Title: Sylvia
Author: Twila Newey
Publisher: BCC Press
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2020
Number of Pages: 280
Price: 12.95
Reviewed by Liz Busby
TW: sexual abuse of a child, death of a spouse, death of a parent, cheating
This book is a real literary feast. You can tell the author put a lot of thought into the structure of the book. This book falls squarely into the genre of novels that are about four women and explore the world of female experience. In this case, it’s four sisters who gather together after their mother is killed in a car accident, and all the old feelings and relationships that inevitably get dragged into the light at such vulnerable times.
If you go into this book expecting a lot of plot, you’re going to be disappointed. The driving force of the book is uncovering the past of each sister, what led them to become the person they are. The story of each sister is compelling. Once the pace of the revelations picked up, I was churning through the pages to understand what had brought them to this point.
However, for some reason, the book still fell a little short for me. Maybe it’s just that the particular stories the author chose to tell don’t resonate with my experience. A lot of the book focuses on the impact of sexual abuse or sexual transgressions, which is an undoubtedly important subject to confront, but not one that I particularly enjoy. I felt that this issue took over the book to almost a one-note nature. I also felt the resolution where the sisters finally start to talk to each other felt a little forced and purposeless. Maybe I just missed it.
I also had a hard time identifying with any of the four sisters. Usually in a “4 Women” novel, I identify strongly with one of them (I am Jo March, Mary Bennett, Carmen in Traveling Pants). In this book, I feel closest to Mary and Eve, but in different ways they both pushed me away. Mary felt like a caricature of a math-smart woman rather than a realistic portrayal. And I loved Eve’s struggle with career and family, but I took the opposite path. I really empathized with her struggle, but couldn’t embody her character in the way I do in my favorite “4 Women” books.
So it’s not going to go on the favorites shelf, but it’s definitely going on the important books shelf.