Giving away Sis

As much as Lonnie is impossible — and everyone agrees that she is — she's still my dear, sweet, lumbering big sister, and you can't give away a sister!

Laurie Fox, My Sister from the Black Lagoon

More than a quarter of a century after it was published in 1998, Laurie Fox's novel My Sister from the Black Lagoon may be even more topical now than it was then.

Clearly autobiographical — the subtitle reads "A novel of my life" — the first-person novel tells of Lorna, a girl growing up in the 1960s whose big sister is loud, uncontrollable and driven by dark compulsions. Mostly Lonnie wants to be a boy and hates it when her mother forces her to wear a dress.

Lorna loves her sister, yet resents it that Lonnie gets most of their parents' attention. She also hates it when Lonnie is sent to a home for autistic and mentally ill children.

Sometimes the novel is as funny as its title and cover illustration suggest, yet the story proves ultimately sobering, especially as Lorna matures, goes to college and realizes that she herself has, in effect, given away her sister. She calls Lonnie or visits her only as often as guilt forces her to.

What's more, Lorna has become her sister in a sense, a misfit struggling to find her place in the world.

There's much to like about this disturbing novel.