Book Review: A Sister Ago

Reviewed by Joelene Pynnonen

An achingly accurate portrayal of how the addiction of an individual affects the entire family

 Christine Lange’s world shattered when she lost her younger sister Rachel a year ago. Having thrown herself into her job, she’s only just starting to get back to feeling on top of things again. Somehow, she’s managed to move past the fact that she used to have a sister. At least, she thinks she has, until she receives a call from a stranger. 

Keji Nakayama has been seeing Walter Anderson, the therapist Christine saw a few times before Rachel died. When she tells Christine that he has given her Christine’s phone number and encouraged her to call, Christine is shocked by the deliberate violation of her privacy. 

The women decide that something must be done about Walter. When they try to address the problem, though, they realize there is a link between him and Rachel. It starts to become obvious that Walter has introduced Keji to Christine for a reason. The women have a connection to each other, even if they don’t know it yet. Now, they must find out what it is. And, in doing so, Christine may finally learn more about Rachel.

A Sister Ago is told primarily through Christine’s point of view but also delves into Rachel’s. It flits between different time periods, from the time that Rachel’s addiction began through the aftermath of her death.

The raw emotion of a family divided by alcohol and drug dependence smothers the pages of this book. It feels like the biography of an addiction, but there is nothing textbook about it. The characters feel gut-wrenchingly genuine. The grief, guilt, and regret each of Rachel’s family members face is every bit as devastating as their blindness to her struggles. There’s an authenticity in the fact that no one’s life stops for Rachel. Until she dies, her addiction isn’t seen as an emergency despite all the signs that it is one.

Christine shines as the main character in this novel. She’s deeply flawed and has made major missteps with Rachel in almost every important interaction. She’s as selfish as most people are in life, quick to judge, and preferring to turn a blind eye than get into an argument. She’s also an unreliable narrator that slowly begins to see herself as she really is, just as the readers do. Despite the many traits that could be held against her, Christine is also vulnerable and trying to do better. It’s clear how much she loves her sister, but also how impossible it is to fight someone else’s addiction for them.

There’s so much authenticity in A Sister Ago, butthe catalyst of the unethical therapist violating the HIPAA laws jars with the rest. Despite being the hook, much of the Walter plotline feels like it meanders.

A Sister Ago is a powerful novel of the struggle families go through when one of the members battles an addiction. It follows the process from the start all the way through to the bitter conclusion and the terrible fall-out. It’s apt that there’s no real closure to be had in these pages. A new page is turned, and the story goes on, as messy and terrifying as that story can be.

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