Between Sisters

“It was true. Meghann had achieved every goal she’d set for herself. When she’d started college as a scared, lonely teenager she’d dared to dream of a better life. Now she had it. Her practice was among the most successful and most respected in the city. She owned an expensive condo in downtown Seattle […] and no one depended on her.”

Meg’s reflections on her life in the present reveal her loneliness. While Meg has “achieved every goal” she’s set for herself, she has “no one depending on her.” This dynamic implies that Meg understands herself as a caretaker. Her life thus feels meaningless despite her accomplishments and financial stability, because she has no one to take care of. The passage foreshadows the interpersonal work Meg will have to do to open her heart and enrich her life.

“Claire hadn’t thought much about her solitude since Alison’s birth. Yes, she’d been alone—in the sense that she’d never been married or lived with a man, but she rarely felt lonely. Oh, she noticed it, ached sometimes for someone to share her life, but she’d made that choice a long time ago. She wouldn’t be like her mother.”

Claire’s internal monologue reveals her avoidant personality. Claire doesn’t want to admit that she’s lonely because she is afraid of putting her emotional needs before her daughter’s. She has vowed not to “be like her mother” and has established her life and identity around this self-promise. In doing so, however, Claire has denied herself chances at love and connection. The passage introduces the work that Claire will have to do to grow and change. She won’t be able to pursue new relationships until she fully acknowledges and attends to her longing.

“Maybe tomorrow, he thought, reaching for the kind of courage that would make it possible. God knew, after three years on the road, he was tired of being this alone. Maybe tomorrow he would finally—finally—allow himself to start walking west. Diana would like that.”

The third-person narrator inhabits Joe’s consciousness in this passage to create parallels between his, Meg’s, and Claire’s emotional lives. While Joe has yet to meet and get to know the sisters, his internal experience resembles theirs. Like the sisters, Joe is both lonely and afraid. At this juncture of his storyline, he is just starting to acknowledge his need to make a change. The repetition of “maybe” and “finally” captures his simultaneous hesitation to pursue and longing for renewal.

“Claire let the music pour over her like cool water on a hot summer’s day. It refreshed her, rejuvenated her. The minute she started to move in time with it, to swing her hips and stamp her feet and clap her hands, she remembered how much she loved this. She couldn’t believe that she’d let so many quiet years accumulate.”

The narrator uses descriptive and figurative language to capture Claire’s transformative experience while dancing at the bar. She likens the music to “cool water” pouring over Claire on a hot day—a metaphor that evokes notions of relief and refreshment. She describes Claire’s physical movements in detail, which convey her active participation in the moment: She moves her hips, feet, and hands. These corporeal aspects of Claire’s experience, in turn, beget her mental reflection in the passage’s latter line.

“Harriet was wrong. This wasn’t about the past. So Meg felt guilty about the way she’d abandoned her sister, and she’d been hurt when Claire rejected her and chose Sam. So what? That water had flowed under the bridge for twenty-six years. She wasn’t likely to drown in it now.”

The narrator’s use of simple sentences to describe Meg’s emotions affects a blunt, defiant, and avoidant tone. Meg acknowledges that she and Claire have a fraught past, but she refuses to dwell on the hurts they’ve caused each other. She embraces denial because she is still under the illusion that the past isn’t affecting her. The narrator says she won’t “drown in it now,” a metaphor that likens the past to a threatening body of water that does have the power to consume Meg. In these ways, the passage contributes to the novel’s theme of Personal Growth via Facing the Past. Until Meg fully acknowledges the hold the past has on her, she cannot grow.

“But even as she cursed her sister, Claire knew the doubt had been there all along, a little seed inside of her, waiting to sprout and grow. She was too old to be swept away by passion. She had a daughter to think about, after all. Alison had never known her biological father. It had been easy so far, bubble-wrapping Ali’s world so that none of life’s sharp edges could hurt her. Marriage would change everything.”

Claire’s meditations on her relationships with Ali, Meg, and Bobby Jack Austin capture the Complexities of Love in Various Forms. Claire is afraid of fully embracing her and Bobby’s love—a connection that feels like “a little seed” “waiting to sprout and grow.” (This metaphor evokes notions of new life and possibility.) Her fear is inspired by her fraught relationships with her family, which have limited her interpretations of love and precluded her from pursuing romantic intimacy over the years. Furthermore, the narrator’s use of figurative language (including “swept away by passion,” “bubble-wrapping Ali’s world,” and “none of life’s sharp edges”) vivifies Claire’s amorphous emotions.

“I should have known how fragile love was, given my family history, but I was reckless. I handled a glass bubble as if it were made of steel. I couldn’t believe how quickly it broke. He left because I didn’t know how to love him enough.”

Meg’s ability to speak about her marriage and divorce in therapy marks a turning point in her character arc. For the first time in the novel, Meg articulates what happened in her relationship, how it made her feel, and why she thinks it unfolded in this manner. She speaks in plain language, which gives an honest and vulnerable tone. Meg is thus learning how to claim her experience and confront her past.

“There was no way Meghann would change her sister’s mind, or—more important—her heart. Thus, she had two choices: pretend to give her blessing or stick to her guns. The first choice allowed her and Claire to remain the almost sisters they were. The second choice risked even that tenuous relationship. ‘I trust you, Claire,’ Meghann said at last.”

Meg’s internal monologue during her conversation with Claire and Bobby captures her desire to grow and change. Meg is in Pursuit of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. In this scene, she recognizes the power her words have over others; she can choose to be kind or to be cruel. Her line of dialogue at the passage’s end conveys Meg’s attempt to embrace gentleness and grace.

“This was the woman she could have been, if she’d gone to college in New York and done graduate work in Paris. Maybe it was the woman she could still become. How could a dress highlight everything that had gone wrong with your life and subtly promise a different future?”

Claire’s response to the Vera Wang wedding dress infuses the dress with symbolic significance. When she sees herself in the mirror, she doesn’t see her familiar self. Instead, she sees the person she has always wanted to become. The dress thus represents self-possession, autonomy, and strength. Seeing herself in the dress allows her to imagine her life and identity outside the confines of her limiting reality in the present.

“She couldn’t help remembering the old days, when they’d been best friends. For the first time in years, she wondered if that could happen again. If so, one of them would have to make the first move.”

Claire’s internal monologue reveals that she is in Pursuit of Forgiveness and Reconciliation in her relationship with Meg. She acknowledges the difficulties of the past, but she also makes room for the positive bond she and Meg once shared. Doing so shows that Claire is a hopeful, optimistic character who believes in change.

“She looked at the derelict. His shoulders were broad; his black T-shirt stretched taut along the top of his back. The waistband of his worn, faded Levi’s veed out, as if he’d lost weight and hadn’t bothered to buy jeans that fit. It was him…or loneliness.”

Meg’s observations of Joe Wyatt when she first encounters him in the tavern reveal her habit of using sex to dull her emotions. She sees him as a “derelict,” which conveys notions of neglect. She also notices his “stretched” shirt, “worn” waistband, and baggy jeans—details that imply Joe is not the well-kept sort of young man Meg usually pursues. All the same, she approaches him; he is a last resort she uses to abate her loneliness.

“Claire wanted to disagree but knew it was pointless. She did want to be close to Meg again. More and more often in the past few days, she’d found herself remembering the old Meg. The way they used to love each other. ‘I’m tired of the way we are together,’ she admitted.”

Claire speaks up and vocalizes her true feelings to pursue reconciliation with her sister. She knows that Meg can be difficult, but the closeness they once shared trumps her frustration with her sister. She tells Meg that she wants their relationship to change. This is one of the first times that Claire speaks her mind around Meg. The moment thus shows Claire taking a step toward her Personal Growth via Facing the Past and the Pursuit of Forgiveness and Reconciliation.

“Meghann stared into his sad, sad eyes and tried not to feel anything. It was better that way, safer. But sitting here beside him, close enough to be taken into his arms, she felt…needy. Maybe even desperate. Suddenly she wanted something from Joe; something more than sex.”

Meg’s physical body language offers a throughway into her emotional experience. She sits next to Joe and imagines him taking her into his arms; their body language implies that Meg wants to be held and loved. Furthermore, their physical proximity makes Meg realize that being with Joe is different than being with other men. The narrator uses halting syntax to capture Meg’s complicated emotional state as she muses on her and Joe’s dynamic—the ellipses and repetition of “something” affect this searching tone.

“Every emotion. That was what tonight was. All her life she’d look back on this night and remember how good her life was, how much she loved and was loved in return. That was what Meghann had given her.”

Claire’s reflective state of mind on her wedding night affects a sentimental narrative mood. Claire looks out and studies the happy scene. By attuning herself to her surroundings, she finds beauty and joy in them. The reflective passage also captures the Complexities of Love in Various Forms (particularly regarding Claire and Meg’s relationship) and Claire’s journey toward reconciliation.

“He didn’t know. But just now, looking down at Meghann, feeling the whisper softness of her breath against his skin, he wanted to try. He reached out, brushed a silky strand of hair from her face. It was the kind of touch he hadn’t dared in years.”

Joe’s physical intimacy with Meg in this scene opens his heart and mind in new ways. The narrator inhabits his consciousness and describes Meg using diction like “whisper,” “softness,” “brushed,” and “silky”—language that captures the gentleness between the lovers. This moment of intimacy, in turn, compels Joe to be braver. He acknowledges his uncertainty about the future but also claims his desire to change. When he moves to touch Meg, he exemplifies this longing to be a different person.

“Each night Meg slept with Ali tucked in her arms, and each morning she awoke with an unexpected sense of anticipation. She smiled easier, laughed more often. She’d forgotten how good it felt to care for someone else.”

Ali’s youth and innocence open Meg’s heart in new ways. The image of Meg sleeping with Ali “in her arms” captures Meg in a rare moment of physical intimacy with another person. She has welcomed Ali into her home and life, and in doing so, she’s found hope and renewal. The references to her smiling and laughing capture how Ali’s character has begun to soften and transform Meg.

“He almost gave in to panic, almost turned away. But running away didn’t help. He’d tried that route, and it had brought him back here, to this house, to these people whom he’d once loved so keenly, to say—I’m sorry. Just that.”

Joe’s internal monologue captures his desire to grow and change. Although he feels afraid, he knows that he must face these fears along his Pursuit of Forgiveness and Reconciliation. He refuses to give “in to panic,” “turn away,” or “run away” because these avoidance maneuvers haven’t historically helped him to grow. By boldly confronting the people he once loved and apologizing, he is taking a step toward reconciliation.

“It was true. Diana would always be his first—maybe his best—love. But he had to try again. He collected the photographs, one by one, leaving a single framed picture on the end table. Just one. All the rest, he took into the bedroom and carefully put away. […] When he went back into the living room and sat down, he smiled, thinking of Meghann.”

The image of Joe packing up Diana’s photos captures his Personal Growth via Facing the Past. The framed photos of his late wife are symbolic of Joe’s fraught past. He has kept them around his home to preserve his memories of and life with Diana. However, his relationship with Meg has helped him see that voluntarily holding onto the past has only limited his life and relationships in the present. This scene thus marks a turning point in Joe’s character arc; he takes another active step toward healing.

“Someone’s medical charts. A record of pain and suffering. He couldn’t go back to that world. No way. When a man had lost his faith and his confidence as profoundly as Joe had, there was no going back. Besides, he couldn’t practice medicine anymore. He’d let his license lapse.”

The narrator’s use of fragmentation and simple sentence structures affects a resistant tone, which mirrors Joe’s state of mind. He has no interest in examining Claire’s medical records because he is trying to protect himself from the “pain and suffering” he experienced surrounding Diana’s illness and death. The latter two lines of the passage also show Joe making excuses for backing down; he “let his license lapse” so that he’d have a verifiable reason to avoid returning to the field.

“I told myself it was the best thing for you, that you didn’t need your big sister anymore. But…I knew how much I’d hurt you. It was easier to keep my distance, I guess. I believed you’d never forgive me. So I didn’t give you the chance.”

Meg’s honest and open tone in this scene of dialogue with Claire captures her desire to forgive, reconcile, and grow. Meg articulates what happened in the past for the first time. She not only acknowledges the pain she experienced but also the pain she caused her sister. This scene thus marks a pivotal point in Meg’s growth journey and foreshadows the sisters’ ultimate reconciliation.

“‘I mean it, Claire. You come back. Alison is in the waiting room. You cannot run out on her this way. You haven’t told her goodbye. She deserves that, damn it. Come back.’ She grabbed Claire’s shoulders, shook her hard. ‘Don’t you dare do this to Alison and me.’”

Meg uses volatile, insistent language in this scene to express her vulnerability. She calls Claire back from the dead. This is why she uses the second person, expletives, and negation. Furthermore, she grabs and shakes her sister—physical movements that illustrate her emotional desperation. The scene reiterates Meg’s deep love for Claire and uninterest in living without her now that they’ve healed their relationship.

“Three years ago, he’d tried to box them up and give them away. He’d folded one pink cashmere sweater and been done for. He reached out for a beige angora turtleneck that had been her favorite. He eased it off of the white plastic hanger and brought it to his face. The barest remnant of her scent lingered. Tears stung his eyes. ‘Goodbye, Diana,’ he whispered.”

The image of Joe packing up Diana’s old things and bidding her goodbye validates his Personal Growth via Facing the Past. Diana’s belongings represent the love she and Joe once shared and the life they once had together. In the present, however, Joe is ready to move beyond this past life. The scene also captures the Complexities of Love in Various Forms—it isn’t easy for Joe to say goodbye to Diana (he cries while slowly packing her things), but he also moves on for his self-preservation.

 “So it’s gone now and it was benign. That’s all I want to hear. You can talk to me about treatment from here on, but not about chances and survival rates. My sister immersed herself in your numbers. […] My future is sunny.”

Claire’s confident tone in her conversation with her doctors conveys her newfound joy and determination. Surviving cancer has renewed her verve for life. This is why she refuses to listen to the doctors’ long-winded elucidations about the future of her condition. She wants to focus on the present and maintain the hope Meg has given her.