While I enjoyed it, Sisterland is my least favorite of Curtis Sittenfeld's books. Her first book "Prep" was an engrossing memoir-like novel about the adolescent experience and "American Wife" was the witty, bold novelization of Laura Bush's story. With Sisterland, Sittenfeld brings us Daisy and Violent Tucker - adolescent twins of distant parents in a St. Louis suburb. Daisy (who later changes her name to Kate) is the steady boring twin while Vi is irreverent, overweight, and slightly out of control. The novel is told from Kate's perspective as a young adult, married with two young children, with plenty of time revisiting the girls youth and adolescence which fundamentally shaped their adult identities. The problem I had with the novel is that Sittenfeld chose to focus on the more sedate, less interesting sister. This resulted in book with some real lulls, especially in the middle. That said, Sittenfeld certainly brought the drama at the end, bringing some life and oomph to the book in the final pages. This simple veggie a lo mein, while seemingly boring like Kate, is a great weeknight staple with a lot of flavor, and it is a dish Kate eats on the night she decides to let herself lose a little control.
