Two sisters have moved in together after both have divorced. As they build a new, adult relationship with one another, we observe them unspooling the difficulties each faced as a child in a dysfunctional family. Joyce and Lydia's sister, Eleanor, had had Cerebral Palsy. Their parents had felt unable to create a safe family environment for all three girls, so Joyce and Lydia were left to move through life virtually alone while their parents worked tirelessly at making a "good" life for Eleanor. In the end, Lydia and Joyce uncover ways to care for each other.

As is probably obvious, this is a largely character-driven novel; journeys through memory and internal monologues about present situations make up a lot of the book. Joyce's poem-versions of neighborhood online message board posts round out every chapter, and I found myself skimming through those with impatience. Perhaps with a paper version, I might have slowed down.

Zigman brought these women to life with compassion, incisiveness, and more than a bit of humor. Much thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for making the book available as an ARC for a review.

I really like the idea of this book – however it kept switching between poems, and prose and it was easy to be confused. I really struggled through the first 30% of this book before deciding that there were no redeeming qualities, the book was confusing and rambling, and nothing made me want to stick it out, so I did ultimately DNF this one.

I do think that this is a very unique book and will appeal to some people. It is entirely character based so I believe that is why the author attempted to add the poems and second person POV to liven the story up. For me that just fell flat.

As this book did not work well for me in any way, I will not be publishing a review to my social media sites beyond Goodreads as I typically do.

I have enjoyed this author's earlier books, so I was excited to read this one. She does well creating these characters that felt like real people to me. It's definitely a character driven novel, which I don't usually choose. I need a little more plot. So ultimately, this one fell flat for me. I know may readers love these type of slower, meandering novels where you get to live a slice of life with the characters, so I know there will be an audience. For me, it didn't work this time, but I will give the author a try again!

I have been a fan since Animal Husbandry. This story follows adult divorced sisters living together. The chapters alternate between current situations and a chronicle of growing up with a disabled sister and an activist mother. Witty, sad hits all the notes. Not my favorite of Zigman's but still an interesting introduction to this specific family dynamic. I liked the background narrative better than the current day.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Laura Zigman’s story about two middle-aged, divorced sisters who move back together is an intense, claustrophobic family drama. The sisters are not good at social interactions, with the elder Lydia particularly poor at making friends. The younger Joyce is happy by herself, working at her online archival restoration job, and lurking on a neighbourhood social network.

The two get on each other’s nerves repeatedly, while ever so slowly beginning to confront their childhood, when their severely disabled middle sister Eleanor, died when she was only ten years old.

The sisters’ mother Louise turned her whole life into caring for Eleanor, and into advocating for disabled rights. She was so wrapped up in these that she neglected Lydia and Joyce. When Eleanor died, the family came apart, with the girls' parents divorcing, and Louise barely aware of her remaining daughters.

Naturally, this left scars on Lydia and Joyce, and their inability to process these emotions and be in relationships all comes to a head once they move back in together.

Zigman sensitively portrays the sisters' emotions and the damage, and easy as it could have been to dislike Louise for forgetting her other two daughters, I felt sympathy for her constant efforts to make Eleanor's life better. In addition to all this, there are some family secrets revealed that shake Joyce up and call into question many of her memories of her mother and young Lydia. It's an interesting tightrope to walk, making all three difficult women sympathetic, and Zigman manages it skillfully.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Ecco for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Following a divorce, Joyce is making a new life for herself in the apartment she shared with her ex-husband. She spends much of her time on her work and her hobby of making poems out of posts on Small World, a site for neighborhoods to share tips and ask questions. When her sister announced she will be moving back East after her own divorce, Joyce invites her to stay at her apartment while she gets on her feet. Although the two have not been close as adults, Joyce hopes that this time will allow them to build their relationship and discuss their childhood, including the death of their sister Eleanor when she was just 10 years old. Things do not quite go according to plan given the two sisters’ clashing personalities and their disagreement about how to deal with new, noisy neighbors that move in next door. As the two sisters seek to move on with their own lives, they struggle with the role the other will play in that next phase — and with the often unspoken experiences they shared as children.

This is an emotional and perceptive book about two sisters, shaped by a common experience, and how they seem to forge a new relationship as adults. Well written and full of strong characters, this is a novel that you will not regret picking up.

Highly recommended!

I will be withholding my review until Harper gives their Harper Collins union workers a fair contract. Thank you again for the copy.

This was not a good book in my opinion. I see where the author tried to do a character study on two grown adult sisters being thrust together but it just felt like nothing happened. The characters were given no real reason to change or comment on how their lives differ from their childhood. The change of POV from poems to second person was jarring as well.

Joyce and Lydia are sisters who had a younger sister with quite severe disabilities. They often felt neglected as their parents were always busy with the sister and little time was spent with them.

Now, decades later, Joyce and Lydia are once again under the same roof. They are trying to forge a bond that had been broken for a very long time. The two sisters are very different people and living together is not easy.

The story is told in first and second person.

There were sections that contained poems that added little to the story.

Overall a good book, I just felt it took way too long to get there.

Although the writing style wasn't to my taste, I would try another book by this author.

Thanks to netgalley and Ecco for the arc.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. Joyce and Lydia are two middle-aged sisters who are recovering from their divorces and moving on. Lydia moves back home to temporarily live with Joyce in her apartment. Joyce is hoping for a close relationship, one that the sisters never had when they were younger in part due to another sister who had special needs and died while they were young. There was not enough attention to go around to Joyce and Lydia and they went their separate ways. Laura Zigman describes a 50-something's relationship to a sibling very accurately. There are good times and there is tension. When upstairs neighbors move into the building, it changes the development of the relationship between the sisters. Small World is a great observation into sisterhood, middle-age and later in life friendships.

I've been a Laura Zigman fan for a long time -- loved Animal Husbandry. I had trouble with this book, though. The topic is not a pleasant one -- painful childhood memories of feeling neglected due to a younger sibling being born with severe disabilities as the background for a late life reunion of two somewhat estranged sisters. On top of that, however, I found the style to be long and rambling and Zigman uses the second person point of view frequently which is something I really dislike (though not as much as I dislike first person plural POVs!). So unfortunately, I can't give this book a positive review (and will not be sharing my review on social media)

I read Laura Zigman sooo many years ago with Animal Husbandry and was excited she’s out with a new novel. This book follows two 50ish year old, divorced sisters who come together many years after being separated by distance and family Tragedy. We learn that their sister who died when she was only ten was disabled and their mother put all of her effort into caring for her: leaving the other two girls feeling neglected and untethered.
There are interspersed entries from a local message board that are both hilarious and poignant. And the reflections of the main character both in the present and past are equally funny and touching. I loved the writing, the pov, th e story. It’s a slower one so some folks may feel not enough “happens” but this is just the kind of book I enjoy. 4+ stars

Put this on your must read list for the beginning of 2023.

Joyce is settling into living alone after her divorce. She works at home digitalizing family photos and creating memory books and slide shows. She likes routines and rules and predictability. On her down time she reads a neighborhood page, Small World (think Nextdoor) and creates hilarious so-true poems from the posts and comments.
Her older sister, Lydia, comes to live with her temporarily after her divorce. The two sisters are not close and Joyce is hopeful that will change. But then the new upstairs neighbors move in — total rule breakers — Joyce’s routine is out of whack.

There is a third sister, but she died very young. Eleanor had Down’s Syndrome and died a year after she was placed into a state instruction. Their mom, Louise, was a tireless advocate for disability rights, often leaving her daughters feeling like outsiders.
The book follows the sisters now and then. The then really informs and explains who the sisters are in present. It is quiet, emotional and made me think. I loved it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thank you @ecco and @netgalley for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Small World by Laura Zigman. Thanks to @eccopressbooks and @netgalley for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Two sisters, Joyce and Lydia move in together after their divorces and get to know each other and their eccentricities as adults.

This was a realistic literary fiction where you get a close examination into two sisters and their unique upbringing. Learning about the sisters as adults shows us how their childhood affected them. I loved the flashbacks and how it would switch to second person. It made it feel very close and intimate.

“As long as we’re both breathing, we’ll probably forever misread each other’s faces; second-guessing and misinterpret each other’s thoughts, feelings, and motives in the worst possible way.”

Small World comes out 1/10.

This was a hard one for me to read as I'm in the middle of my own sister battle at the moment - or well, at least my own current sister battle.

Two sisters have moved in together, for the first time in 30 years, after divorce. Of course, after 30 years, tensions will arise. This is that kind of book.

It's just....family drama. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. This didn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is such a personal, intimate family story, yet one which will be relatable to just about anyone. I really enjoyed spending time with the Mellishman sisters, and was sorry to reach the end of the book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, a good book, and the relationship between Joyce and Lydia is interesting and believable, with the emotional dynamic of having (and losing) a sister with major physical and mental needs a solid conflict. Not a lot of surprises, though, in terms of where the story is going to end up. Zigman uses elements of characters external to the sister dynamic to bring about change, to some success. The use of poems and the second-person narrration parts were not my favorite; I felt the story might have been stronger with the basic premise only.

This was fine. The story itself -- two sisters working out their family trauma and secrets -- was good. I just really didn't like the structure. Didn't like the poems Joyce creates from the Small World message board, didn't like the flashback sequences written in second person from Joyce's POV. It seemed like a lot of unnecessary fuss and self-conscious quirks for such a straightforward story.

My first book review for an upcoming 2023 release! Woo hoo! Where’s the champagne? This January release is one that you need to take note of, and add to your TBR immediately. Small World by Laura Zigman truly warmed my heart. The premise of this story grabbed my attention immediately. Two middle-aged and newly divorced sisters move in together after many years of being somewhat estranged. Lydia and Joyce take this time to get to know each other again, and really rehash their childhood and upbringing. After years of not discussing the past, a lot of memories regarding their disabled sister and distant mother are brought to the surface. Emotions run high with a lot of reflection and grieving going on. I sure hope that this book gets the buzz, love, and attention that it deserves in the new year. It has so much going for it. The plot and characters are fantastically quirky, off-beat, and totally unique. I found myself smiling a lot, and looking forward to picking my kindle back up every evening. Oh, and the drama with their neighbors upstairs had me hooting and hollering! That’s a whole other side story that brought SO much laughter and entertainment to the story. I’m still snickering. If you enjoy novels about sisterhood, friendship, family drama, unpacking the past, and moving forward, then you’ll definitely enjoy this one. Small World releases on January 10th, and it gets 4.5/5 stars from me! Highly recommend!

The engaging story of two adult sisters, both divorced, who end up living together as a matter of practicality, but both secretly hoping to repair their relationship and come to terms with events that left a mark on both their childhoods. This would be a great choice for a book group/club discussion, and I look forward to recommending it.