Sisterhood of the Traveling Stories: On the Literature of Fictional Sisters

“Sometimes I think, She’s so funny and smart and interesting ,” Kim Deal famously said about her twin sister and Breeders bandmate, Kelly Deal. “Other times I think, Oh my god, I want to take a knife and gouge her eyes out , she’s getting on my last nerve right now .” I grew up idolizing Kelly and Kim, and their complicated relationship only made them more compelling to me. Behind their icy, onstage bickering, I sensed their deep connection and mutual artistic respect. I envied their tempestuous intimacy, and the way their (loving!) volatility worked its way into their music. After my parents’ divorce, I eventually wound up with six much younger siblings, but I spent most of my childhood as a solo latchkey kid, singing along with the radio, dreaming up my ideal sister and bandmate. She’d have my same face but wild, curly hair. She’d play the guitar effortlessly (I never could get the hang of it), and our voices would harmonize perfectly. Maybe we’d argue sometimes, annoy each other, but she’d know me better than anyone. Two sisters sit at the center of my debut novel We Were the Universe . They’re musicians too, and Kit—the narrator and protagonist—idolizes and envies her younger, more talented sister. “We sang together as soon as she could talk. Both of us had an ear, but Julie’s voice was a thrum, a squeeze. My soprano was clear but too obvious. Thirsty. I belted like a child actor. Julie’s alto came through rich and husked, raw, a voice that triggered devotion.” In high school the girls start a psychedelic rock band, and Julie brings out the best in Kit, musically. “I’d fumble through the ladder of notes, different fills until I found her register. Together, we made a third voice. When things hit just right, we’d turn our heads and almost expect to see some new, blended girl in the room with us.” When Julie begins to struggle with addiction, she and Kit become dangerously codependent, helplessly enmeshed. Even after Julie’s death, Kit believes her sister is attempting to communicate […]

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