DNF at 260 pages out of 481.
My most anticipated book of 2020 - it contains practically all of my favourite things - and it turns into my biggest, most heartbreaking disappointment.
Normally I don't rate books I haven't finished and have at best skimmed to the end. But I feel that 'The Sisters Grimm' has earned its one star, after over halfway through reading it and receiving the following:
Nothing happening. Stupid characters. Weak willed, pathetic and male dependant female leads. A slow pace despite nice and addictive writing. Crap hetero romances and nonexistent "sex" scenes straight out of a bad Harlequin paperback. Absence of plot, action, cool magic, and female support, solidarity and empowerment.
I couldn't take it anymore.
I'll sum up my grievances in bullet points, because I want to finish this review quickly and get it all out of my system, out of my life. Let's get it over and done with:
• For a so-called feminist text, 'The Sisters Grimm' contains four female leads who, while not boring or one note, are entirely dependent on the approval of and the attraction of men in every aspect of their lives. Some men and boys save their lives, socially and financially. So much for female empowerment and independence. The four Grimm sisters are drawn sexually to clearly, obviously shitty men. Men who are stalkers and won't take no for an answer, no matter how many times they are told to piss off. Men who are like their father, the demonic, incestuous rapist Wilhelm Grimm, who has done absolutely nothing to earn their respect and admiration. For supposedly smart, modern girls, these sisters act like they've never heard of feminism before; have never heard of double standards, rape culture and male entitlement. They have no self-preservation skills, nor common sense, whatsoever. Where are their female friends? The living female family members who aren't a burden to them? For fuck's sake, even the only gay sister gives attractive descriptions of certain men she feels drawn to; I don't think she describes her girlfriend in any kind of desirable detail, even when they kiss. The only explicitly queer couple's relationship is as limp and lifeless as a gutted fish; it exists, though it's barely present, and that's that.
• Speaking of relationships, all of them are rushed, weak, and have no chemistry. And they end up taking over everything - including the fantasy and sisterhood elements which this book advertised! All the romance tropes are here: the bad boy (who is a literal serial killer of women, of Grimm girls, not that that will deter his target, the main Grimm sister, for long; she'll love him regardless, because of course she does. Also he's her half brother); the dogeared Nice Guy with no social skills who's impervious to the word "no"; another, yet genuinely nice and funny guy who will turn out to be evil (because of course!); the rich bastard (whose name is actually Wolfe, because subtlety!), who can buy and sell your soul and doesn't try to hide his true nature, and yet his female target is hormonal putty in his slimy hands because she's an idiot; another rich bastard who can charm even gay women, make them momentarily forget their girlfriends, he's that good, etc. 'The Sisters Grimm' would fit right in with the 'Twilight' clones of the mid-to-late 2000s'. And I thought it would be a mature, adult feminist fantasy book from 2020. The sex the sisters have happen off page, and the beginning and aftermath of them are laughable and childish.
• Only one magical Grimm sister, Goldie - the one who loves a bad boy who secretly is on a mission to kill her (you can guess where that will head to) - is given a first person narrative in her POV segments. She's white, blonde, blue eyed, heterosexual, obviously beautiful but doesn't know it (again, sound familiar?), and she's said to be the most powerful Grimm sister in the world. Goldie is, bright as day, meant to be the protagonist and the most important Grimm sister. Do I need to explain the unfortunate implications there? If that wasn't bad enough, she needs a man to help her realise her potential. The man being her serial killer lover. And half brother. Goldie has no female friends, no living female relatives - she doesn't meet her fellow Grimm sisters until much later on. The waiting is dreadful, and not in a good way. Plus she's gullible, self-destructive, an idiot, a crybaby, and perhaps the most male dependent of the sisters. Goldie, like everyone else, is only "smart" out of either plot convenience or dumb luck.
• The Grimm sisters are only seventeen - I had to keep reminding myself of this as I read on, since they act a lot older than their years; take on a lot of adult responsibilities and even adult legal action. And at the same time they do and say such stupid things that I have to wonder if they are still mentally and emotionally little girls up to thirteen who believe in fairy tales. Seeing as fairy tales and growing up are (purportedly) major themes in the book, I'm not sure if that was the intent or not.
• Structurally, the novel is a mess. Details about a couple of the sisters that seem important at the beginning, are dropped and forgotten about afterwards (like one sister's ambition to be a blacksmith, and another loving to fly in a glider). The "plot", such as it is, keeps getting interrupted by flashback chapters -'Over a decade ago', and 'A little over a decade ago' etc - to when the girls were very young (we also get the perspective of one male, the serial killer, like we should care; and occasionally the perspectives of other female characters at random - again, why should we care?). These don't seem to serve much purpose, other than showing a loss of innocence, and of dreams and the fantastical, I suppose. Random scenes go nowhere and could have easily been cut. Some scenes consist of nothing but characters talking to each other about nothing. How exciting. How purposeful. Ugh, so much padding. Where is the action and magic and sisterhood I was promised? I don't care for hetero relationship drama - it's boring!
• The creepy and incestuous overtones, initiated by Wilhelm Grimm, who's a demon/god/puppetmaster/chessmaster in the book, are never even mentioned, much less remarked upon, as far as I've read. Technically, the thousands of Grimm sisters on earth, who once they turn eighteen have to kill or be killed by their star soldier brothers, are related to each other as not just sisters - their mothers are their sisters as well. I won't go into any further details on this point; it's too disgusting and WTF.
• The Grimm sisters also have to choose whether to be light or dark, good or evil, powerful or passive, when they turn eighteen. All is determined by their all-powerful, storyteller father; a god, a sadist, a serial rapist and murderer (I don't believe this is ever acknowledged, however)- a symbol of the patriarchy. There is no in-between, no grey morality, no thought or discussion as to what is socially and culturally considered to be good or bad in women, and the girls don't have a choice in the matter. Then again, the soldier brothers, bound by violent, patriarchal demands, like those seen in traditional fairy tales, don't have much choice either - if they don't kill they'll die, though some still enjoy murdering women - but at least they are made aware of their identity and destiny earlier on than the sisters. And why don't the Grimm brothers seem to have mothers? Why do they get to be born stars and not fully human? Because patriarchy? The book has made too many sexist mistakes already for me to give it a pass on an unaddressed worldbuilding point.
• 'The Sisters Grimm', while containing lovely and sometimes gorgeous descriptions, and is written fluidly for the most part, is overall very tedious. In content, in character motivations, in its glacial pace. I was excited and overjoyed by the first hundred pages as I was getting to know the sisters, but once the rushed, hetero relationships happen, it all becomes so old, stale and boring after a while. Where is the action? When are the Sisters Grimm going to meet already? In the real world, and not in dreams (or in the fantasy realm of Everwhere, same thing) from when they were children. The book is far longer than it needed to be, containing mundane and pointless scenes.
Whatever, I don't really care anymore.
What a ripoff. What a disappointment 'The Sisters Grimm' turned out to be. The great ideas, the potential - all gone to waste. I love Menna van Praag's other book, 'The House at the End of Hope Street', which was another reason why I was looking forward to her newest novel - her newest fantasy feminist novel, on an epic, magical girl scale!
Sadly, it did not deliver for me. It's yet more faux feminism BS. And in 2020 as well.
What bodes well anymore?
Final Score: 1/5
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