Sleep, Pale Sister (Sleep, Pale Sister - Joanne Harris)

Member Name: friendofmaddo

Product:	Sleep, Pale Sister - Joanne Harris
Date:	26/02/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Spooky, good stroryline

Disadvantages: Not clear

This was one of her first books, and it doesn't appeal to the main body of popular fiction. Only a few books have ever sent shivers down my spine, but I shouldn't have read this book at night. It is easy at first to get the plot of the story, although maybe a little abstract- the artist, the main character, Henry, marrying his model, Effie, may not be strange, but the fact he married her since knowing her from the age of 9 is. As the story develops, it delves into paedophilic tendencies and the paranormal, and it becomes, a little hard to follow. It involves a girl who was killed at the age of 10 by Henry, and who proceeds to possess his wife in order to live again and so get revenge. However, the author doesn't readily distinguish between the two, making them seem one and the same person some of the time, and separate at others, which is difficult to understand, and so makes the story a little hazy while you try to work out who is who. The way she writes, however, is very spooky. She describes being alone and dark spots in darkened rooms, and never completely describes the transformation of the possessed Effie, which lets a suggested air of the supernatural into the story and so helps the progress of the aforementioned shivers. A good story overall, but not very clear in the telling.

Summary: Don't read if you get frightened easily.