In Silver Sparrow, we follow two sisters with different mothers who share the same father. The girls are kept away from each other. They grow up in seemingly similar circumstances, but their father's disparate treatment of them results in different lives for the two of them. When their paths finally intersect, it leads to the unraveling of their father's carefully crafted families.
The writing in here is beautiful: evocative, nuanced, and weighty. I found myself immersed in it, unable to turn away. There is so much said and unsaid, so many emotions on the surface, but also underneath. The relationships in here are complex and fraught with peril, and each person is doing the best they can given the circumstances, but it often isn't enough.
What drew me to this book initially is that it says it's about polygamy, and I'm always fascinated by that. Why would anyone willingly participate? What are the logistics? But this book isn't really about that. When I think of polygamy, everyone participating has to know they are doing so; otherwise, it's just plain cheating, right? So this book isn't about polygamy so much as it's about cheating. But even then, it doesn't adequately address why the participants wanted to take part in all that.
And while the story focuses on the two daughters, I'm not sure I really grasped the point of it. The narrative feels cohesive, but ultimately leading nowhere. And when it finally gets to the crux of the matter, it ends abruptly without really resolving anything. And maybe that is the point of it, that there is no resolution to such a complex set of issues, but that's not very satisfying to me as a reader.
Overall, I enjoyed the writing in this story, and its ability to provide a viewpoint into a tricky and difficult family setup, and the effects of that on the daughters. But the narrative itself felt a bit wandering to me, without a clear goal in mind. And when it did reach a crucial point, it just sort of ended. I didn't really gain any insight from it. I kept waiting for more throughout the book, and then there was no more.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
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