The Sisters, Too Much of a Good Thing is Still Too Much: a book review
The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri is beautifully written and way too long. (Honestly, if you’re short on time and just want to know if you should read the book, the first sentence of this review is a succinct summation of all you need to know about it.) Khermiri is an excellent writer - the unique sentence structure / chapter length combo that he employs moves you through the story like a swift and lyrical river. The sentences run on in long rivulets while the chapters are only a few pages long, creating a fluent, easy framework for the reader. If you didn’t have to use a prop in order to physically hold the thing, I would quickly call the book an easy read.
It is, however, a nearly 700 page novel with no plot. And I generally adore a novel without a plot. Some of my favorite books and stories of all time fall into this category - in fact, probably most of them do. But prudence must be employed with such a book. Length should be kept in mind - because if you’re writing runon lives for more than 300 pages, you’re likely just getting yourself off on your own syntax or sentence structure. Or something. Whatever the motivation was, I found the lack of self-awareness a little embarrassing.
About halfway through the book, I googled ‘Is The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri worth finishing?’ I don’t finish novels I’m not wholly enjoying. There are too many greats in the world to waste time on one that isn’t. The internet unanimously answered, ‘Yes! It is worth it!’ It cited a ‘great plot twist’ and a ‘strong ending.’ So I finished the final 350 pages. Neither was the plot twist great nor the ending strong.
I won’t ruin the twist for you, if you still want to read it for the pretty words, but I’ll tell you in a specific yet non-spoiler fashion why I didn’t like the end. It’s simple. The book centers on the lives of the narrator (also called Jonas Khemiri) and three sisters he grows up with (two of them interesting and one of them so boring that in the last 100 pages, I started skipping the chapters that were about her - thank goodness chapters were parcelled out per character), and yet the book ends on the anticlimactic death bed of a character who is mentioned maybe three times throughout the novel and who we only meet in this last scene. The lack of felt meaning in this ending (I say felt just in case it completely went over my head) was a real disappointment after the time and energy invested. I’m pretty sure I audibly said, ‘Ah man,’ when I set it down for the final time.
Okay. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way - because the above was, unfortunately, my main take away - there is one thing about this book besides the graceful sentences that really impressed me. Khemiri writes women well. I was under the impression that the book was written by a woman when I put it on hold at the library, so when I pulled it off the shelf to find the first name Jonas on the title The Sisters, I felt some icky feelings in my stomach. Did I really want to read this much content of a man botching three separate women’s experiences? But he didn’t! Khemiri is clearly acquainted with real, nuanced women in the world and knows how to do them justice on paper. All the points for that always. Nicely done, sir.
All of the above considered, I will absolutely pick up another Khemiri sometime in the future as long as it is not 700 pages long. Love a long book. Love a plotless book. Love beautiful, flowing sentences. Don’t love a long-haul novel with no plot and a puzzlingly disconnected ending. That’s all. Thanks for hangin.
by Brooke Hamilton