Julia Glass - As Promised

Three Junes was one of my favorites when it came out several years ago. I was so happy to find a new author of what we refer to - I hope not in a derogatory way - as "women's fiction;" books that focus on the very complicated field of relationships, be they familial or romantic, bi-sexual, gay or straight. I had a chance to meet Ms. Glass a year or two later at either BEA or ALA and received an autographed copy of The Whole World Over which is still sitting in my bookcase along with the many books I own. You know, the ones that won't accrue an overdue fine so I'm saving them for a rainy day?

That's why, when I See You Everywhere came out, I decided I'd better get it from the library so I'd be forced not to put it off for that rainy day. So glad I did. I've been unable to find a website for Ms. Glass and perhaps that's a good thing. I'm always trying to find out how much of a person's novel is really autobiographical and, in this case, I'd rather not know which sister she might be even if I do have a hunch. I'm drawn and repelled by novels about sisters, their extremely complicated relationships can too often be simplified. Ms. Glass does not simplify. She jumps right in and renders a truly realistic look at the push/pull that makes the sister connection so dodgy. Those of you who are only children cannot imagine.

I think of my sister and I whenever I watch my all-time favorite, never get tired of it, movie White Christmas, where Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen sing "Sisters," swearing that no one will come between them unless one of them comes between her and her man. It's the old "blood is thicker than water" thing except that there are exceptions. The same holds true in I See You Everywhere. Clem and Louise are polar opposites - genes are strange things, aren't they? Raised only a few years apart by the same parents but one an adventurer prone to living on the edge, sexually adventurous and married to a career that takes her to the wilds of every country to study animal behavior, the other a reflective loner, a writer and potter who prefers her own company to just any port in a storm. Each sister has a distinctive voice, chapter by chapter, telling their version of history, though I have to admit to getting confused at points during the story as Glass bounces from the past to the present and Clem to Louise. It wasn't until one of them was diagnosed with breast cancer that I really sat up and took notice.

I wasn't expecting it at all - guess I hadn't read enough reviews. What was most disconcerting was the way in which Ms. Glass described every little detail to a tee, especially the radiation treatments, the plastic nest made to conform exactly to one's body, the discussion one has with that big, noisy machine as it bores into your body, the trust one has in the computer operators who input the figures that render the dosage exactly right, not too much, not too little and not off in its direction by a millimeter. There seemed no doubt that Julia Glass had been there, done that and the fate of the sister in treatment suddenly became personal for me.

This book is an extremely honest look into the hearts of two women who, if not related, probably wouldn't even have been friends though readers don't doubt their love for eachother. It's beautifully written, Ms. Glass is a "literary" writer. Her books grab us on page one and don't let go. They're emotional and well worthy of discussion if you have the courage to open the vein and go there.