Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Little Sister: A Novel
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
27 posts | 12 read | 31 to read
"A profound, fascinating meditation on the superpowers deep inside the consciousness." Rebecca Lee Thunderstorms are rolling across the summer sky. Every time one breaks, Rose Bowan loses consciousness and has vivid, realistic dreams about being in another woman's body. Is Rose merely dreaming? Or is she, in fact, inhabiting a stranger? Disturbed yet entranced, she sets out to discover what is happening to her, leaving the cocoon of her familys small repertory cinema for the larger, upended world of someone wildly different from herself. Meanwhile her mother is in the early stages of dementia, and has begun to speak for the first time in decades about another haunting presence: Roses younger sister. In Little Sister, one woman fights to help someone she has never met, and to come to terms with a death for which she always felt responsible. With the elegant prose and groundbreaking imagination that have earned her international acclaim, Barbara Gowdy explores the astonishing power of empathy, the question of where we end and others begin, and the fierce bonds of motherhood and sisterhood.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
review
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Mehso-so

With a unique magical realist premise (during thunderstorms one Toronto woman Rose had episodes where she's transported into the body of another as a kind of observer) it's surprising that this novel is as bland as it is. I just felt like it didn't do much or go anywhere. The contemporary story is offset by a narrative in Rose's youth around when her sister died in an accident. The woman that Rose visits becomes a kind of stand in sister. #CanLit

blurb
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

As a 34-year-old, I was feeling like the 34-year-old character felt like a very old 34 or perhaps a 34-year-old from 20 years ago or so, and then there was a detail that she saw "Being John Malkovich" 5 years ago when it came out. I googled to find out that movie came out in 1999 and was like, aha, it's like 2004! She still feels old but more believable now, as does her using a paper phone book and calling a business to get their address. #CanLit

blurb
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Small but mighty Christmas haul this year! My dad picked out this awesome sounding Canadian book, a "neo-gothic psychodrama" about sisters and my sister got me Harry Potter in Spanish so I can practise my Spanish! #ChristmasHaul

kgriffith I‘m listening to HP 1 in Spanish and have it in print too! I‘m buckling down on my Spanish learning now that school is done for this term and my next semester includes a class preparing me for a stint teaching in PR. 5y
LiteraryinLawrence Reading a familiar book in the language you‘re learning is a great strategy! 5y
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @kgriffith ooh great idea to do it with the audiobook as well! 5y
See All 8 Comments
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @LiteraryinLititz I hope I can stick to it! 5y
kgriffith @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian it‘s a great confidence builder, I can follow much better than I expected! 5y
BookishTrish I‘m interested in what you make of the Gowdy! Happy Holidays! ❤️ 5y
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @BookishTrish I'll let you know Patricia! Happy holidays to you as well! 5y
52 likes2 stack adds8 comments
review
sparrowssavvy
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Mehso-so

I loved the concept of this book and was super excited to read it. Even more so once I discovered it was set in my neighbourhood. However, I have mixed feelings about this book. The concept was great and I did really enjoy the writing, which was well crafted. Yet I felt that there were so many unexplored plot options. I like a lot of plot in my books and it was a bit lacklustre.

review
Book_in_hands
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Panpan

This was a book club read and it was not enjoyable. I did not like it and I will be interested to see what the other girls thought(I know one of them said that they did not like it)

Reviewsbylola Such a bummer when a book club book is terrible. 6y
RebelReader I love your book clip! 6y
40 likes2 comments
review
Bibliogeekery
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Pickpick

This book was so engrossing - electrical storms start throwing the main character into another woman's body for short periods of time and she gets drawn into her life as a result. Weird, quirky, and enjoyable. I wasn't thrilled with then ending but otherwise a great read!

AlaMich That cover reminds me a tad of The Shining twins...😳 6y
65 likes1 comment
blurb
Bibliogeekery
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Curled up in bed with my book trying to nurse some bug that's kicking my butt a bit 📚😷🤒

Hollie Yuck! Feel better! 6y
Tamra 😌Good place to be! 6y
JSW Feel better soon! 😘 6y
See All 6 Comments
Jas16 Feel better soon 6y
JanuarieTimewalker13 Stay cozy and feel better soon! 6y
jfalkens Hope you feel better soon xxx 6y
58 likes6 comments
blurb
Bibliogeekery
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Starting this one!

RiaWritten Love that cover! 6y
Shmemilina This cover reminds me of the intro credits for the ghost whisperer; I love it! 6y
Lea That cover! 6y
51 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
mcctrish
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Pickpick

The story involves a woman who is apparently suffering from silent migraines and enters the body of another person while doing so. It's an interesting, easy and kind of bizarre read

Sassy_Steph That sign was in a mall close to where I live last year! I thought it was such a great phrase I made my nieces pose for a picture in front of it! Great life MO 6y
mcctrish @Sassy_Steph it was in a mall in my city too, I‘d like it on a shirt 6y
18 likes2 comments
blurb
Bibliogeekery
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Wonderful afternoon at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival 😍📚

blurb
mcctrish
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Nicest day all week and a Saturday to boot! I'm not complaining about previous days at all. I hope anyone in the path of Irma or José is safe, I can't really wrap my brain around the crazy of those storms

review
Lindy
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Pickpick

Every time there's a thunderstorm, Rose finds herself suddenly experiencing another woman's life, someone who reminds Rose very much of her dead sister. This imaginative premise leads us through the minefields of motherhood, sisterhood, self identity and interconnectedness. Warm, witty and insightful. #CanLit 🇨🇦

42 likes3 stack adds
quote
Lindy
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

She kept to herself the reason she could watch certain films 5 & 6 times was that she didn't care much about the story. What she treasured, because they comforted her, were the domestic details, the rooms, the furniture, the clothes, especially the women's clothes & especially their footwear: pumps, heels, saddle shoes, moccasins, cowgirl boots, rain boots, slippers. Only actresses playing peasants or beachgoers ever wore flat sandals like hers.

Lindy My footwear this morning. Cold floors = time to put on the marijuana Christmas socks. 7y
Leelee.reads "The marijuana Christmas socks" ? 7y
Lindy @Leelee.reads My sweetheart bought them a few years ago at Simons. She didn't notice the distinctive shape of the green leaves until she was at home. 7y
See All 6 Comments
quietlycuriouskate My dad once bought a lanyard with "a nice leaf pattern" on for his ID card for work. Ummmm... No, dad, you'd better not take that to the office! 7y
32 likes6 comments
quote
Lindy
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

She didn't like his house. Beyond the dim, cramped rooms, it was tainted by the seedy circumstances of its acquisition, which were that Victor's father had used money from stolen gemstones smuggled over many borders by Victor's mother in what she called "the lady part" of herself. Rose, sleepless in Victor's bed, a bit sore after sex, always thought about the gemstones, how frightened his mother must have been.

cariashley 😮 7y
32 likes1 comment
quote
Lindy
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

As their father told the story, they were turning into one of those couples who brag about not contributing to overpopulation, when Fiona's appendix burst. Three months after the surgery, for no known medical reason, she was pregnant with Rose. Five months after giving birth, she was pregnant with Ava. Their father called his girls "The Appendices."

32 likes1 stack add
review
Gnoe
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Pickpick

Pageturner!

blurb
Gnoe
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

YAY! Have been dying to start the newest Barbara Gowdy :D

blurb
candority
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

I bought this print way back in April, but I just got around to framing it and putting it up last night! I'm so happy with it!

blurb
candority
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

I'm really excited to read this, but the cover creeps me out a bit...

MimiLovesToRead I think it's meant to. 😉 7y
29 likes1 comment
blurb
Tin_House
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Congratulations to Barbara Gowdy: LITTLE SISTER is a PEOPLE pick!

"In this inventive novel, a woman troubled by guilt is transported into the mind of another woman--during thunderstorms!--and experiences flashes of self-illumination." --People Magazine

49 likes8 stack adds
blurb
Tin_House
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Happy pub day to LITTLE SISTER by Barbara Gowdy!

"Electrifying" (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review). "A gem" (BBC News). "A thrilling, captivating exploration of guilt, the female psyche, and the bonds of womanhood" (Publishers Weekly).

52 likes7 stack adds
blurb
BookishTrish
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

I was utterly present for every moment in this book... and then it lost me in the last 10 pages or so. Now I'm trying to figure out how else I would've wanted it to end. #mostanticipated2017

56 likes1 stack add
blurb
BookishTrish
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

Tearing through this story of two women and the strange way one gets to know the other. Spellbound as always by Gowdy's powerful storytelling.

review
balletbookworm
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image
Mehso-so

Little Sister is one of those books that has such a good premise and idea behind the characters but then gets really underserved by the construction. It takes so long to get to WHY Rose becomes so obsessed with Harriet and how the two of them might be connected (or not) that I was having trouble staying with the story. It should not have taken me this long to read. Fiona was a great character.

(Thanks to @Tin_House Galley Club for the ARC)

shawnmooney I have a feeling I'd agree - I've never read anything by her, and while I'm deeply moved by her health challenges, I've not heard a thing about any of her books that made want to read one. 7y
33 likes1 stack add1 comment
quote
BookHermit
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image


"She uses the example of a Russian matryoshka doll – a writer enters the mind of her character, and then that character enters the mind of another character, and, eventually, all the characters wind up in the mind of the reader."
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/barbara-gowdy-wont-back-do...

elkeOriginal She sounds amazing. 7y
BookHermit @elkeo She's an interesting writer. In the early 00s, I worked on an movie version of 7y
33 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
shawnmooney
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy
post image

A moving article about a Canadian novelist I've never gotten around to reading. And I had no idea about her health challenges.

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/barbara-gowdys-mantra-just-lie-on-your-back...

Lizpixie I totally feel for her. This is my life too, siting or standing causes excruciating pain, I have to lie down or walk, slowly! I wish I had her creativity as well, it must make the pain a bit easier to deal with. She's a hero as far as I'm concerned.🙌🙌❤️ 7y
shawnmooney @Lizpixie Wow, I am struck by your story. ❤❤ Thank whoever/whatever for books!! 😘😘 7y
LeahBergen Wow! I didn't know this about her. She'll be here next month for a reading. 7y
See All 6 Comments
LeahBergen @Lizpixie Hugs! 💗💗 7y
Lizpixie @shawnmooney exactly! If it wasn't for my books, I'd have gone mad by now😢❤️💚 @LeahBergen 😘😘😘 7y
Suet624 Oh @lizpixie. 😞😩🌹 7y
43 likes6 comments
blurb
BookishTrish
Little Sister: A Novel | Barbara Gowdy

This is the book I'm most looking forward to reading in 2017 https://nvcltopshelf.com/2017/01/07/patricias-most-anticipated-reads-of-2017/

LeahBergen I'm looking forward to this one, too! 7y
Lindy @LeahBergen Me three. 7y
GlitteryOtters This title plus Bears in the Streets both sound amazing! Stacked both! 7y
47 likes1 stack add3 comments