals her story, weaving her way back and forth between today and then backtracking a bit to fill in the gaps. Like when you’re looking through a photo album and you want to know who someone is. (Again, I don’t mean the boring friend who ropes you into viewing their holiday snaps and gives you elaborate, blow-by-blow accounts of every person they met and how hysterically funny they were, and OH, you should have been there!)

The first wife was obviously considered special, possibly still longed-for by the husband. At the wedding of one of their children, they dance together.

“Next, he danced with his former wife and, to be honest, my heart sank as I watched them glide across the floor effortlessly to Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.’ My husband was holding her tightly around the waist and she had her hand high up on his back, nearly touching his neck. I had to admit to myself that they looked good together.”

The first wife is always ’she’ and always in italics. It’s hard to describe how enjoyable I found this – like eavesdropping maybe? Maybe hearing more than was intended, but getting a kick out of it and wondering who I could tell. A seemingly offhand remark is like those incidental things people tell you when you’re only half-listening. But she finishes with a snide comment that you know would make you laugh in sympathy.

“Our own wedding was small. My sister and her husband came from Austin, Texas. Eloise and Harold. Eloise is a few years younger than I am and we have never been close. Less so once she got married and she had kids, reasons I suppose for her to act superior to me. I’ve met her kids. Her kids are surly and overweight.”

I think that’s the last we hear of Eloise, but after hearing the crack about the kids, I’m drawn into the narrator’s confidence and probably going to sympathise, aren’t I? She fluctuates between cutting and snide to poignant and wistful. There’s an underlying longing and a desire to measure up to expectations.

But gradually, she mentions more little bits about her interaction with the first wife and the children. She browses through old photos and suspects that maybe ’she’ and her relationship with her husband may not have been all he thought it was cracked up to be. She knows her own relationship may be questionable, and she’s seeking some kind of affirmation as to how she’s dealing with it.

If she had been my seatmate on a plane, I’d have wanted to pat her arm (perched thoughtfully on her part of the shared arm-rest, of course) and tell her she’s going to be fine, and I’m on her side. ’She’ can go on her merry way, please.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted, so quotes may have changed.

Lily Tuck's latest is a stunning book of prose by this always elegant author.

Sisters is a short and clever book that contains a multitude of literary references. First and foremost, it feels much like Daphne duMaurier's Rebecca in the early pages. So much so that the author eventually directly references the book ("Last night I dreamt -- not of Manderley . . . "), which was unnecessary for a well-read audience and would fly over the head of those not familiar with the book anyway. But, aside from a few too many gratuitous literary references, was a quick and enjoyable book from the headspace of the main character. Thumbs up!

Thanks to NetGalley, Lily Tuck and Atlantic Monthly Press for an advanced copy of this book. It was a quick, rather engaging read.

Lily Tuck’s latest novella, Sisters, opens with a quote from Christopher Nicholson’s Winter – “First and second wives are like sisters.” The quote sets the scene for the unnamed narrator’s story, who describes life with her new husband, his two teenagers, and the unbanishable presence of his first wife, ominously known only as ‘she’.

A partnership that stems from a betrayal is on uneven ground from the outset – history is on the side of the ex; there will always be nagging doubts about trust; and comparisons will be made.

And during those same evenings after dinner when we both had drunk too many glasses of wine, I also wanted to ask him: And who do you love best? Me or her? And who fucks best, me or her?

Tuck’s cool, precise narrator delivers her story with an obsessive but clinical tone. Her recall of seemingly unimportant details (particularly about what she was wearing and what she ate) provides a catalogue, documenting her marriage – and yet, we know that what she is actually dissecting is not shirts and dinners. Instead, these details and her speculation about the life of the first wife, create mounting tension. The ending to this story seems inevitable but Tuck is cunning and delivers a climax that is undeniably surprising.

I received my copy of Sisters from the publisher, Grove Atlantic, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 Brilliant choice for a quick, gripping read.

This was a strange book. You never know the names of the main characters, the author just used pronouns. The narrator is the second wife of a man and she's obsessed with the ex wife. The story is mostly her wondering what the ex wife is doing and thinking. Then the novel abruptedly ends. I couldn't believe it was that's brief. I didn't really care for this story at all.

A very short and fast-paced book! It ended so abruptly that I turned to the first page. It doesn't mean the author didn't manage to put her views across: there's a certain weird connection between women who used to be married to the same man. Starting point: getting married to the same guy, then taking care of the same set of kids, being cheated on and, finally, getting divorced.
The first and second wife (no names, only generic SHE, HE, HIS/ HER DAUGHTER/SON) are not the same in so many ways, but this does not stop the second wife to try to be like the first one: listening to classical music because SHE is a talented pianist, learning French because SHE lived in Paris with her family when they got married, wearing the same parfume... On the other hand, she cannot stop herself not to sleep with her ex-boyfriend or seduce/ be seduced by stepson, so no one else is to blame but herself and the fact that she married a serial cheater...
What I find really puzzling is why the author chose such a concentrated form to tell this story. Anyway, strong essences come in small bottles, so don't miss this one!