The Middle Sister: A Novel

The journey through pain, sorrow and poverty. Never feeling as though she fit in. The only thing this story lacked was the wise elder to help guide everyone through there struggles.

This is a very good book, the middle sister is a very strong person who can hold things together for her family.

When Pamelas father leaves their home in Brooklyn in the `70s, he leaves a family of deeply injured women--a wife who slips into madness and three daughters who hide their anguish and loss deep in their souls. They are forced by their altered economics to leave their shabby but beloved house in East New York and move into the projects, and the girls lives change irrevocably. In doing what each must to do to survive, Pamela and her sisters Nona and Theresa forge a new and vital strength in their re-defined family. This is a story of making human connections in spite of the pain of a difficult life, and Glover tells it deftly, lovingly and not without humor. She paints her characters completely, yet without a stray detail; they are as natural and believable as their Brooklyn Black dialect. Susan ONeill, Author:

Loved this book, sad, funny and heartwarming.

A gentle easy written novel about love and loss, through the the eyes of a young girl. The book touched on mental health and , violence, abandonment and poverty.

At one point or another, we can all relate to searching for something in life. Whether were searching for love, for self, or for understanding, the search never really ends. In Bonnie Glovers debut novel, THE MIDDLE SISTER, she focuses on this search as she introduces us to characters who are on the journey to finding themselves and those around them. We meet Pamela, her imaginary friend Kwai Chang, her two sisters, and her mother. The story follows Pamelas growth from a young girl and the problems she encounters growing up after her father exits their lives. We also are privy to the many changes on the surface of her life, such as her mothers depression and mental instability. Battling against the dilemmas of their young lives, they encounter many struggles caring for their mother, maintaining a household, and growing into women. As they mature and start relationships outside of their family, they take one step closer to really understanding and seeing each other for who they are, accepting of their flaws, societal abnormalities, and past hurts. Shortly after beginning the novel, I felt it seemed a bit weird for an imaginary friend to be popping up -- mostly announced -- throughout the story. Why would a young black girl in the projects choose to conjure up a Kung Fu character to guide her through the experiences of life? It seems Kwai Chang served more as her conscience or as her advisor since her father was gone and her mother appeared to be mentally unstable. In the vein of most contemporary books bordering on literary fiction, THE MIDDLE SISTER makes you think beyond the words, beyond what is actually being said. At the end, I was left with the true meaning of family -- flaws and all -- and following ones own search for identity and the unconditional love of family. Reviewed by Tee C. Royal of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

The middle sister instantly brought back my own memories of growing up in Brooklyn during the 1970s. It was well written and the characters made you identify with them immediately. Excellent first novel.