The Chrome Suite, Sandra Birdsell

a sweetly crafted little book about the life of amy barber, a strange kid and now an (who isn't) unhappy adult. amy's childhood in small-town canada goes off the rails when her older sister Jill dies of something hideous involving swollen glands in unmentionable places. amy is 9 when her sister dies, and we never learn what jill suffered from. her family falls apart - mother finds religion, father starts collecting junk small and large, older brother becomes a promiscuous asshole. jump forward to amy as an adult, in a relationship with piotr, a younger man from poland. can't reveal more without revealing too much. this was a strange book to read - i responded strongly to the writing and the characters' emotions, but never actually felt sympathy for amy. i liked this one, though if there's a message in the title, i'm too dull today to figure it out.
Posted by supersusie at May 30, 2004 10:53 AM