Today’s book is a book that I read quite a few years ago and then picked up again recently. I’d remembered that I enjoyed it but I couldn’t specifically remember why. The reason is that it’s a character-driven story with an interesting approach to writing – an approach that is specifically of interest to people who write for a living. The book is called Our Sometime Sister
The book is about a woman in her twenties who is writing two books at the same time. The first book is a novel. The second book is the story of her life. The two stories seem to parallel one another and the writer starts to realize that either her novel is too close to real life or her real life is too close to being a work of fiction.
Through the different approaches that the writer takes to writing these stories down, we as readers of the book get some insight into the struggles, mistakes and successes of a young first-time author. Anyone who has tried to write their own life story (as fiction or memoir) will really relate to a lot of the writing experiences in the book.
At the same time, the novel is about more than just a writer’s struggles with writing. It’s a character-driven book which uses the two stories to give us information about the childhood and development of the main character. It’s an interesting approach to learning about the person we’re reading about and one that I think works really well in the novel.
I’ve listed this book for trade over at Paperback Swaps but I like it so much that I’m thinking about keeping it!
Tags: book recommendation, book review, books, kathryn vercill, labiner, our sometime sister, paperback swaps, reading
