My Sister Rosa

By: Justine Larbalestier

Narrated by: David Linski

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

What if the most terrifying person you know is your 10-year-old sister?

Seventeen-year-old Aussie Che Taylor loves his younger sister Rosa. But he's also certain that she's a diagnosable psychopath - clinically, threateningly, dangerously. Recently Rosa has been making trouble, hurting things. Che is the only one who knows; he's the only one his sister trusts. Rosa is smart, talented, pretty, and very good at hiding what she is and the violence she's capable of. Their parents, whose business takes the family from place to place, brush off the warning signs as Rosa's "acting out". Now that they have moved again - from Bangkok to New York City - their new hometown provides far too many opportunities for Rosa to play her increasingly complex and disturbing games. Alone, Che must balance his desire to protect Rosa from the world with the desperate need to protect the world from her.

©2016 Justine Larbalestier (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What is wrong with people!!

I read some of the other reviews and I just wonder if anyone actually read/listened to the book at all!! I loved it. I was completely surprised. Totally worth the time! I wish there was another!!

Decent writing but one thing...

As the title does read you would expect to see more of a perspective on the psychopathic little sister, however there was little to none of that. We receive interviews made by the brother with her from time to time, but mainly it is focused on the brother's path of pissing and moaning about having to raise his sister to be normal. I give this the rating that I do because it is still intriguing to see how Rosa manipulates everything in her favor and the hidden hypocrisy within the brother over not believing in being like her sister but not being entirely normal either. Bravo to the narrator for his performance and the author can do better.

My least favored of my Audible titles.

I take some responsibility for the unfavorable experience of this audiobook. I should have been more careful in my selection. I should have realized this book was more about a teenaged boy's day-to-day life than his mentally unstable sister. Moreover, I should have taken into account how odd a woman author writing about the innermost thoughts, feelings, and attitudes of a teen boy would be.

I suppose - like Che - I also have anger issues, as I found myself wanting to throat-punch just about every member of that insufferable family, at various point throughout the book. Fortunately, most of the periperal characters were so inconsequential that I found myself not caring enough about them to conjure any emotion more powerful than annoyance. So the lethargy served its purpose in that it completely deflated the only strong feelings I had during this Audible experience.

This book felt more like Catholic school than a novel. I found the unrelenting ideological sanctimony exceedingly shrill and ham-fisted. The author tried so hard to shoe-horn social justice into every dialogue that if came off as unrealistic and facile. Which is why I found it so difficult to care about any of these characters. Each was a mere caricature of whatever they were supposed to represent. In an effort to be inclusive, the author ended up creating unflattering one-dimensional stereotypes.

If you're expecting to delve into the inner workings of a sociopath/psychopath.....whatever....google it. That's undoubtedly what the author did, when she wasn't writing about Che's tragically boring social life and romantic angst. Rosa is nothing more than a patchwork of articles on psychopathy, embodied in a bargain-bin version of Rhoda Penmark....complete with curtsy. No matter....the book spent more time boring me with contrived, repetitive teenaged dialogue, a lovesick 17-year-old boy and his Mary-Sue gf's love-life, laughable pseudo-Christian theology, and the negligent "parenting" of whatever the author tried to pass off as adults. Seriously....not ONE remotely competent adult in the entire novel. Well....okay....Che's boxing coach was pretty competent.

And the twist ending? Um....no. That fell flat, too. Had I had a relationship with any of these characters, I might have registered a care. But as it stands, the "twist" ending was just one more disappointment. The only redeeming quality in this final disappointment is that the end soon followed.

Most of my Audible books leave me a bit saddened when they end, and I go right back to the beginning to listen to them all over again. This one, I will purge from my library, just as I will purge it from my memory, the very second i finish this review.

I forced myself to keep listening to this book, because a couple of hours into it, I was certain that this would be the first book I would ever review on Audible. I plowed through it because I scorn reviewers who don't bother finishing a book, but expect me to take their review seriously.

The only shining light in this borefest was the narrator. He did a great job, and he's the only reason this title didn't get one star overall.

I do not recommend this title if you're looking for a good psychological thriller. If you're looking to be alternately bored to tears, and proselytized to by the Most Holy Church of SJW, then by all means....

Could Have Been Great

Sadly the super creepy psychotic child storyline was interrupted by a 17 year old's coming of age tale. The book was very well written but generally people that are interested in books about scary kids are not entertained by tummy butterflies at first kisses and the angst of losing one's virginity. There was just far too much of it. As it was otherwise such a good book I hate to nitpick but when I find myself having to fast forward through chapter after chapter it's gonna cost a couple stars. The reader was amazing.

A bit creepy. Too long

I couldn’t finish this book. It was long and perhaps pointless. A lot of ‘social Justice’ being preached. Just too much.
I do not recommend.

Great Story

This was an excellent story ad very well written. The story is told from the point of view of Chet a seventeen-year-old young man. He is in New York for the first time with his parents and 10-year-old sister Rosa. This brother and sister relationship is more like priest and a confessor. Che tells you from the beginning of the book that his sisters has serious personality issues. She only tells Che about her “true” self. Che her loving brother, secretly documents their conversations.
Their parents are version of a hippie who belief “let my kids grow and discover the world for themselves”. Consequently, the child’s selfish personal desire is the moral compass instead of what is right or wrong. The busy creative parents find it easier to assign the responsibility to Che to take care of Rosa.

For 75% of the book we follow Che with his teenage problems. He is in a new country, no friends, missing his home and tired of trying to keep others safe from Rosa. When you meet Rosa you know instantly that something is not quite right with her. As Che is telling you about her past transgressions you are waiting for the shoe to drop, will she push someone down the stairs or kill a cat. You get little glimpses of her manipulations and the panic it invokes in Che. That is what keeps you reading, what is Rosa going to do? Then you are given a little picture, which can be explained away as just childish wrongdoings.

Che and Rosa plays the exhausting word play of, you told me not to do it, not to don’t have someone else do it. Just when Che feels that he has found a play for him. Things fall apart. His parents can no longer make excuses for Rosa and they must try to save Che.

The apple does not fall to far from the tree. Even though you do not see Rosa in action until the later part of the book, you will get pulled into the story. Justine Larbalestier does an excellent job keeping you involved in the story that does not have any real action. The suspense comes from waiting for Rosa to really do something which cannot be explained as a young girl’s indiscretion.

Justine loses a couple of points when he has to tweak the story to produce the desired results. It is not much because you do it a surprise ending.

Boring.

I made it to the 18th chapter before I gave. Performance is so boring, I fell asleep twice, never did understand the point of the story. I gave up.

Blah, blah blah

Ugh, Could not tolerate the narrator’s slow pace. It made uninteresting uninspired story worse. Just started chapter 4. I would hang myself if I had to listen to 10 more hours of this mess. Nope

Spot on

A taste of what it's like to live with a sociopath! Apparently the author has had experience. The twisted way their mind works and how completely they can manipulate. Don't let the nay sayers put you off. This was a novel, not a medical thesis.

WOW!

This book is like - either the prequel to Netflix "You" or what Joe's kid (from You) will grow up to be 😆😬
With that said...I never wanted to shake a set of parents more! How could you be so blind.
And that kid should be locked in a Rapunzel tower and someone swallows the key! She is just the manipulative worst!
Good book, give it a try, don't listen to the nah sayers, would definitely recommend!