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Sister Zero
In Sister Zero, a woman who never wanted
children suddenly becomes a mother to her nine-year-old nephew after her sister
commits suicide at age 34. Fifteen years later, the boy will also kill himself
and in almost exactly the same manner.
Sister Zero is narrated through short prose sections and snippets of “advice” from
Mister Ed (of the old television show), while Nance Van Winckel exhumes the
sisters’ shared childhood for missed clues, interrogates memory’s accuracy, and
interacts with a mother who’s disappearing into late-stage Alzheimer’s.
As the shock of these deaths
ripples out, the book progresses in swift strokes between the tough and tender,
often staring stony-eyed at a terrifying moment, then jumping forward or
backward in time to a moment of quiet humor.
Each chapter begins with an altered
page from the Official Guide to the 1964 World’s collages Van Winckel
made as testaments to that touchstone event in New York when the sisters were
children, a time she realized how huge the world was, how vastly different
other countries and cultures were from her own. The Fair was all about the
future, its bright and happy promises. She and her now-dead sister rode a ride
called “tunnel to the future.” The sister was scared; our narrator was not.
children suddenly becomes a mother to her nine-year-old nephew after her sister
commits suicide at age 34. Fifteen years later, the boy will also kill himself
and in almost exactly the same manner.
Sister Zero is narrated through short prose sections and snippets of “advice” from
Mister Ed (of the old television show), while Nance Van Winckel exhumes the
sisters’ shared childhood for missed clues, interrogates memory’s accuracy, and
interacts with a mother who’s disappearing into late-stage Alzheimer’s.
As the shock of these deaths
ripples out, the book progresses in swift strokes between the tough and tender,
often staring stony-eyed at a terrifying moment, then jumping forward or
backward in time to a moment of quiet humor.
Each chapter begins with an altered
page from the Official Guide to the 1964 World’s collages Van Winckel
made as testaments to that touchstone event in New York when the sisters were
children, a time she realized how huge the world was, how vastly different
other countries and cultures were from her own. The Fair was all about the
future, its bright and happy promises. She and her now-dead sister rode a ride
called “tunnel to the future.” The sister was scared; our narrator was not.
133 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 3, 2022
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 29, 2025
Nance Van Winkel's SISTER ZERO masterfully weaves the story of her sister's descent into addiction and her death, followed by the death of her nephew, with her own story as a witness and participant in the family's struggles. Each member - sister,mother, nephew -comes to life in glimpses of behaviors and comments that Van Winkel relates unsparingly, even though they cause her pain . The grief that runs through this family is tempered by Van Winkel's flashes of humor, the chapter frames of the 1964 World's Fair and comments from Mr. Ed, the talking horse.
Van Winkel shares her love and losses with readers in her beautifully wrought words. This is a small work, but every chapter comes together to make the whole memoir haunting, humorous, direct, and filled with love. Turning the last page, I found myself returning again to passages that demanded more thought and that gave me more insight into this family.
Van Winkel shares her love and losses with readers in her beautifully wrought words. This is a small work, but every chapter comes together to make the whole memoir haunting, humorous, direct, and filled with love. Turning the last page, I found myself returning again to passages that demanded more thought and that gave me more insight into this family.
Displaying 1 of 1 review