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Henry's Sisters

by Cathy Lamb (Goodreads Author)

3.93 · rating details · 1,027 ratings · 270 reviews

From the acclaimed author of "Julia's Chocolates" and "The Last Time I Was Me" comes Lamb's most heartwarming novel to date, as three sisters reunite during a family crisis.

Mass Market Paperbound, 352 pages

Published August 1st 2009 by Kensington Publishing Corporation

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Dec 11, 2010

Gloria Bernal rated it

You will fall in love with Henry! He is a young adult special needs boy who has been taunted through the years as a retard by his peers, but who has an innocent loving heart. He fiercely loves his protective sisters, Jesus, and mistreated dogs who flourish under his loving care, and frequently tells strangers that Jesus loves them.

Get through the first 50-60 pages of bickering between the sisters (my 100 page rule worked out here) and you will finish it with many chuckles, and thro...more

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Jan 11, 2012

Sheila DeChantal rated it

Henry's Sisters is a book I personally loved - Cathy Lamb writes with a quick whit and a way that made me feel I was in the room with these quirky characters. I highly recommend this read - it was touching and funny.

Isabelle Bommarito is a mess.

She continuously picks up men... connects for a night and then disposes of them quickly. As in now... as in LEAVE.

Cecilia Bommarito is depressed. Her husband is having an affair right under her nose. And so she ea...more

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Aug 04, 2011

Beth Peninger rated it

· review of another edition

This was the second Cathy Lamb book I have read and so far she's 2 for 2 with me. I love her books!
Lamb has a brilliant way of developing a character to the point that you feel like you are right there with them, experiencing what they are. She does the perfect amount of character development. I also love that Lamb tackles heavy and weighty topics but inserts refreshing humor into them so her characters can work through what is bogging them down.
Henry's Sisters is about the Bom...more

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Jul 20, 2011

Sally rated it

Shelves: fiction

I KNOW I said not to read anything by this author. I stand by my statement. I read this book because my sister-in-law really wanted me to read it. She's the one who recommended the other book by this author. She said I would like this one. No way. I cannot relate to the characters and I find the plot unbelievable. LIke the other novel, there are horrific things that happen to the characters, and so the characters develop 'issues' to cope or numb themselves. Unfortunately, the author veer...more

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Jul 05, 2011

Sheila Bennett rated it

The overall premise of the story is good - three sisters "come home" during their adult years to care for their adult mentally-disabled brothers. However, the character development is very juvenile. Absolutely every character has some overly exaggerated 'flaw', but none of the characters are really developed at all. It is like the author just had some random thoughts of scenes and characters that she wanted to write, so decided to piece them all together into a book.

The s...more

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Mar 15, 2011

Cathie rated it

Recommended to Cathie by: Beth

In my not-so-humble opinion, Cathy Lamb may well be one of the best, most creative fiction writers in the last 10 or more years. Her stories are brutal and honest; and they're heartbreaking at the same time as they are hilarious. She pulls at your heartstrings, while simultaneously tickling your funny bone. Simply stated, her books are like your favorite dessert. You can't wait to dive in and eat every last bite of it, at the same time that you want to savor it slowly to enjoy every last mor...more

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Sep 05, 2010

Tanya rated it

Shelves: book-club-esque

When I first started "Henry's Sisters" I wasn't sure I was going to like it. The characters all seemed so dysfunctional, and I didn't want to read a dark twisty novel. But the more I read, the more I liked it, and by the end of the book I was sobbing and thinking about why I had been so touched.

That's not to say I cried the whole time. The characters are hilarious, actually quite over-the-top strange. From the dementia-plagued Grandma who thinks she's Amelia Earhart to ...more

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Feb 11, 2010

Gail rated it

A wonderful heart-ful novel of three sisters who survived, deeply damaged, a difficult and terrifying childhood. Each lives their lives crippled by their paths and yet they still hope. A message from their mother summons them back home to care for their grandmother and their mentally retarded brother, Henry.

The three sisters revitalize the family bakery and Henry lives his life exuberantly and in love. The sisters love each other and fight with each other, the enormity of both i...more

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May 18, 2009

Cheryl/Aradanryl rated it

Shelves: first-read-arc-giveaway

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Some parts, I just couldn't help reading aloud, they were so funny. Other parts were so sad, my heart hurt. Fast paced, this book took me on an emotional rollercoaster. Anyone who has unusual family members creating dysfunction/chaos around them will very likely enjoy this. I think it would be a good book club discussion too.

Profanity, violence against women and promiscuity although it felt story appropriate and not gratuitious.

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Oct 18, 2009

Karalee rated it

Shelves: women-s-fiction

Cathy Lamb delivers the entire range of emotions in all of her books -- happiness, humor, sympathy, sadness, anger, bitterness -- but does it in a way that is inviting and fun. Her books are full of quirky but totally endearing characters with problems but many redeeming qualities. This book is no exception. It centers on the Bommarito family and, in particular, on the three Bommarito sisters -- Isabelle, Cecelia and Janie. All three are troubled in their own way but fiercely loyal to family...more

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Feb 23, 2010

Anne rated it

The opening chapters of Cathy Lamb's novel 'Henry's Sisters' catapults the reader straight into the lives of the sisters of the title. Three women, each with complex personalities, all very odd and eccentric, all with major problems and all stemming from their bizarre and dysfunctional childhood.

Isobelle; famous photographer who sleeps with every man she meets; Janie; successful crime author who has to count everything and taps constantly and Cecelia; overweight mother of two and ne...more

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Feb 16, 2010

Stephanie rated it

This is an amazing book. I have to say that when I first started it, I wasn't sure that I would like it. However, my aunt had given it to me, and I trusted her opinion. After reading the first chapter, I couldn't put it down. I read through this book within a week, which is pretty good for me given my schedule. It is a story about a family that has a sordid past, and none of them have been able to move on. One sister sleeps around, another eats her emotions, and the other has OCD and writes abou...more

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Mar 29, 2011

Deanne rated it

I really thought I was going to like this book based on the synopsis that I read. I usually love reading about eccentric or quirky characters. However, just about every character in this book was a raving lunatic, and as a group they experienced every social ill and traumatic experience known to man. It was just too much and way over the top. This was the first book that I've read by Cathy Lamb, and I'm not sure I'll read another.

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Sep 03, 2010

Megan rated it

Shelves: 3-stars, fiction

If you think you've read every possible take on the "emotionally wounded protagonist returns to the small town where her quirky family lives, in order to find/heal herself" plot, you still might find Cathy Lamb's Henry's Sisters a slightly skewed take on the concept. It doesn't deconstruct the trope, but its approach felt refreshingly different and reminded me why I sometimes enjoy this trope (in small, dark doses).

For periods of time, I really enjoyed this book. It was fun...moreIf you think you've read every possible take on the "emotionally wounded protagonist returns to the small town where her quirky family lives, in order to find/heal herself" plot, you still might find Cathy Lamb's Henry's Sisters a slightly skewed take on the concept. It doesn't deconstruct the trope, but its approach felt refreshingly different and reminded me why I sometimes enjoy this trope (in small, dark doses).

For periods of time, I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, first of all, and charming, in a dark, wry sort of way. I really felt for this family, and I thought the characters and their relationships were complicated and intriguing. I particularly adored Janie, the prim and pink-loving crime writer. The portrayal of mental illness was surprisingly multifaceted. The world they live in was realistically multicultural (small towns: not just for middle-class white people!).

But there are things a reader should know before embarking on this book.

01. It's crude. The characters are over the top at times which some readers might find annoying, but I found it quite delightful in a vicarious "Wow, I wish I could have the guts to tell my sister's ex just how much I hate him, too" sort of way.

02. The characters are broken. All of them. Broken. Kindness and community are extended among all these broken survivors, but there are no easy answers of quick fixes for the emotional wounds these characters have suffered and have inflicted on one another. If you'll get worn out by a book where the majority of characters are barely-functional or aren't traditionally-functional, then this isn't likely won't be your cup of tea.

03. It's sad. Not relentlessly, but still overwhelmingly. And just when bubbly happiness seems sustainable, a deux ex machina in the form of pancreatic cancer (pancreatic cancer, just the term alone made me want to close the book and cry) is dropped.

04. This book also requires a serious content warning: a brutal attempted rape (and attempted murder) is described in detail. That was a really tough scene to read, and despite the book's wryly dark tone, I hadn't expected it, and I assume some readers might find it triggering.

There were a couple other reasons why I didn't love this book, despite how much I enjoyed it. For one, Lamb's reliance on "whined" and "whimpered" as dialogue verbs grated on my nerves, which, yeah, is a little thing, but it kept jarring me from the text.

The most significant reason I'm hesitant about the book, however, is the portrayal of Henry. I'm still going back and forth on the stereotypical aspects of his characterization. Often, Henry's characterization fell back on the stereotypes of "disabled innocence" and "disabled inspiration" (see Understanding Disability: Inclusion, Access, Diversity, and Civil Rights). While all the important characters respect (not to mention love) Henry, and while he does demonstrate agency and clearly has a fulfilling life beyond his participation in the book's major plot, he is often used in service for the other characters (mostly, he teaches them the lesson of love, and he serves as an example of surviving [and thriving!] after extreme devastation [which in the context of this book is not his disability itself, refreshingly, but instead some of the abuse and assaults he suffers, some related to his disability and some not). However, he isn't reduced to that role, even if it's his major role, and so while I'm uneasy with how stereotypical his portrayal is and I do find it problematic, I was willing to keep reading. I did think the narrative emphasized how Henry had unique strengths and talents that his family and community valued, and that they did see him more than "just" someone with a mental disability.

I'm not sure I'll reread this book (like I said, it's pretty damn sad) but I can see myself flipping through to reread passages and certain scenes, as well as to appreciate (and try to learn from) Lamb's skill for depicting complicated family dynamics.(less)

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Jan 22, 2012

Laurel-Rain rated it

· review of another edition

Henry is the heart of the Bommarito family. During their early childhood, River, the mother, often sank into a deep depression that felled her for days and weeks; her daughters, Cecilia, Isabelle, and Janie tried to manage. Caring for themselves, each other, and mostly for Henry—who is mentally challenged and often needs their assistance, as well as their protection.

Cecilia and Isabelle are fraternal twins, but they often feel each other's anger, pain, and sadness. Janie copes by cou...moreHenry is the heart of the Bommarito family. During their early childhood, River, the mother, often sank into a deep depression that felled her for days and weeks; her daughters, Cecilia, Isabelle, and Janie tried to manage. Caring for themselves, each other, and mostly for Henry—who is mentally challenged and often needs their assistance, as well as their protection.

Cecilia and Isabelle are fraternal twins, but they often feel each other's anger, pain, and sadness. Janie copes by counting, checking, and isolating herself; she also writes bestselling crime novels. Isabelle is a well-known photographer, now sidelined from that career due to the horror she has witnessed in troubled parts of the world and a secret pain she keeps to herself. She also deals with certain aspects of her history by "sleeping around." Cecilia is the one who remained close to home, but copes by overeating and lashing out at those around her.

When River requires surgery, Isabelle and Janie come home to Trillium River, the small Oregon village where their grandmother has a house, and where River has been living for several years. They are needed to help care for Henry and their grandmother, who believes she is Amelia Earhart.

Coming home brings many of the childhood memories to the forefront, and as each of Henry's sisters tries to deal with their mother and each other, they experience all over again the troubled and painful life brought about by their mother's neglect, frequent verbal abuse, and the abandonment by their father.

"Henry's Sisters" is narrated in the first-person voice of Isabelle, but we soon come to understand and know each of the sisters and feel their emotional connections; despite their pain and anger, sometimes directed at one another, they clearly love and need each other.

So when one crisis after another challenges them, what will they do to get through? How will the family bakery begin to inspire their creativity and feed their souls? And when an unexpected reappearance from the past brings up unwelcome feelings, how will they cope?

As one final sad blow brandishes its fierceness, bringing out the best and worst in them, what will ultimately remind them again of the strength of their love for one another?

I enjoyed meeting and connecting with the characters in this book, all flawed, somewhat quirky, and totally human. I was sad to close the final page on this family. I could relate to aspects in each of them, but felt especially connected to Isabelle, trying to make a life on her terms, even as she struggled with the demons of her past. Five stars.
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Mar 30, 2011

Regina Spiker rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: family, dysfunctional, special-needs, survival, violence, dementia

What does a mom do, left with 3 young daughters and a special-needs son, when her beloved husband walks away after waking up to his hands strangling her neck. (Vietnam flashbacks) No education, no training, and too proud to take a handout, she dances and turns tricks to unsuccessfully feed her children. Meet the dysfunctional Bommarito family - you will fall in love, laugh, and cry with these crazy, quirky, gritty, characters who try to forget and forgive their traumatic childhood.

C...more

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Feb 14, 2010

Ann K. rated it

This was a great read - I could not put it down. It was about a tumultuous, passionate and totally dysfunctional family torn apart when the father abandoned them because of the danger he posed to them as an after effect of the Vietnam War and the survival the mother fought for being left with the four children and no education and way to much pride and meanness. And how all were reunited 30 years later. The author had painted all the charaters in the book with layers and layers of depth. There w...more

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May 24, 2010

Heidi rated it

I laughed out loud so many times throughout reading this book. There is a lot of sorrow included in this story. There was only one thing that I still don't understand and that is why she quit photography it seemed like there was some sort of story there that I didn't read? Maybe that was answered and I just read it so quickly that I missed it. What this family had been through was amazing. I loved how close the siblings were. I wish for that in my own family...my sister and my kids. I fel...more

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Jan 30, 2010

Vivian rated it

OMG, what happened? Cathy Lamb's two previous novels were warm, wonderful, funny and poignant. They were well written and felt so real. Henry's Sisters, however, is nothing like her previous efforts. The story of three sisters (cartoons), a learning disabled brother and the mother from hell. The opening scenes of Isabelle burning underwear on her balcony, sitting outside naked and drinking from a bottle of Kahlua while screaming at the occupants of an office building across from her apartment, a...more

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Mar 11, 2010

Suzanne rated it

I started reading this book late last year and hated it! I didn't even get through the first chapter! I thought that the characters seemed too artificial and in serious need of mental help! I decided to give it a second chance and once I re-read that first chapter and moved on, I started to like it more and more.

The Bommarito sisters and their entire family are crazy! That is the only word I can think of for them! I thought it was ridiculous at first but I came to really like all of...more

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Mar 15, 2011

Paula rated it

I really enjoyed this book, despite parts of it feeling a bit forced and the end that never seemed to arrive. The book has a little something for everyone in a challenging family situation: a grandmother with Alzeihmer's, a special needs brother (Henry of the title), a stone-cold mother who expresses love only for Henry and three sisters whose issues could keep a hospital full of therapists busy for a long time. The heart of the novel is the convergence of the three sisters back home to run thei...more

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Jul 20, 2010

Pam rated it

I don't cry over characters in a book.
Well...ok, maybe one time...but who didn't cry when Beth bites the big one in "Little Women?"
But this book had me sobbing over Henry with the rest of the Bommarito family and Trillium River community.

Maybe it was where the novel was set, as I have lived in the Columbia River Gorge for 13 years, and up until July 2010 worked in Hood River (which Trillium River suspiciously resembles...)

Maybe it was the connection betwee...more

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Mar 01, 2010

Annie rated it

· review of another edition

This is so difficult to review without giving away half the story, but I absolutely loved it - all her other books went straight onto my bookmooch wishlist. The first 50 pages were a challenge - "full on" as Anne said, and I was dreading reading the whole thing. But what a story - superb and complex characters, well drawn, and minor characters springing into full 3D. Lots of laugh out loud stuff - some of those mealtimes, wonderful. So loved Henry - can see him now, swooping round the ...more

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Aug 19, 2009

Trish rated it

I've read another book of Cathy Lamb's and wasn't sure if I would like this book or not. I must say that this was a 2:30 am book (meaning I couldn't put it down). I read this book traveling, laughing out loud at some of the story and had to explain to my husband what I was laughing about. Luckily, the teary part was late at night, so I didn't have to explain how a fiction story could bring me to tears. What a truthful, heartfelt story!! I could picture everything in my minds eye as I read t...more

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Jun 20, 2011

Diana Buscher rated it

This book made me laugh and cry. The book revolves around a dysfunctional family that has a lot of heart but due to circumstances leaves the children with a jaded childhood. My two favorite characters in the book were Henry, the disabled brother and Grandma who suffers from dementia. Having a mentally handicapped nephew allowed me to relate to the protectiveness the sisters felt for their brother. It’s a heavy read, the adult children in the book really struggled throughout their childhood f...more

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Jan 16, 2010

Kristi rated it

Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb is funny, heatwarming, sad, and written with an ease that makes this book a fast read with very interesting characters involved in complicated family relationships and personal difficulties. Three sisters return to their home town to run the family business and to take care of Henry, the youngest brother with disabilities, while their mother is in the hospital for heart surgery. Reviving the business, becoming reaquainted with an estranged father, realizing Henry's...more

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Sep 21, 2009

CJ - You Carry On As If I Don't Love You rated it

Recommends it for: fans of Julia's Chocolate, Marisa de los Santos fans

Shelves: fiction, fiction-for-women, familyconflict, food-related-fiction, just-plain-good

Let me state that I don't really cry when I read books. The last book that I read that brought me to teary eyed-ness was Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos.

This book had me dry sobbing.

At once both heartbreakingly beautiful and tragic this book follows the story of the Bommarito family told through the eyes of Isabelle, the twin of Cecilia and sister to both Henry, who is a special needs boy, and Janie. Their mother River is about to go in for open heart surgery and th...more

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Sep 06, 2011

Marybeth rated it

The first chapter of this book was so depressing that I wasn't at all sure I was going to even continue reading. However, several friends whose opinions I value had told me that this was a wonderful book, so I stuck with it. I'm so glad I did! Each of Henry's sisters, as well as Henry himself, proved to be characters of depth and characters I came to cheer on as they grew as individuals and as siblings. Several times while I was reading, I was struck by a particular line of writing and had t...more

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Nov 13, 2011

Gwyneth Stewart rated it

Henry and his sisters had a terrible childhood--experiencing homelessness, teasing and taunting, and living without a father and with an unloving mother who went through periodic bouts of deep depression. Henry, despite of or because of his Down's Syndrome, grows up to be a loving, open, happy person, while his sisters are all deeply scarred. When their mother becomes seriously ill, the family does manage to come together, run the family bakery together, and reunite in ways they didn't think p...more

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Sep 18, 2009

Vicki rated it

Shelves: adult-fiction

This is the second book I've read by Cathy Lamb (thoroughly enjoyed Julia's Chocolates), and at first I thought, come on! Please don't put your main characters through the tortures of hell again! But I was so hooked on this completely disfunctional family, the agonies they've gone through and the glue that holds them all together that by the time the book was done, even though I was a total wreck, I was completely enchanted. Fortunately, the author ices her literarly cakes with lots of humour, ...more

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About Cathy Lamb

Cathy Lamb was born in Newport Beach, California. As a child, she mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding her bike with no hands. When she was 10, her parents moved her, two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before she could fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.

She then embarked on her notable academic car...moreCathy Lamb was born in Newport Beach, California. As a child, she mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding her bike with no hands. When she was 10, her parents moved her, two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before she could fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.

She then embarked on her notable academic career where she earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When she saw her byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, she knew she had found her true calling.

After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, she settled down for the next three years and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. It was difficult for her to become proper and conservative but she threw out her red cowboy boots and persevered. She had no choice. She had to eat, and health insurance is expensive.

She met her husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set them up. It was love at third sight.

Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused her until she became so gigantically pregnant with twins she looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, she decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. She left school one day and never went back. She likes to think her students missed her.

When Cathy was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, she took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote almost 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As she is not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener for her to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. She also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project.

Cathy suffers from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents her from getting much work done unless she has a threatening deadline. She likes to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, camp, travel, and is slightly obsessive about the types of books she reads. She also likes to be left alone a lot so she can hear all the odd characters in her head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so she is often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is her excuse for being cranky.

She adores her children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. She will ski because her children insist, but she secretly doesn’t like it at all. Too cold and she falls all the time.

She is currently working on her next book and isn’t sleeping much.(less)

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Quotes from Henry's Sisters

“Sisters are the worst. And they are the best. A sister can be awful and complicated and loving and protective and petty and competitive, and when you die she is the person you want beside you holding your hand. Somebody's gotta organize the potluck after the service and you know your husband's not gonna be up to the job.” — 12 people liked it

“Sometimes things are so insanely private, you don't even want to talk about them with yourself. Don't talk about them, don't wrestle with them, don't let them run you over. Let it be.” — 7 people liked it

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