Echo’s Sister by Paul Mosier (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Echo’s Sister by Paul Mosier
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-245567-3 $16.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-245572-7 $7.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-7
El is both excited and nervous about starting seventh grade, but soon she finds out that her sister, Echo, has been admitted to the hospital with what turns out to be rhabdomyosarcoma. El alternates between hope, anger, and despair, and she [End Page 480] really doesn’t want to make her mark at school by being the tragic sister of a little kid with cancer. El’s emotional roller coaster is credibly and sensitively portrayed as she struggles between resentment over everyone’s focus on Echo and admiration for the way her sister is handling the side effects of chemo. Meanwhile, the plot offers tidily convenient details that heighten its emotional impact while marring its claims to realism. One of El’s first friends, for instance, is a cute, open-hearted boy who has recently lost a sister to cancer. El’s fashion designer mother loses her job but immediately develops a successful business making and selling dresses that accommodate chemotherapy ports, with one client writing a check for ten thousand dollars over the cost of the dress. Donations for Echo’s treatment come from everywhere, fundraisers have implausible success, and even seemingly hostile classmates turn apologetic. While such community solidarity and generosity are certainly possible, the overall effect suggests something between optimistic fantasy and urban fairy tale; after all, this is the way things should work. However, readers probably won’t notice the implausibility through their tears at the joyous ending.
