Consent

This is a beautifully written and complex novel by Annabel Lyon.
It’s a though provoking read about complicated relationships and the impact of guilt and loss.
At times, I found it a challenging read but it’s one that will stay with me for a while.

Saskia and Jenny are twins but only equal in looks, their personalities could hardly differ more. Where Saskia is diligent and studious, Jenny enjoys life at the fullest and is always looking for some more thrill. Only a car accident in which she is seriously injured can put an end to her posh and impulsive lifestyle and brings the sisters back together. Mattie and Sara are sisters, too, the first with an intellectual disability, the second striving for academic success and the life she knows from stylish magazines. The latter sister pair, too, moves apart only to be forced together by fate again. Looking for reasons behind the tragic events, Saskia and Sara recognise that there is an unexpected link between them which goes far beyond the parallels of their sisterhoods.

I totally adored the first half on Annabel Lyon’s novel. Showing four young women emancipating themselves, developing personalities and ideas of who they want to be and how they want to live their life was wonderful to read. Even though the parallels show quite from the start, they are two quite unique sets of siblings which do have complicated but nevertheless deep bonds. Especially when Saskia and Sara come to the critical points in their sisters’ lives, they themselves are hit to the core, too, and have to make far-going decisions which also deeply impact their own lives. Throughout the novel, we see a great elaboration of characters with very authentic nuances and facets.

The second half did not convince me that much which, I assume, was mainly due to the fact that the central aspect of the relationships between the sisters was lost by then. Even though here the link between the two pairs was established and some secrets revealed, I found it lacked a bit of depths.

I found the title quite interestingly chosen, very often, “consent” is immediately associated with relationships and intercourse, but in the novel, however, also other aspects, e.g. to what extent the sisters approve of each other’s choices and decisions is explored. Especially Saskia investigates her sister’s life and by walking in her shoes, detects new sides of herself.

Saskia and Jenny are twins, one a student, a quiet safe adult, uninterested in clothes and fashion and the other a reckless risk taker, profligate spender and designer fashion addict. When Jenny has a car crash, Saskia starts to try to understand her sister, wearing her clothes, having her hair done and seeing where being more visible takes her.

Mattie and Sara are also sisters. Mattie is pretty and kind but has a learning disability, whilst Sara is plain, an academic but unhappy with life, heading to alcoholism with a tendency to recklessly overspend on designer fashion (there does seem to be a strange over obsession with designer wear in the narrative). Sara can't wait to escape her family life but when her wealthy parents die and she reluctantly returns to look after Mattie she finds Mattie has married their itinerant handyman who has a connection to Jenny which eventually starts to link the two sets of sister's stories together.

There was lots to like about this book, but I got a bit fed up with designer clobber obsession. I also felt I didn't really connect too well with the two main characters and how they behaved. I felt the narrative could have been a bit tighter. Also, a lot of time is spent on Saskia and Jenny after the first chapter so that it easy to forget about Sara before her storyline returns. Overall, I thought the book was well worth reading but would hev been a better experience for me with some editing and rewriting.

Consent follows the lives of two sets of sisters; Mattie and Sara and Saskia and Jenny. Mattie has a learning disability, is the apple of her mum's eye and sees the world through rose-tinted glasses loving everyone and everything, Sara is a bitter alcoholic obsessed with fashion, designer produce and living a fancy life. Saskia is a broke, undergraduate student and the more sensible twin, Jenny is reckless, there seems to be some minor allusions to her having mental health issues and is also obsessed with living a glamorous and expensive lifestyle. The first half of the book focuses on the sibling relationships between each set, Sara and Jenny seem to view their siblings as burdens however in the second half both sets of sisters are struck by tragedy. I'm not going to say what happens as I don't want to spoil the plot but there is a man who connects the two tragedies, Sara develops an obsession with him and Saskia tries to completely understand her twin by wearing her clothes, making decisions for her and constantly being beside her.

The first half of this novel was absolutely beautiful; the writing was so simple but effective and poignant. In the chapters between Mattie and Sara I developed a total soft spot for Mattie with her zest for life and obliviousness to Sara's negative thoughts about her, similarly I had more empathy for Saskia than for Jenny as Saskia seemed to be living in the real world whilst Jenny was more an adrenaline junkie. I could be totally wrong but to me the two sisters both represented the best and worst of humanity more strikingly between Mattie and Sara.

Consent explores complex family dynamics with Mattie bringing out the best of Sara's mother and the small amounts of compassion she has, Sara seems to dislike her family and just wants to be as far away as possible however when Mattie is left all alone she goes out of her way to be the one caring for her and feels this is her obligation, Saskia has always been the golden girl of the family but when she goes to university to study a more liberal degree she disappoints her parents and they are more proud of Jenny's achievements as she is well known in her field and can afford fancy restaurants. There's a really interesting part where it describes Saskia as being Jenny's control, however when Jenny has a life changing accident Saskia seems to lose all of her control and identity without Jenny beside her.

The second half of the novel primarily focuses on Sara and Saskia and how their lives start to intertwine, I felt like the reduction in both Mattie and Jenny's presence had a detrimental affect on the novel, it kind of felt like all the characters had more to give but the novel just hit a stale-mate situation. It also began to feel like some of the encounters and interactions and this point were drawn out, throughout the novel there's an obsessions with designer outfits and stores and famous designers, I felt like a little bit of this way okay to set the scene initially but it just ended up becoming a bit tedious and I would skim-read the parts set around designer stores or bars and restaurants. I found the ending to be the twist that keeps on giving, it was set up in a way that you had no idea what Sara and Saskia were planning, this had been done really well and I felt like the ending redeemed the latter half of the book.

I'd initially expected that due to the title Consent it would tackle a sexual kind of consent; it does not however it's still such an apt title as it explores consent throughout; families, relationships, lifestyle choices and in a magnitude of ways. I found it easy if occasionally uncomfortable reading reflected by the fact I read it within a day. I would recommend it to others as I found it an enlightening, thought provoking and enjoyable read.

This is a really interesting exploration of family dynamics. We have two sets of sisters and in each family one sister is deemed ‘the responsible one’ and is obliged or consents to look out for the other, who is considered ‘irresponsible’ through mental incapacity or fecklessness. Both find this a burden, but still they accept that burden and their role in their relationship with their sister, even when they no longer need to. Events I hesitate to describe for fear of spoiling the book for others bring the two women together and to an unexpected resolution of their personal dilemmas. An enthralling read, cleverly constructed so that my empathy switched continually between one character and another, and exploring some difficult questions, including self-determination for vulnerable adults and thrill-seeking taken to extremes. Highly recommended.

I loved this while also finding it a difficult read. It was really well written and I really liked how the characters were developed.

Jenny and Saskia may be twins but they couldn’t be more different in terms of personality. They may have different paths in life, but when one sister is injured, the other willingly puts their life on hold to care for her sibling. Sisters Mattie and Sara have an awkward relationship but, similar to Jenny and Saskia, must rely on each other when a life changing event occurs. Four women, two sets of sisters, but could they share more in common than just being bonded by family ties? I’ve read books about sisters that are heartwarming and thoughtful, and also distanced and uncaring and this is refreshingly in the middle: sisters who aren’t necessarily close but have the possibility of learning more about each other.

A tragic novel that will break your heart, full of family and the choices we make sometimes followed by a lifetime of regret and sorrow. Fantastic read.