Sister Acts: A Novel
By Sharon Adelman Reyes
Professional Reviews | Reader Reviews | Buy on Amazon
"Big-hearted, incisive novel of four sisters over fractious decades. ... Rich with psychological insight, but the storytelling is swift, even dishy, as the sisters build lives whose courses are never predictable. Reyes is adept at capturing how big dreams give way to everyday compromise. -- Booklife by Publishers Weekly
"An eventful and emotionally intense family saga. ... Reyes shows, with skill and sensitivity, what coping mechanisms can look like when one’s world falls apart and one must face a new reality." -- Kirkus Reviews
Four sisters. Four clashing personalities. Four different ways of living in the world.
Sister Acts explores the impact of loss on three generations of one family –- in particular, the degree to which, to paraphrase Phyllis Chesler, women are capable of inhumanity toward other women. At times heartbreaking and at times hilarious, the novel illuminates the resilience that can come from knowing one’s roots and the estrangement that can result from trying to escape them.
Sophie Malinsky’s sudden death leaves her Left-wing Jewish family in disarray. Rather than bringing her young daughters closer, the loss creates a tangle of jealousies and recriminations. Rose, the eldest, recognizing their father’s limitations, at first tries to become a surrogate mother for her three sisters. But they resent her efforts, each one channeling – or repressing – her grief in a different way. In the absence of Sophie’s love and guidance, two sisters lose their way. Naomi moves to Mexico and tries to shed her Jewish identity. Betti ends up in Nashville pursuing a dream, never realized, of stardom as a rockabilly musician. A fourth sister, Marla, strives for dominance from an early age. Her jealousy of Rose leads to a toxic rivalry that persists well into middle age, affecting their own daughters as well. Lurking behind the conflicts is a family secret that Sophie had planned, but failed, to reveal. Decades later, when Rose finally uncovers it, the Malinskys’ saga finally comes into sharp focus.
Professional Reviews
Booklife by Publishers Weekly"Rose wondered, not for the first time, what on earth had happened to her family," Reyes writes early in this incisive, decades-spanning novel, which charts the lives, bonds, conflicts, crackups, triumphs, disappointments, and losses of the four Malinsky sisters of Milwaukee, WI, from their Vietnam War-era youth to the most challenging decisions of adult life. Chief among those challenges is how to care for their father, Max, who in the fractious opening pages is facing Parkinson's and cognitive decline. The sisters, still tender decades later over the loss of their mother while children, step out of their far-flung daily lives to confer, at the prompting of Rose, the eldest. Inevitably, the meeting proves heated, as the quartet falls into old ruts: power struggles, hurt feelings, that all-too-relatable feeling that the people who should be closest to each other are instead trying to score points.
"From there, Reyes digs into the Malinskys' pasts, charting their development from the campground rivalries of their secular Jewish upbringing to failing marriages and unhappy careers, all in brisk, lively chapters alive with period detail, moments of poignant self-discovery, and much amusing chatter. Reyes's characterization is rich with psychological insight, but the storytelling is swift, even dishy, as the sisters build lives whose courses are never predictable. Reyes is adept at capturing how big dreams give way to everyday compromise, even as the sisters take bold steps: Rose dares an interracial marriage and advanced degrees; Betti endeavors to become a star in Nashville; Marla aspires to journalistic greatness but finds herself covering kielbasa festivals.
"That's not to suggest this sometimes overstuffed novel is bleak. Instead, it's as full of surprises, secrets, bad decisions, and moments of love and joy as life itself, with Reyes's structure—blending present, past, and eventually the future after that meeting—tied to the ways people actually experience family. Every new moment of frustration or connection feels freighted by every previous one, as the Malinskys sort it all out... and often get each other wrong.
"Takeaway: Big-hearted, incisive novel of four sisters over fractious decades.
Kirkus Reviews
"An eventful and emotionally intense family saga. ... Reyes shows, with skill and sensitivity, what coping mechanisms can look like when one's world falls apart and one must face a new reality. ... The author also writes about questions of identity and ethnicity in nuanced and thought-provoking ways."
Readers' Favorite 5-Star Reviews
"Sister Acts by Sharon Adelman Reyes is a complex and nuanced novel that delves into the most difficult and often disruptive relationships, those that occur within families. ... Readers will identify and perhaps recognize one or more of the four sisters and understand their motivations, which is always the sign of a successful novel. I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it."
-- Grant Leishman
"I found it almost impossible to put the book down. ... A story I recommend and will remember. A fantastic read."
-- Lucinda E Clarke
"Intriguing and so close to life. ... The reader's attention is captured from the first chapter to the very last page. ... Thank you for this extraordinary book."
-- Bernadette Longu
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