Sarai Walker

The highly anticipated second novel from Sarai Walker--following her "slyly subversive" (EW) cult-hit Dietland--a feminist gothic about the lone survivor of a cursed family of sisters, whose time may finally be up.

The Cherry Robbers

the virgin suicides but better (bc it’s not written by a man)

i overall really loved this book and i couldn’t put it down (writing this review at 3 am on a weeknight) but i also wanted more from it. 

the prose is wonderful, the characters are distinct (even if they are not fully fleshed out, which is difficult to do when depicting 6 sisters), and a fantastic character study of iris/sylvia herself. the novel struggles for me with the occasional poem (the author attempts to emulate dickinson without a real understanding of the complexities of her internal rhyme), as well as a lack of explanation that i feel the novel could use a little bit more of. 

Clara Gauthier

the virgin suicides but better (bc it’s not written by a man)

i overall really loved this book and i couldn’t put it down (writing this review at 3 am on a weeknight) but i also wanted more from it. 

the prose is wonderful, the characters are distinct (even if they are not fully fleshed out, which is difficult to do when depicting 6 sisters), and a fantastic character study of iris/sylvia herself. the novel struggles for me with the occasional poem (the author attempts to emulate dickinson without a real understanding of the complexities of her internal rhyme), as well as a lack of explanation that i feel the novel could use a little bit more of. 

I enjoyed the majority of the book. The middle section in particular is engrossing. It started to feel a bit repetitive but also rushed towards the end, but that didn’t take away from the overall effect and story. I especially liked the way various feminist themes are woven throughout the story in imaginative ways.

Laura Hurst

Alexa M

“I think I’ve finally come to realize that it’s my destiny to be one of the madwomen.”  

 3.5 rounded up! 

I really liked this! Not sure how to describe this honestly except a story about sisters. Very gothic vibes and was pretty slow paced, but I was always engaged. This was a pretty solidified 4-star read for me, however, the last Part of this was so goddamn boring and long that I had to bump this down half a star. I really loved our narrator, Iris, and found myself relating to her a lot. 

Recommend this for those looking for a gothic story about women!

I really loved the concept, but it left me wanting so much more. You know the whole plot from the get-go, and I kept wondering why I was still reading it. If you know the ending going in, I’d expect there to be something to learn along the way about the characters, or some exploration of the theme that felt worthwhile. Ultimately the main theme was too obvious and trite for me and I got as much from reading the cover synopsis as I did from the whole book. I did think the writing was excellent and I would read something else from this author if given a chance. 

Rowan Hitchcock

"Sarai Walker has done it again. With The Cherry Robbers she upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal." —Maria Semple The highly anticipated second novel from Sarai Walker, following her “slyly subversive” (EW) cult-hit Dietland—a feminist gothic about the lone survivor of a cursed family of sisters, whose time may finally be up. New Mexico, 2017: Sylvia Wren is one of the most important American artists of the past century. Known as a recluse, she avoids all public appearances. There’s a reason: she’s living under an assumed identity, having outrun a tragic past. But when a hungry journalist starts chasing her story, she’s confronted with whom she once was: Iris Chapel. Connecticut, 1950: Iris Chapel is the second youngest of six sisters, all heiresses to a firearms fortune. They’ve grown up cloistered in a palatial Victorian house, mostly neglected by their distant father and troubled mother, who believes that their house is haunted by the victims of Chapel weapons. The girls long to escape, and for most of them, the only way out is marriage. But not long after the first Chapel sister walks down the aisle, she dies of mysterious causes, a tragedy that repeats with the second, leaving the rest to navigate the wreckage, to heart-wrenching consequences. Ultimately, Iris flees the devastation of her family, and so begins the story of Sylvia Wren. But can she outrun the family curse forever?

The Cherry Robbers

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