[Saturday Reads] The Irreverent (and Often Gross) Humour of Sister BFFs

SaturdayReads

Myra here.

Every Saturday we hope to share with you our thoughts on reading and books. We thought that it would be good practice to reflect on our reading lives and our thoughts about reading in general. While on occasion, we would feature a few books in keeping with this, there would be a few posts where we will just write about our thoughts on read-alouds, libraries, reading journals, upcoming literary conferences, books that we are excited about, and just book love miscellany in general.

I accidentally chanced upon this graphic novel memoir while I was looking for books that would fit our current reading theme. Upon reading the title, I knew I had the perfect book to feature!

Sister BFFs

Created by Philippa Rice
Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing (2018). ISBN: 1449489354 (ISBN13: 9781449489359). Borrowed from the Jurong West Public Library. Book photos taken by me.

It has been so long since I have laughed out loud over a book, so this was such a refreshing read. It features Philippa Rice and her younger sister with whom she exchanges profundities, life lessons, eggs, essential oils, and the occasional farts with.

While the humour may not be for everyone – I saw on Goodreads that some found it juvenile, others found a few parts offensive – I felt the genuine intimacy between the sisters brought about by mutual open affection that is never maudlin.

I also enjoyed reading the ease with which they are able to share with each other what is on their minds without fear of being judged – because they already think and believe the worst of each other – so not much of a difference there.

My 17 year old girl read this and found practically all the snippets as amusing as I did. While the humour is meant to be snide and snarky, I never found it to be downright nasty – it felt real, more than anything.

I especially loved the SMS exchanges that they have with each other – notwithstanding their being in the same home (see above). I grew up an only child for most of my childhood years – yet despite this, I still resonated deeply with some of the exchanges here. This would make a perfect gift for Sister BFFs who love annoying each other to bits, who sometimes are not able to stand each other, but also can not live without each other.