Tiny Vices

Tiny Vices is a feisty, well-written tale of present-day adult siblings. This would be an interesting book for only children to read, as well as those of us blessed with siblings. The conflict, sibling love, marital challenges that come with middle age, and the absolute loyalty that comes from a lifetime of memories with those we have our longest relationships with—our siblings—are so relatable. The author cleverly creates a family that is almost as disconnected as they are connected. Their diverse memories of their parent’s relationships with each one of them is similar to that of many families where different personalities perceive the same experiences with totally different memories.

The four adult protagonists are unlikely siblings, let alone friends. Kathy, the oldest and the instigator of the idea for a Talley sibling family beach reunion, has a husband who’s like a wet blanket over most of her ideas. Their marriage is full of cracks that she’s not aware of.

Becca, the second sister, has a dreamer husband who is still waiting for the world to recognize how special he is. Becca works hard at her day job since he does not bother to earn a paycheck—and does everything else. Their spoiled son is an addict with major personality issues. Her marriage is on the rocks, too. She blames the stress of their son. Readers soon wonder if that’s the only problem they face…

Pete is the only brother. The description of his rollercoaster life is that of an addict. Promises made with the deepest sincerity, yet never kept.  He has moments of clarity and even compassion, but his body is worn down with major chronic physical problems, most brought on by his years of addiction to alcohol and drugs. Their mother doted on him and went almost broke trying to help him save himself, to no avail.

Corina, the youngest, was recently divorced from her flamboyant, millionaire, playboy husband. She was even more recently diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Her slips of memory and mood swings so accurately describe the reality of the disease.

Becca described their parents as seeing the world through either side of a martini glass. She informed Kathy that they all were codependents like their mother. Kathy protested even though she knew her sister was partly right. You don’t have to be in Al-Anon to realize that dealing with an alcoholic parent while the other parent is pretending everything’s fine created a charade, a baseline uncertainty about what’s real. And their stressful childhood was like trying to find their way through a labyrinth while being told everything is fine when they knew it was not.

Becca and Kathy are also best friends and clearly vested in helping their younger sister and brother. They expect this may well be their last sibling vacation—and they all so obviously need a vacation.

The plot twists and character development will keep readers turning the pages, and maybe even see a bit of themselves in some of the sibling interactions. A very worthwhile book to read.