Sister Gin

by June Arnold, Jane Marcus (Afterword)

Aging, alcoholism, and lesbian consciousness are among the themes of this extraordinary novel. Innovative in style, it also stands squarely in the southern literary tradition, depicting with memorable hilarity a group of elderly female vigilantes who take local rape deterrence into their own hands.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian, American, Gender and Sexuality, Queer Lit

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novel is about two aging women who happen to be lovers and what happens to them and their friends.

It is an strange book because it is at once funny and touching but also slightly confusing.

So I guess it is like life.

[Candace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book my rare highest rating because it was the first lesbian novel I read in that flowering of 70s lezzie lit that seemed like it could truly endure. Arnold's literary experiments got away from her in some of her other works, but here I thought she really nailed it.

And, too, my opinion is influenced by my respect for her as an editor. So many good books came out of Daughters Press. Too many for there not to be one helluva editor standing behind them. I don't think Rita Mae ever wrote as well as she did in the two books to which Arnold played midwife.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I didn't like this that much -- it's one of those novels where the author does deliberately experimental things with the use of language and typography, and at first that was annoying to me. But after a while I got into the plot, and started to like it a lot better. It's a good story, too, once you get into it; it's about Su, a Southern woman and book reviewer, who is a lesbian but also is very nervous about calling herself that. Feminism makes her nervous, as well. But she's going through menopause, and she's falling out of love with her current partner (Bettina) and falling in love with someone else, an older woman. And she's starting to find her anger.

Probably the part that struck me as most "true" to my own experience was a bit where she tries to come out to her mother. Her mother is angry and upset, not because Su is a lesbian, but because she's said she is. The basic idea being that most people will tolerate a lot of things as long as you don't try to talk about it. Which I've often found to be the case.

[Max]

the focus on developing a female-centered view of aging and the frank and loving discussion of older lesbian sexuality is super compelling but the thoughtfulness she put into that kinda sets you up to expect more from the discussion of weight and then of race, and the potential to really say something strongly about either of those goes pretty unrealized... there’s more of an effort with the racism talk but it still ended up feeling like an afterthought, the black characters didn’t feel fleshed out at all even compared to white characters with similar amounts of dialogue. with the weight stuff too I found myself really expecting this author to take it somewhere useful by the end. instead the book is over and you realize maybe she didn’t have much useful to say on the topic... so a portrayal that really seemed like it was gonna go somewhere ended up just feeling, like... mean and caricature-ish when you finish the book and realize that’s it. If I had picked this up at random not expecting anything I think I would have appreciated it more for what it was. I just saw it brought up a bunch in older periodicals as SO politically compelling and no mention of anything disappointing so I kept waiting for the level of thoughtfulness on other issues (ones she brought up in a seemingly parallel way throughout the story) that she brought to aging and it didn’t come through. Worth reading anyway, just wouldn’t go into it expecting everything to be attended to nearly as satisfyingly as she attends to aging

[Faith Alaniz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was confusing due to the writing style that Arnold used. However, it's an emotional book filled with life that we don't often read about. This life is of Su who is a lesbian who's around 50 but still can barely have her family accept that she is one. This book shows how she struggles with age and especially menopause. Although age and menopause are seen as an end for many, she sees it as the beginning. "For it is age that takes the child away and age is what gives the child back."

[RMA · Rating 4 out of 5]

unfortunately couldn’t read because this stupid book took up all my time so i am counting it.

[Emily Davies (libraryofcalliope) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This experimental novel follows the dissolution of Su and Bettina’s 20 year relationship. Su has a meticulously crafted career, she knows the rules and how to play them, but that also means hiding a large part of herself in order to do so. She struggles to even use the word gay or lesbian about herself and now she’s started going through menopause and her carefully crafted persona is falling apart leaving her with very little. She doesn’t recognise herself or her body anymore and feels betrayed by her body, betrayed that it is ageing and that she is powerless to stop it. For Su, hope comes in the form of Mamie Carter, an older woman she’s fallen in love with. But what about Bettina? Bettina is Su’s opposite in many ways. From a privileged background, she chooses not to work, meaning the only things in her life are Su and alcohol. She can feel that Su no longer loves her but cannot let go as without her she has nothing. The second half of the novel sees the pair essentially swap places, Su loses her job, forcing Bettina to get one which gives her a sense of identity and independence she’s never had before. Su becomes dependant on Bettina’s love but Bettina is realising that their relationship just doesn’t work anymore... I really liked the main plot of the novel. The experimental writing did obscure it in which places though and the “blurb” led me to expect a vastly different story (there is also a group of middle aged and older women punishing rapists, but it’s such a small part of the narrative yet is mentioned in every summary of the book). The depiction of menopause was really interestingly done as was that sections on fatness and alcoholism which underpins the narrative. A very interesting book!

[Ellyn Lem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this rediscovered "classic" that is supposed to provide incredible insight into aging, alcoholism, menopause and lesbian relationships. Sadly, I didn't get too many new ideas on any of those subjects. I understand that Arnold was considered an experimental novelist (following the tradition of Gertrude Stein?), but I still found the narrative less than satisfying. It centers on a dysfunctional relationship between two women, who both drink too much, and one of the women Su falls in love with a much older woman who is in charge of a vigilante justice group that finds a way to humiliate rapists. While that might sound scintillating, it really wasn't. There is a Tennessee Williams Southern feel to the novel, which I enjoyed, but the characters were hard to embrace. Just wanted them to stop drinking and get their lives in order, so I would not have to keep reading about their troubles. Not very sympathetic of me, I realize, but that was my truth when reading. Oh, well.

[Kendall · Rating 1 out of 5]

I truly wanted to like this book, but I just didnt. Granted I had to read it for a gender literature undergraduate course, but ugh. The form is all over the place. The characters are mediocre then they completely switch. Alcohol is a constant, although I did not really understand the greater significance or importance of the story. This novel is not for a enjoyable read at all, unless you want to be confused the entire time. Part of it is daydreams, real reams, flashes, random thoughts, and confusing "talking to myself". The only thing I did enjoy about this book is the very blunt and sexualized language used. I understand that for true gender literary folks, this book is revolutionary, but unless you fall into that category, run. If you want an easy and enjoyable read, run. If you want to think about timeless themes that emerge in a time where they were uncommon and dissect every little thing, this book is for you.

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Credit where credit is due. This book does discuss not talked about topics like menopause. The representation for menopause is lacking in literature because people don't like to talk about aging in books swell as in life. Just go on TikTok and influencer after influencer are pushing anti aging creams and diets and workout, where as this book embraces aging and everything that goes with it.
That being said, this is an old timy book. Its an old timy joke. It talks about bing a lesbian is just women's rage against men. Like dude people are lesbians because they like women, not because they hate men... that can come together but it doesn't have to. This novel is a stereotype, but hey every stereotype starts somewhere and this book is so old it probably started the trend.

[Keaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up — this book kicked ass, everyone shut up

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for school.

[Ella Louise Schalski]

Read for TA class

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow at some parts but still enjoyable

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel that reads like a play. Frequently impenetrable.

I just came across a 1993 article in JSTOR on how to teach this book to women's studies students. Specifically, how to deal with students' homophobia. It gives tips for how to come out to your students if you, the professor, are gay. How quaint.

There are some good moments in the book. My favorite quote describes how sometimes love itself is what kills love:
"Su had seen Bettina as very strong when they had met and was unprepared for the weakness that masked; Bettina had seen Su as fragile and soft and was not at all prepared for the strength that that became. Su's love for Bettina had been enough in the beginning to allow Bettina to admit, express, even indulge her prior secret flaws; Bettina's love for Su had nurtured the stalks that sprung easily from soft pliable earth into strong trunks. Now they faced each other, seeing the product of their love so alien to the impulse that had set it in motion." -pg 183.

[Vasha7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read this, I was taken back to a period of time that I never experienced myself. I'm too young to remember the 70s. But this book is so well written, that I understand the characters' frustration. This is a loose, overflowing book, bubbling over with fury, with sexual energy. There is certainly an extreme fear of female sexuality in the society depicted, to which some of the characters attempt to respond with repression. But their outbreaks are all the wilder, and sometimes more violent, for that. Mainly, this book is funny -- very dark comedy, though! Go ahead and laugh, when things are this bad, but also this good.

[Jesse]

For all my admiration of the beautifully elusive wordplay, it was only in the last third I felt like I finally found myself on its wavelength—and then it was over. Deserves a reread at some point, especially now with the clarifying context provided by Marcus' insightful afterword.

[Read #9 of "2021: My Year of (Mostly) Midcentury Women Writers"]

[Lauralee Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It made me think about menopause as rebirth (which I never had before) and "how women break out of... "the romantic ideology of bliss and protection for the monogamous couple in their perfect house."

[Maxe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so weird that I read it in one day. A lot of drinking and depression, interesting narrativizing of weight with one character. Innovative structure and genre genre genre.

[Catherine]

lesbian feminism,Daughters Inc.