The Good Sister

“Janet, my old supervisor, taught me that the library belongs to everyone. The library, Janet used to say, is one of only a few places in the world that one doesn’t need to believe anything or buy anything to come inside … and it is the librarian’s job to look after all those who do.”

Books and the library are a key motif in The Good Sister, representing a democratic, egalitarian sanctuary. Through the view of Janet and then Fern, the text establishes the library as a public, friendly space where prejudices about class, neurodiversity, gender, and other factors cease to exist. It is an idealized, utopian view but one Fern strictly believes. It is this view that has her keeping a ready toilet kit for unhoused folk who visit the library washrooms.

“If it were up to me, every child would have a year in the library before they went to school. Not just to read, but to roam.”

The library is not just a place to read but also a place to explore. Fern’s observation is a metaphor for the power of books: Good stories allow one to roam inside them and discover new worlds. That is why Fern thinks that every child will benefit from losing themselves in the library like she did.

“Today my therapist and I dove deep on my yearning for a baby … My therapist thinks this stems from my childhood – a desire to do right what my mother couldn’t.”

Rose’s assertion touches upon an observed phenomenon: Sometimes people who have had traumatic childhoods wish to become parents themselves to repair the damage they experienced. This would explain Rose’s deep desire for a baby, but as with all of Rose’s journal entries, this statement too has considerable subtext and an alternate reading. Rose knows all the right things to say to establish herself as a sympathetic character and paint Nina as an abuser. The statement, which could be partly true, also demonstrates Rose’s gift for shrewd storytelling.

“For someone as fastidious as I am, I can be staggeringly absentminded.”

Fern has accepted her absentmindedness, even though it is out of character for her. This shows Fern’s blind faith in Rose, her own shaky self-confidence, and the success of Rose’s brainwashing. Rose often tells Fern she has forgotten things Rose didn’t ask in the first place, thus ensuring Fern begins to doubt herself.

“But Mum never took her for an official diagnosis. Giving Fern a diagnosis or hep would have made her special and Mum was the only one allowed to be special in our house.”

Rose refers to another one of the novel’s mysteries: Why didn’t Nina ever get Fern tested? Arguably, a diagnosis could have helped Fern access specialized resources and likeminded people. Whatever Nina’s reasons, it is clear that Rose is weaponizing the fact against her, much as she weaponized knowledge of Wally’s mental health issues against Fern.

“Three more weeks without Rose. Will I survive it?”

Fern’s statement shows the extent of her codependence with Rose at the beginning of the novel. Dealing with her chronic insomnia, Fern honestly believes she may not be able to survive without Rose. The bleak irony is that Rose’s lies about Fern’s culpability in Billy’s death may have caused the insomnia in the first place.

“It felt unfair to be twins with her. Next to Fern, I felt like a frumpy interloper.”

One of the subtler themes of the text is the pressure women have to face to appear beautiful and feminine. Rose considers herself frumpy next to Fern, which seems all the more unfair to her since they are twins. Rose’s jealousy of Fern is complex and rooted in a tradition that pits women against each other. This larger context may explain why Rose gets upset that Fern appears to be favored.

“Not too much now, Rosie Round,” she said with a snigger.

Nina’s cruel statement from Rose’s journal may be fabricated, but Rose’s anxiety about her body image rings true. Rose seizes on the precise detail of her weight to embellish further because subconsciously it affects her. Her statement shows the toxic consequence of unhealthy beauty standards for women.

“I’d always found there was something agreeable about people who liked dogs and something untrustworthy about those who didn’t.”

Fern’s statement becomes even more interesting in the light of what the reader knows about Rose. Rose deliberately drives her dog to the brink of death to paint Fern as irresponsible. It is unclear whether she loves Alfie or likes the picture of having a dog with a red kerchief. Rose may not actually like dogs, which proves Fern’s theory about dogs and untrustworthy people right.

“Angry is just a pen name for sad.”

Janet implies that people often express their sadness as anger. She phrases it in a way that is immediately accessible to Fern, showing Janet’s wisdom and astuteness.

“One thing I've learned about facing fear,' he says, 'is that sometimes, it's just too scary.”

Wally doesn’t judge Fern for freaking out at the bowling alley. Instead, he displays empathy towards Fern, understanding her panic. Wally’s observation upends the notion that one can overcome all their fears if they face up to them. While people should try to face their fears, the truth is that not every fear can be handled or conquered. In Fern’s case, her fear of crowded and noisy places is rooted in physical reactions to sensory overload. Such fear cannot be tackled easily, and sometimes never at all.

“If I could just be perfect, I used to think, everything would be ok.”

This entry from Rose’s journal can be viewed as simultaneously a truth and a fabrication. While it is true that Rose may have felt her perfection would give her a regular life, it may not be true that Nina made her feel that way. Rose herself may have perceived of her life as less than perfect and tried to mold it into a manageable shape.

“It was the strangest thing. There were people everywhere, all around us. And yet I was entirely alone.”

Rose’s account of Gary’s abuse shows how the trauma isolates the survivor. Even though Rose is in a public pool, Gary’s violation of her boundaries makes her feel lonely and cut off from the rest of the world. Rose identifies how abuse can make a person feel alone and helpless, as if they have no support system.

“What else would I do? Sit around counting my gold? Besides, working is important to a person’s mental health.”

As Fern’s love for her job shows, work as nourishment and refuge is an important motif in the book. Wally’s observation highlights how productive work helps center a person. It also shows that for Wally, work is not merely about creating wealth but exercising his mind.

“I start to loathe dinners with Rose.”

As Rose has noted, Fern likes routine and ritual. Therefore, when Fern begins to loathe her tri-weekly ritual of dining with Rose, it signifies a huge shift in Fern and her relationship with Rose. Fern astutely observes that she dislikes these dinners not just because she wants to be with Wally instead but because Rose has taken to interrogating her.

“Unlike the shadow analogy, which I have come to respect, the gift analogy bears little logic. I find myself with questions – if I am the gift, who is the giver? And who is the receiver?”

When Carmel refers to Fern as a gift, the phrasing seems illogical to Fern. Fern’s careful thought to Carmel’s words shows that she is someone who listens carefully and pays attention to words. Her deconstruction of analogies shows Fern’s unique thought process.

“I take a minute to reflect on the fact that I’m going on a proper date! To a restaurant! It is like a dream, except I’ve never had dreams like this. It’s like the books I’ve read, the happy ones, where things work out.”

Till now Fern has believed a life where some things are to be found only in books. Wally’s asking her on date isn’t just the fulfilment of a romantic fantasy for Fern; it is proof that usual things can happen to her and that she can do regular activities. Thus, Wally’s actions open the doors of possibility for Fern.

“I know you love your sister, but…” He shakes his head, sighs. “Something isn’t right about her. It’s like she doesn’t know where she ends and you begin. It’s like she thinks … you belong to her or something.” I frown. “And you don’t have great boundaries with her either. You blindly believe things that she tells you. You don’t question anything she says.”

Wally often represents the voice of reason in the novel, offering Fern a clear-eyed view of things. He notes early on that the dynamic between Fern and Rose is unhealthy. Most importantly, he suggests Fern too has a part to play in maintaining this dynamic; she is not passive. Thus, he encourages Fern to change the dynamic.

“In this way, as well as many others, my sister holds the key to my sanity (even though I never gave it to her)”

Fern cannot bear to leave her legs unshaven, possibly because it is a norm Rose has instilled in her. In her advanced state of pregnancy, she cannot shave her legs either. Thus, she is forced to ask Rose to perform the intimate task for her. Fern astutely notes how Rose has made herself indispensable to her well-being by defining the image of that well-being in the first place.

“The library has been my home for as long as I can remember. After a lifetime together, you'd think she would have known that.”

After breaking the news of Nina’s death, Rose wants to take Fern home from the library. Fern is in a state of shock, but she manages to resist Rose. Her avowal of her desire and her individuality in a vulnerable moment shows Fern’s growth as a person. She has come a long way from believing she couldn’t last a night away from Rose. At the same time, Fern’s irritation that Rose isn’t attuned to her moods shows she continues to be emotionally intertwined with rose.

“People without sisters think it’s all sunshine and lollipops or all blood and guts. But actually, it’s always both.”

Fern’s observation sums up the text’s key theme of the complex nature of sisterhood. Fern uses metaphors to describe the sunny and gruesome sides of the sibling relationship, particularly between sisters. The sunshine and lollipops are a metaphor for the joy and sweetness of the bond while the blood and guts symbolize feelings of jealousy, competition, and ownership.

“I don't hate you, Rose. But it does feel like you've spent your life trying to make me prove I love you.”

Fern’s account of Nina’s intervention after Billy’s death is very different from Rose’s story, highlighting the text’s theme of shifting perspectives. While the reader has been viewing Nina as a difficult mother through Rose’s eyes, Fern version presents Rose as the difficult child.

“Why does Rose do anything? Because of how it reflects on her.”

Among Rose’s many lies, none is as perplexing as her shifting Owen from New Brunswick to London. The lie doesn’t serve any practical purpose and in fact weakens Rose’s journal entries since it can be easily traced that Rose did not fly to London at all. Why did Rose then choose to tell the lie? Owen shrewdly puts finger on the pulse when he surmises that Owen relocating to the (supposedly) more fashionable location of London would reflect better on Rose than New Brunswick.