Book: My Sister Rosa By Justine Larbalestier
Published November 2016 by Soho Teen|320 pages
Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library
Series: None
Genre: YA Thriller/Contemporary
What if the most terrifying person you know is your ten-year-old sister?
Seventeen-year-old Aussie Che Taylor loves his younger sister, Rosa. But he’s also certain that she’s a psychopath—clinically, threateningly, dangerously. Recently Rosa has been making trouble, hurting things. Che is the only one who knows; he’s the only one his sister trusts. Rosa is smart, talented, pretty, and very good at hiding what she is and the manipulation she’s capable of.
Their parents, whose business takes the family from place to place, brush off the warning signs as Rosa’s “acting out.” Now that they have moved again—from Bangkok to New York City—their new hometown provides far too many opportunities for Rosa to play her increasingly complex and disturbing games. Che’s always been Rosa’s rock, protecting her from the world. Now, the world might need protection from her.
I was intrigued by My Sister Rosa when I first heard about it, and I finally got around to reading it!
Rosa’s pretty creepy and twisted, and she seemed a little bit older than her ten years. It’s easy to see why her parents- especially her mom- wouldn’t believe what she’s really capable of. Some people seem to know there’s something different about her, though, but they’re not sure what.
We’re told right off the bat that Rosa is a psychopath, and nothing’s really changed by the end of the book. I wish there was more build-up with Rosa. I also thought that maybe Che was an unreliable narrator, and that he was the psychopath, not Rosa. I expected Rosa’s results, but not Che’s- it seemed opposite of how Che acted in the book. I also didn’t get how the book went from “my sister is a psychopath” to “everyone is a psychopath, but you just don’t know it.” The book makes it seem like it’s something that’s really common, but I always thought it was a lot more rare. I also felt like I was being told Rosa was a psychopath, as opposed to actually seeing her act that way.
I also felt like we got two stories in one book- one focusing on Rosa, and one focusing on a coming-of-age. I felt really bored reading about both Rosa and Che’s life in New York, and I kind of wish the book focused more on Rosa. It was a little too unbalanced, and I wish the book had focused on one or the other.
Considering how big of a role David and Sally have in the book, we know absolutely nothing about them. Some of the other characters had the potential to be really interesting, but they fell a little short. I did like how diverse the characters were, though.
2 stars. It was okay, and I felt like there were two different stories that didn’t go very well together. I also wish we saw how creepy Rosa was, instead of being told that she was psychopathic.
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