Kirkus Review

In this memoir, a writer chronicles her life growing up in a New England family that faced myriad challenges. This heartfelt book by Pushcart Prize--nominated author and poet Bilyak was adapted from a series of personal essays on her experiences growing up with a sister with Down syndrome. Born in rural Connecticut in the mid-1960s just shy of one year apart, the author and her older sister, Christine, were "Irish twins." Bilyak recounts that they were raised in a religious Polish family by a pretty, petite, "ubiquitous but peripheral" mother and a troubled, alcoholic father who became an award-winning chef. Early on, Chris began experiencing motor skills difficulties and was assessed by a local pediatrician who treated her as a subhuman "mongoloid idiot" best suited for life in an institution. Despite Chris' Down syndrome diagnosis in 1969, the sisters' bonding rituals continued, and their enduring relationship jelled symbiotically. The author was a curious child, prone to creating inventive versions of the truth and snooping into others' belongings. Her parents dealt with Chris' disability poorly and with "a sense of loss for the future they'd assumed she'd have." Chris, outgoing and friendly, favored odd rituals, petty theft, denial, and a love of Special Olympics events and gymnastics. Both sisters navigated their incremental ascents into adolescence with a smooth amalgam of awkward trepidation and wide-eyed adventure. Fiercely loyal to each other yet playfully competitive, Bilyak and Chris were "two class clowns with a mafia streak--entertaining, unless you so much as look at us funny. Then, not only will we always defend each other, but we'll stand together and find a way to make you pay." Throughout the author's college years and in separate adult trajectories, the women remained close, loving unconditionally and learning valuable life lessons from each other. Chris' eccentricities and foibles often delighted those around her, and these traits end up stealing the spotlight in this delightful and moving chronicle.A selection for the Driftless Connecticut Series publication award program, the memoir urgently addresses issues surrounding familial disability, specifically growing up with the challenges of Down syndrome as a doting sibling. A generous selection of scrapbook snapshots sprinkled throughout give the book emotional depth and lend a moving visual marker to Bilyak's family heritage. The author's readable prose flows swiftly and descriptively through episodes ranging from ebullient moments with family and friends to poignantly sad ordeals of temporary separations and confusion. Bilyak's flair for vivid language is evident right from the opening sequences, as when she describes Chris' consistently "sleepy expression that offers a cryptic mix of faraway and immediate" and educates readers on what the disability is really like in the volume's intimate vignettes. The women's experiences coalesce beautifully as adults celebrating their 50th birthdays a year apart, their sisterly bond a lifetime in the making, with both emerging stronger and more supportive of the other than ever. Readers will cheer these siblings along as they grow and mature into women whose complex individuality and uniqueness make their story that much sweeter. A warm account of supportive, loving sisterhood written with immense grace, humor, and heart. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.