Pinkerton's Sister

by Peter Rushforth

In a novel that celebrates the power of fiction and its ultimate redeeming quality, Alice Pinkerton transports those who belittle her into her own secretly written books where they are forced to reveal their true natures, in a novel set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century New York.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, Historical, Literature

727 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Peter Scott Rushforth was an English teacher and novelist.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Desole · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since I couldn't get through this, maybe I should've gone for one star. It seemed so promising (a book for readers!)set in the late victorian/ early edwardian era. It relies heavily on references to Victorian literature which got absolutely tedious in a way I never expected. I thought it would be fun to remember all those references (the Brontes, pre-Raphaelites, oscar Wilde...)but it just got numbing. If there had been any discernible plot after 100 plus pages, I probably would've continued on. However, it just kept going in long-winded ramblings of an "insane" book-obsessed woman. It felt very show-offy to me. I felt like I was working too hard for no pay-off. So I randomly skipped ahead and found...More of the same. Not 700 more pages of that: not for me

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is crazy. or, this book is experimentally radical as far as fiction narratives go.
it takes place in ultra-literary alice's mind. if you took out all the literary references, it would whittle the book down to maybe 200 pages from 1000.
since it follows alice's mind, time and place skip around. alice is also slightly mad, so you follow her madness into dreams and fantasies.
i appreciate what Rushforth is doing, but i can't read 1000 pages of it. i just got uninterested.

[Chris Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a mammoth read this is! Full of literary references and witty observations 'Pinkertons's Sister', Alice, treats the reader to a stream of consciousness encompassing many rich episodes of her life, told from her little attic room. Deep and dark in parts and light and surreal in others, this is a true epic.
I suspect that if you don't get the references (and I certainly didn't recognise all of them) the book might be rather lost on you. It's very Anglo-centric; this is not a criticism, but an observation.
To read the entire book is something of a mission, but I found it worth the effort.

[Lynette · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 30%. I couldn’t do it anymore folks. You would think that this would be my perfect book! An insane bibliophile! But no. It’s just obscure book references with no cohesion. As well as ZERO plot. After reading over 200 pages, I can’t put up with it anymore.

[Mildlyconfusedbylife aka Rebecca]

I love the style and the language. the characters are beautifully written, however it's an intense and slow read.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a long book and definitely not for everyone. I enjoyed it but would not wouldn't recommend it in general for others. The book is built around literary references, so many of them I had no clue about, but that was the interesting aspect of this experimental novel for me.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this ten years ago now, and it was easily one of the most challenging things I have ever read -- which I remember more vividly than the book itself. Time to pick it up again, perhaps.

[Amy Abrams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book so much. It seemed like the perfect book for me, a "book for readers" is how it is marketed, a book about a woman who loves books ... It started out well enough, our heroine was quoting Jane Eyre and other classics that I love. Her neighbors actually refer to her as "the madwoman in the attic," which is one aspect I absolutely loved, (and the fact that Alice then goes on to explain how these famous "madwomen" of literary history were never actually in the "attic" to begin with, rather, they usually resided in third and fourth story rooms. Brilliant point!) However, there is absolutely no plot. At least, not one that I could find. It is the rambling thoughts and daydreams of one character. Now, I am a fan of stream-of-consciousness, but I just couldn't get into this. I am sure there are quite a few people who might find this book interesting, but I am not among them.

[Lisa Fransson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is a feat of engineering, still I don't know how to rate it. I'm always up for a challenge, but this book is nearly impossible to read. I cursed my way through the 729 pages of plotless stream of consciousness, always trying to focus, always trying to extract something out of the next thought shift. It was exhausting work and I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. So why do I give it four starts? Because after having finished it, our protagonist Alice has set up camp in my mind. I hear her thoughts and I empathise with her. I think about her friend Annie and her Papa and his "friend" in a way that's really quite rare for me. So don't read it. Or do. No, actually don't. Unless you really want to of course. Oh, I don't know...

[Lynne-marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amadwoman who is not mad is at the center of this amazing book. The author is an inventive and linguistically gifted creator of an intensly unique character. But he (the author) is also scatalogically inclined and has an English school-boy's sense of humor, which in so long a book became burdensome. I was of mixed feelings in the end whether the time I spent on it was worth it, but then, I did buy the next book, so I guess I must have thought so on some level. Just not for a while. The tricks are old right now.

[Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style of this book followed/mimicked the mind-wanderings of the main character, which was a nice "adventure" in itself to follow. Though tiring at first, I gradually fell into step with and later easily followed the flow of the tale/character's mind. It had a habit of shifting from current reality to fantastical daydreams to images of the past and back again. Was Alice a madwoman? Perhaps. She most certainly had an extensive imagination.

[Andrea Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous, literary descent into madness! This was an interesting read with all it's references to literary works woven into the story of Alice Pinkerton and her descent into mental illness. Is Alice mad or just eccentric and wanting to escape convention? I am sorry to know that the author of this great novel passed away in 2005, his work is a testament to his genius in both writing and research. A fascinating story from beginning to end! If you read literature this book is for you.

[Margaret Pinard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I abandoned the effort at page 88/729, and consider myself lucky to have graduated to such a point, where I don't feel guilty about stopping, and will not be forcing myself to slog through 600-odd more pages of this.
If you like listening to the feverish imaginings of someone who is very erudite and nursing a lot of hatred, you may enjoy this book. The writing is perhaps very fine, and the scholarly background is probably even better, but I didn't enjoy _reading_ it, so I'm giving it a pass.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hard book - long, tedious, like an iceburg and at times largely unpenetrable. Excellent case study of a mentally disturbed person. still not sure what exactly happened in the "plot" of the 730 pages but the thought processes of Alice were amazing to read - disturbing and amazing. proud that I made it to the last sentance but would not recommend it and will probably not read it again.

[Nora Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A tiresome display of the author's extensive literary knowledge attempts to disguise the lack of a plot as he wonders through a crazy female protagonist's thoughts...I couldn't make it past the first few pages and I love the literati, although impressive in it's knowledge of various Victorian literature, it lacks any kind of enticement for a reader whatsoever

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could relate to her literary escapism. I too have used literature to hide from certain aspects of life. However, did Mr. Rushforth have to take this long ( 1000 pages) to tell this tale. If he could have shortened it, I wouldn't have just skimmed through the last 230 pages. Yawn. I liked it, but didn't love it.

[Virginia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried, I really did. I have an MA in English lit, so I thought I could get through this. However, I kept falling asleep, losing my place, and was unable to find it again. I simply gave up. Maybe if I wasn't teaching as many hours this semester, but I didn't have the stamina for it.

[Jennifer Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. It was lyrical, and so incredibly imaginative. I'm sorry for the excessive descriptive terms, but it was just so creative. I felt I could relate to Alice, the title character, and perhaps that's why I liked it so much. It was weird and sad and funny. I will read it again.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book amazed me. The writing was so unique, so original, it made me think, and feel, and was everything a book should be

[Denise]

so far all i can say is wow! i have to fight myself to not devour it all at once

[Margaret]

couldn't do it

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the few books I couldn't finish. I hated every minute I wasted on trying to read this.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hefty, long, sometimes boring read, but I was determined to finish it and I am glad it's over.

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished it simply because I hate to not finish a book, but I'm not at all sure it was worth the effort and it was an effort.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried, I really tried but it just was not for me. Beautifully written but just not engaging enough so regretfully added to the did-not-finish list.