Those boys really should have listened to their sister.

Listen to Your Sister is a crazy, weird fever dream of a book. While I was a little confused at times and the first half of the book was a slow burn (perhaps too slow?), I enjoyed the last half immensely. The portrayal of the sibling bond as they navigate trauma was deeply moving, and I was rooting for the Williams family. This book kept me guessing and was a perfect start to spooky book season.

I don't have any idea how to describe Listen to Your Sister in a way that would do it justice. It's a creepy, surreal horror novel that weaves fantasy horror with the real-life horror of social justice issues. This was totally different than anything I've ever read. I can't believe this was a first novel. Calla is a 25-year-old Black woman who gains custody of her teenage brother, Jamie, due to their mother's neglect. Their brother, Dre, also helps out. That's the basic plot, but there is so much creepiness. If you love horror, you'll love Listen to Your Sister. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Nobody messes with the big sister in this wildly creative nightmare driven family drama

Listen to Your Sister is the fascinating and creative debut from Neena Viel, whilst I enjoyed, did struggle with parts of it. Whenever a book features Black characters, and they are all Black in this novel, Jordan Peele always seems to be a point of reference, but apart from some social and racial commentary Listen to Your Sister is very much its own rather unique beast. This really is a novel of two halves, both totally unique, jumping from a tough emotional family drama into a perplexing hallucinogenic nightmare. Which half worked best? It is very hard to say and is open to debate, I was unsure whether they gelled and felt both ending up becoming slightly repetitive.

The opening half has little horror beyond that of real life and concerns the family drama surrounding three siblings, Calla (25), Dre (23) and Jaime Williams (16), beginning when the youngest goes wildly off the rails. Calla is Jaime’s legal guardian and struggles to get by, with their troubles worsening when Jaime is suspected of selling drugs at school. The youngster has a lot of charm, is street smart, but constantly gets in trouble which escalates horribly during a civil rights demonstration which gets out of hand later in the story. Dre takes a backseat letting Calla do all the mothering and discipling, living elsewhere, whilst his younger brother runs wild. The novel takes a fascinating look at the family dynamics; on occasion Jaime looks down upon his elder brother, who has a job in a restaurant and does not hang out on the streets. Jaime acts as if street life is his destiny and only possible path his life will take. This part of the story was well written, believable, with three convincing and different characters with their own battles, strengths and faults.

The story is told from the perspective of the three sibling, chapter by chapter, and after a while this did test my patience. However, the wildly different ways the three perceived each other did provide fascinating contrasts and contradictions. Even when accept they have significant past family trauma in their past, Jaime remains an obnoxious brat whose troubles were of his own making and I had little sympathy for him as he dug himself into a deeper hole, naturally expecting his sister to naturally bail him out. Calla was by far the most interesting character, she is a reluctant parent, riddled with a combination of guilt, anxiety and fear that Jaime is on a path there is no escape from. She also feels helplessness as whatever she tries makes little difference and has it thrown back in her face.

This family soap opera went on too long, but the manner in which it connected to the second half, where the drama takes the back seat and the horror kicks off was neatly done. It is difficult to talk about the second half without going into spoiler territory, but as Jaime’s rioting escalates a guardian angel (or sorts) appears and helps him, in the shape of a little girl. Meanwhile, Dre witnesses a couple of murders and everything is weirdly connected to his family. There was a fair bit of very strange stuff in the second half, parts of which reminded me of the sheer irrationality present in Gus Moreno’s This Thing Between Us (2021).

This second half was fast paced, unrelenting and bloody, but l quickly found this to be as repetitive (but stylistically different) as the first part. It was choppy, disorientating, nightmare driven and I am uncertain it made a lot of sense, perhaps it was not meant to. But it was loaded with great set pieces with the dream sequences being tricky to follow, with the characters blending into each other. The idea that all this is connected to one of Calla’s guilt driven nightmares, related to childhood trauma, was particularly clever, dominated by recurring images of her brother’s dying and she she is powerless to prevent it.

I enjoy weird books and Listen to Your Sister definitely ticks that box and even if I had issues with some parts it remained with me long after completion. It was original, creative and highlighted the power of family, twisted and distorted into a waking bloody nightmare. Nobody messes with the big sister!

3.5/5

Review Copy

I liked this book but was disappointed that it was so slow. Now don't get me wrong you've heard me say that I like long descriptive books. This story was long but dragged. The mention of Jordan Peele had me excited to read, but the first 50-60% didn't seem to have a Peele feeling.

The book was not bad though. It certainly showed the horror of growing up Black in America and is something everyone should read and be aware of.

3.5 stars! Check it out!

I really enjoyed the last 40% of the book as the pacing picked up. It was a very weird fever dream but it was enjoyable. I love good feminine rage, and the book was FULL of it, so that last portion earned a solid 3 stars.

What kept this from being 4 or 5 stars: the first 60% of the book was sooo slow and just made me angry at the brothers for not caring AT ALL about their sister and everything she sacrificed for them. I understand that was part of the plot, and others may be able to look past it, but it just made me not want to root for them. Their actions just made me feel passive about their fates, and not very invested in the story.

The tense atmospheric was enough to keep me turning the pages. The POVs of each sister was done so well.
This may be creepy for some but I’d say eerie for me.
Overall it’s a decent read.

This one took a while for me to get into, but I loved the overall concept of this book. Once I got into the story, I found this book to be intriguing and hard to put down. I liked the author’s writing style, but found the pacing to be a bit slow at times. This horror book had a lot of great moments and overall was a great read. I haven’t read a book quite like this one before, and it was a good debut novel.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for the gifted arc.

Sometimes after reading a book you sit and think, what is the author trying to tell me? Listen to Your Sister is a story of sibling love and trauma. With each chapter, the story alternates between the three siblings, Cala, Jamie, and Dre. While it is evident that they love each other, things were going on that I do not understand. One thing is clear, however, they have experienced a lot of trauma in their lives which they carry around in the form of guilt. From the start, the author creates a tense and urgent atmosphere. As the story progressed, the creepy, supernatural, strange twists kept me turning pages to try and find answers. I will be thinking about this one for a long time.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

I have conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, it did a good job of looking at how much women sacrifice for men, along with how many different versions of themselves a person goes through. On the other hand, the book’s most important aspect (which I can’t say without giving a spoiler) didn’t always work for me.

Overall, though, this was a decent book. Plus, I was thrilled to discover that their chubby tuxedo cat was named Mephistopheles, due to the fact that I had a chubby tuxedo cat named Mephistopheles!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This is one of the weirdest books I've read but I really enjoyed it as I laughed, cried, and couldn't stop reading when things got crazy! Calla, Jaimie, and Dre are siblings who are tied together by blood but also the trauma they experienced in childhood. Each chapter focusses on a different character so we see the personalities of each in different time periods as they navigate their way through protests, police brutality, bombings, and most importantly their love for each other. It has a dream-like quality that keeps you guessing and I'm still. not sure I really understand it, but it was one of those books I'll revisit frequently!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!!

I really enjoyed this book. More than I thought I would. I liked the characters! Great writing style and I liked the storyline. This book kept me guessing. I finished it in one sitting.

This was quite the creepy read. The sibling dynamics was quite enjoyable to read and the horror element of this story is genuinely creepy and gave me shivers. Not something you should be reading at night or without your lights on!

Oooooh this is handsdown the best book I've read this year. This does give off a very Jordan Peele esque energy, very scary but also with a kick ass trio of siblings fighting against the horrors of the mind, and the reality of the world. If you have your own group of tight knit, even if forced, siblings, this is a great read for you.

The Williams siblings only have each other, for better or for worse. I think this book covered 'worse'. And I mean that in the best way, the 'my eyed were glued to the page with anxiety' and the 'this is insane' type of ways.

This book was everything painful about having siblings, and it was everything beautiful about them as well - I found it a tough read as an oldest sister, but I was transfixed. I felt Calla's pain and frustration. I wanted to grab her brothers and shake sense into them. I felt a sick glee at the brothers getting some comeuppance, but felt a keen sense of worry for them as well.

Not many books do sibling relationships so well, but it's hard to look away from the glorious mess of Calla, Dre, and Jamie. They love each other, they hate each other. They are their truest selves with each other. They say unforgivable things to one another. They need each other, because in the end, it's them against...well, you'll see.

I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I have read a lot of really weird books lately and Listen to Your Sister is right up there with the weirdest of them. That's not necessarily a bad thing – I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this one – but holy heck I'm not even sure what I just read. I went into it expecting more of a “creepy cabin in the woods” type story, but it turns out it's not really about the cabin – or the woods – at all.

It also deals with some pretty heavy subjects. Childhood trauma, reluctant sibling guardianship, abandonment, parentification of a child, death of a parent, guilt, missed life opportunities, and strained family ties are all topics that are addressed in this novel. The author does a wonderful job of showing how all of these repeated traumas can fracture a person and cause them to resent those that they love most.

At the same time, though, the Williams siblings obviously care a lot for each other and this isn't a story devoid of hope. Even when they're at odds with each other, Calla, Dre, and Jamie still have each other's backs. And they're a witty bunch. I absolutely would not call this a funny read, but it does have some pretty hilarious lines mixed in with all the more serious bits.

As for the plot … I dunno, you guys. I think this is a book that is best gone into mostly blind. It's a fever dream-y and unsettling tale that's as creepy as it is heartwarming. And it's very, very weird. But overall? It's certainly worth a read and perhaps one of the most original books I've read in a long time. This is apparently Neena Viel's debut novel and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. 3.95 stars, rounded up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is February 4, 2025.

Great book for fans of horror genre, I loved the storyline and how different it was from other books right now.

4.25⭐️ on this one for me!!! It was a slower read for me, but was so absolutely a great read and so different! From the characters, storyline, and gory details it was all done just right. Since i’ve stayed up WAY past my bedtime to finish, i’m finding it difficult to explain how/why i enjoyed this book! I’m not big on “supernatural” if that’s how you would classify the “Callas” in this book, but if this was classifies as supernatural it didn’t feel like it!

Fans of Stephen King will enjoy this creepy novel. My favorite thing is the bond between these siblings, surviving a wrecked family if lies, drugs, abuse, trauma. Although Calla didn't want to assume the responsibility of taking care of her youngest brother, and dealing will all the trouble he creates, because she doesn't feel like she is an adult yet, she is brave and strong and loyal to her siblings. Even when things go south and they feel so lost that they lash at each other. Deep inside, they know they only have each other.

Something is wrong, and it's not just prejudice, racism, or getting into trouble because of protests, bombs, or drugs. Something strange, wicked, and supernatural. Something is happening, and they will have to deal with it. The dreams are like warnings, and they are terrible as well.
I enjoyed reading this one. It's one we highlight and annotate (sassy fun answers and also emotional life realizations).

Thank you netgalley amd publisher for the e-arc.

I love horror books that make me laugh but also make me afraid to go to the bathroom at night. And horror books that deal with family trauma and generational trauma and childhood trauma. Guess what. This book does all of that.