Name: The Singer Sisters
ISBN: 9781250907646

Sarah Seltzer

A Novel

The Singer Sisters

We follow two narrators, mother Judie in the 60s, from the age of 17 and her daughter Emma in the 90s.

While both narrators are a similar age, Emma has a really grating habit of whining. The line between confidence and narcissism is very thin.

She seems a lot less grown up than Judie at her age, though growing up a nepo baby must be a very weird experience.

She does have nice character development throughout the book.

Both characters are very well written and fleshed out. 

Later in the book we also get Sylvia and another narrator. 

Judie and her sister Sylvia form a folk duo band “the Singer Sisters” who make it big. She is married to another artist, and for a while they are the “it” couple in folk circles.

In the book we get into the nitty gritty of growing up, families, expectations etc. While it took a while to pick up the pace, the story goes very deep and is very nuanced.

Judie, Emma and Sylvia have very distinct voices in their narration. The other one slightly less so. 

It is lovely to read an uplifting Jewish story with Jewish characters that is centered around joy and music. 

The book also has a nice amount of queer rep.

If you like reading about the music scene in the 60s/70s, or the 90s, this book is for you. If you like complicated families, this might also be your jam.

I really hope artists can make an album out of the lyrics in the book. I read the 60s ones as a mix of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Carole King. 

Suzanne

We follow two narrators, mother Judie in the 60s, from the age of 17 and her daughter Emma in the 90s.

While both narrators are a similar age, Emma has a really grating habit of whining. The line between confidence and narcissism is very thin.

She seems a lot less grown up than Judie at her age, though growing up a nepo baby must be a very weird experience.

She does have nice character development throughout the book.

Both characters are very well written and fleshed out. 

Later in the book we also get Sylvia and another narrator. 

Judie and her sister Sylvia form a folk duo band “the Singer Sisters” who make it big. She is married to another artist, and for a while they are the “it” couple in folk circles.

In the book we get into the nitty gritty of growing up, families, expectations etc. While it took a while to pick up the pace, the story goes very deep and is very nuanced.

Judie, Emma and Sylvia have very distinct voices in their narration. The other one slightly less so. 

It is lovely to read an uplifting Jewish story with Jewish characters that is centered around joy and music. 

The book also has a nice amount of queer rep.

If you like reading about the music scene in the 60s/70s, or the 90s, this book is for you. If you like complicated families, this might also be your jam.

I really hope artists can make an album out of the lyrics in the book. I read the 60s ones as a mix of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Carole King. 

I highly recommend it. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

The Singer Sisters A Novel

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