With her second novel, Mellors cements herself as an important voice in contemporary fiction.
Coco Mellors’ latest bestselling novel Blue Sisters, follow up to her first New York Times bestseller Cleopatra and Frankenstein, is a poignant exploration of grief as the destruction of the lives of those left behind, forcing them to find a new way of living.
This novel will strike an instant chord with any reader interested in character driven prose, as Mellors utilises the characters of the three sisters Avery, Bonnie and Lucky to explore in depth their personal struggles surrounding their sister Nicky’s tragic death.
Mellors beautifully articulates the wildly common flaw of denial that permeates almost all of us
Through exploring each of the sisters’ perspectives, Mellors beautifully articulates the wildly common flaw of denial that permeates almost all of us, demonstrating that whilst we identify flaws within others so easily, we are often doomed to be blindsided by our own selves. Mellors’ writing is rich and descriptive, taking the reader on an emotional journey without it feeling tedious or leaving them feeling drained by the constant description of every mundanity observable in other contemporary works.
As well as her tactful descriptions, Mellors’ tentative handling of the subject of endometriosis, a condition that is wildly misunderstood, also deserves praise. Mellors does not make the condition the crux of the novel, she simply presents it as it is alongside all the pain that it brings. The condition is an underrepresented one in literary fiction as well as in the medical sector making Mellors’ handling of it within Blue Sisters extremely important.
Whilst Mellors’ second novel should be required reading for any lovers of deeply emotive narratives, I found its detriment to be that not enough empathy was built for the sisters, leading to a lack of emotional payoff within the novel. I found the sister’s lives so unrelatable that at times I was pulled away from my immersion in the story, one sister being a champion boxer and another a high flying, recognisable model walking for Paris fashion week. Although it is interesting to explore the perspectives of characters’ different lives and elaborate careers, I felt that these details distracted me from the emotional core of the novel and somewhat tainted my levels of empathy with the characters.
However, this small criticism is not enough to stop me from going on to recommend this book to those looking for a characterful and emotional read akin to that of a Sally Rooney novel.
