The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan MeyersMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 8 days
Pages - 368
Publisher - Sphere
Blurb from Goodreads
Sisters Lulu and Merry share a terrible past. When Lulu was only a child, she let her drunken father into the family home and watched him kill her mother and then turn on six-year-old Merry. Years later, clinging to the wreckage of their childhood, the sisters try to make sense of what happened.
My Review
The book starts fairly quickly, it is 1971 and the first line of the book captures you immediately with the opening line "I wasn't surprised when Mama asked me to save her life". This is from Lulu, the older sister and she describes what happens on that fateful day that changed life for her and her sister Merry. For the first few chapters Lulu tells us what happened and where their life went after their father killed their mother. Then we hear from Merry and the chapters there on after are title by the speaker and what year it is. The girls stick together and cling to each other to get through and survive being in care and all the way through adulthood. Each sister deals with it differently, one avoids all contact or mention of her father whilst the other goes in a compleely different direction. The book follows their choices in life, the impact their mothers murder has had on them and ultimatelty what it is like, living as The Murderer's Daughters.
When I first starts this book I thought it packed quite a punch, it was a terrible and brutal event, fuelled by alcohol abuse, distrust and family dysfunction. It concentrates on how two girls, scarred by violence try to cope and how they turn out as adults and adapt to and face life without their parents. The judgement of others, being rejected by family, experience life in care and then make their own way in the world.
I felt the story tapered off after the first quarter or maybe even first half. It was interesting to read how the girls tried to cope and deal with life however I found it started to lose my interest and was really let down by how the whole thing ended. That said, a lot of people really liked this book and found it quite deep on a few levels. For me though it is a 2/5, give it a go for yourself though and see what you think.
Ugh. It's so hard when a book starts out strong and then fizzles out toward the end. I would rather it be the other way, if not perfect all the way through. A slow start that builds into a great novel. I'm sorry this wasn't better for you.
ReplyDeleteThe sisters in this book do share a horrendous past. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have an earlier book by this author that I hope to read soon.
ReplyDeleteThis does indeed sound very dark. Sometimes I find stories like this a little too disturbing.
ReplyDeleteEven so, it is a pity that the book declined towards the end. Despite its disquieting nature, the story sounds very engaging.