Unabridged Audiobook
A gorgeous and thoughtful portrait of the complex relationship between brother and sister. I can’t wait to see what Richard Mirabella does next!
This is my second time reading Brother and Sister Enter the Forest. This time, I listened to the audiobook, and it offered a particular kind of sadness that reading it couldn’t offer. I felt for Justin before. I feel even more for him now. Before, I saw someone I used to love in Justin. Now, I see some of the lonely parts of myself in Justin. Richard Mirabella has a sultry and unique voice. He reaches into the deepest, darkest, most haunted parts of your soul. It is intimate and beautiful. The ending crushed me just as hard the second time. I still want more. I highly recommend this audiobook. ***original review**** “Maybe you were always the same; only your body grew and changed.” “‘She’s a real artist,’ Justin said. ‘She’s always been an artist, but she hid it. You had to hide things in our house.’” This book made me so indescribably sad. It hurt, because it was too familiar. The darkness that is ever present at the back of your mind, the forgetfulness because you’re never present. The unwillingness to believe that somebody could love you, because you spent so many years of your life trying to be loved by the people who should automatically and unconditionally love you. Clinging to your sibling(s). Trauma bonded. It was all so familiar and so painful. Justin reminded me of somebody I used to love. Justin reminded me of me. I am crushed at the way this book ended. I want more. The melancholy was so beautiful, tragic, broken. What a writer. What a relatable mind. I hope to see more from the author, because this is one of the most unbelievably good works for fiction I’ve ever read. It was painfully impactful.
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