My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike

Älskar denna bok, då den ger inblick i vit amerikansk medelklass liv. Visst märks det tydligt att Joyce Carol Oates sågar familjen Rampike som använder sina barn som status symboler, och jag själv ser likheter med hundutställningar fast med barn.
Jag kunde inte släppa boken ifrån mig, förutom en bra handling så väcker boken känsor och får en att tänka. : Fantastisk bok knde inte sluta läsa. En av Oates bästa

(59) Wow. This was mesmerizing. Tortured. This is obviously based on the unsolved child-murder of Jon Benay Ramsey. The poor little blonde girl that did child modeling and was found in her house murdered with no sign of a home invasion; rich parents; and a crazy ransom note - it is all in here. Including the tabloid hell that the older son finds himself in after it all goes down. And this older son, Skyler Rampike, is amazingly characterized - the desperation, the loneliness, the pathos, the bitter irony, the footnotes! It is brilliant. Indeed, a hint of postmodernism (blacked out words, splotched pages, different fonts) and satire which I usually hate - but Oates pulls it off and it only adds to the outrageousness of the novel, not show more detracts.

I forget sometimes what an incredible writer Joyce Carol Oates is as I have both loathed earlier novels (them, Wonderland) thought some just OK (We were the Mulvaneys, The tattooed Girl) and absolutely LOVED others - such as this, 'Belllefleur,' and 'Black Water.' The frenetic writing of Skyler is virtuoso like. Both bitingly funny (oh, the playdates and gymnastics!) almost empathetically mocking - the fragile self-esteem of 'Mummy' and the way the upper class creepily use their children's success as their own status symbols. As much as my life DOES NOT resemble Bix and Mummy's - it still hit home in a way. Right? We all inadvertently damage our children. Oates is such a keen observer of our society - just nails it!

I could go on and on. Perhaps a 1/2 star off for a bit of a tawdry subject matter and itsy-bitsy font on the footnotes that hurt my eyes. But overall - fantastic! One of the best novels I have read in quite some time. I need make more time for Oates in my reading life. show less

"I've made myself begin whatever this will be, some kind of personal document--a 'unique personal document'--not a mere memoir but (maybe) a confession. (Since in some quarters, Skyler Rampyke is a murder suspect you'd think I have plenty to confess,wouldn't you?) Fittingly, this document will not be chronological/linear but will follow a pathway of free association organized by an unswerving (if undetectable) interior logic: unliterary, unpretentious, disarmingly crude-amateur, guilt-ridden, appropriate to the 'survivor' who abandoned his six-year-old sister to her 'fate' sometime in the 'wee hours' of January 29, 1997, in our home in Fair Hills, New Jersey. Yes, I am that Rampike."

This book is Joyce Carol Oates's imagined version of show more the Jon-Benet Ramsey murder. In the book, Jon-Benet is Bliss Rampike, a precocious ice-skater who was murdered at the age of six in the basement of the family home. The story is narrated by Skyler Rampike, Bliss's brother, who was nine years old at the time of the murder, and who is telling the story ten years later.

The Rampike family is needless to say dysfunctional. Patsy Rampike could reasonably described as mentally ill, and her husband Bix is a philanderer who is usually missing in action.

Skyler describes life before Bliss, life during her brief period of fame, and most importantly Skyler narrates brilliantly the effects the murder had on the Rampike family, and in particular on him. While the parents were initially suspected of the murder, and Bliss had a stalker who may have been implicated in her murder, in large part the suspicions of guilt were directed to Skyler.

This is one of the best Oates books I have read. It is an incisive and dark pyschological study of two flawed individuals who should never have had children, and whose actions created deeply unhappy and disturbed children.

However, the book is not unceasingly bleak. In fact, substantial portions of it skewer the life styles of upwardly mobile social climbers. The descriptions of Skyler's disastrous "play-dates," organized by his mother to further her social ambitions are particularly funny. At least until we stop to consider how difficult these episodes must have been to Skyler. show less

This is a powerful book. It is based on the real-life murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, with a satirical look at the desire for fame, life in the suburbs, fanatical Christians and living in "Tabloid Hell".

In this novel, six year old Bliss Rampike is found murdered in her home. The story is narrated by her older brother, Skyler, who is writing a decade after the murder. Skyler has been heavily medicated and institutionalized ever since his sister's death and is struggling to survive the hell his life has become.

Through is voice, we learn the story of the Rampike family. The success-driven parents, Betsey and Bix, who demand perfection from their children and are never satisified by what they have -- not their jobs, their show more home, friendships, each other, or tragically, their children.

Skyler was "Mummy's little man" and came first in her heart until his younger sister, Edna Louise (later renamed Bliss) proved to be a champion figure skater. Skyler's narrative tells of his mother's drive to exploit Bliss's talent, and her attempts to use Skyler to make friends with prominent families in the neighbourhood.

Joyce Carol Oates has created characters that are satirical, but the narrator (Skyler) is not stereotypical or two-dimensional. I really wanted to know how his life turned out. This book was disturbing, sometimes funny, sometimes shocking and I recommend it. show less

I've read and enjoyed a lot of Joyce Carol Oates' short stories, but hadn't read her at longer lengths until now. At 562 pages, My Sister, My Love is quite long, but I'm pleased to say that the author's magical way with words works at this length too. The story is perhaps modeled on the Jon-Benet Ramsay (was that the name?) slaying some years back, when a 6-year-old "beauty queen" was murdered in her own home; in this tale, it's 6-year-old rising figure skater Bliss Rampike who is found dead in her family home. The bulk of the story is about what happened before and after her death, in particular with respect to her older brother Skyler, who was 9 at the time of the tragedy, and the children's parents Betsey and Bix. (If Oates' show more reportage of upper middle-class childhood in America is at all accurate, then everyone will be in trouble once these over-medicated, over-medicalized and over-structured children grow up and take over the world!) The book is written as though by Skyler some 10 years later, trying to make sense of his very screwed-up life by recalling everything he can about his little sister and what happened to her; I love that the readers knows the narrator is a very unreliable witness, and yet one is so drawn in by his prose that it almost doesn't matter whether you believe him or not. Also, reading this right after a less-than-stellar Lynda La Plante novel made me appreciate Oates' talent and craftwork all the more strongly. Recommended! show less

Reading the reviews after I finished I discovered this was meant as a satire so I guess I took it way too seriously. In a way I am glad since the book is tragic from cover to cover and I felt like I took a beating reading it. This poor little girl and her brother pulled the short straw when it came to parents. They were totally self-centered and only interested in how they were perceived as parents that the only interest they took in their children was to transform them into window dressing. Even the names of all of the neighbors were brutal and violent. Masterfully written but I have to choose something more cheerful to read next like I need a warm scented bath after shoveling gravel.

The Jon-Benet Ramsey murder case is the inspiration for this sordid dysfunctional family story, as narrated by the little girl/murder victim's older brother, Skyler. Not favored by his parents, and even labelled a murder suspect in some quarters, outcast Skyler struggles to make sense of the disintegration of his family after his ice-skater sister's early death and his own incarceration in mental hospitals. His wealthy parents are repulsive: over-the-top ignorant, insensitive and self-centered, and their status-conscious neighbors and associates in their upscale New Jersey town aren't much better.

The narrative is both sad and oddly fascinating at the same time. It also could have been at least 100 pages shorter.