Rosemary Cooke was, until she was 5, a very chatty child, and also a twin. And then something happened in her family that resulted in her sister, Fern, disappearing and Rosemary gradually losing her voice. She tells her story in bits and pieces, starting in the middle and working her way slowly round to some big reveals.

I’m not at all sure why I, at some point, thought I wanted to read this book (which is how it must have made it onto my wishlist). It’s not in any way my usual thing, and, true to form, it didn’t work for me. It’s way too sad – there’s animal cruelty in spades – and there’s now real trade-off for the suffering it inflicts on the reader (as far as I’m concerned). Blech. ( )

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a tricky book to write about without giving too much away.

Rosemary has an idyllic childhood, growing up on a farm with her parents, older brother Lowell and sister Fern until one day, aged 5, everything changes when she returns home from her grandparents to discover that Fern has disappeared.

The story starts in the middle, where Rosemary is a college student at UC Davis. This is my favourite part of the novel - Ezra Metzger, the conspiracy-theorist and uber-conscientious caretaker and Madame Defarge, the ventriloquist’s dummy who rocks up in the wrong suitcase, being my most loved characters after Fern.

All the characters are really well portrayed, if not very likeable, from roommate Todd to ‘psycho bitch’ Harlow, from Grandma Fredericka and her daytime TV to Grandma Donna and her aversion to Rosemary’s father.

There were bits that made me smile, the dysfunctional family dynamic felt very real, the ending is extremely moving but above all, the central theme - a psychologist using his child as a scientific experiment, is challenging, thought-provoking and moving, the consequences horrific, shocking and heart-breaking.

Guilt and responsibility, love and jealousy and one heck of a twist! ( )

Rosemary tells the story of growing up in her family with her brother, sister, imaginary twin sister, and parents. Her father is a professor of behavioral psychology. She starts the story in the middle, jumps around a bit, and eventually makes it through the beginning and the end. The most important milestone in her life is when her sister leaves.

This novel pulled at my heartstrings. It was funny, sad and a page-turner all at the same time. And I learned a lot. ( )

Hmmm. Torn between three and four and choosing to round down.

Interesting, sad, upsetting but somehow all oddly clinical and detached. I felt bad for just about everyone involved in this story and I liked the framework and the odd timeline but I did not enjoy the middle sections when Rosie was in college and getting into trouble with Harlow.

I wanted to know much much more about life with Fern.

I think I have to dig out my copy of Ape House (a book I bought but never actually read) and maybe some non-fiction about chimpanzees too. ( )

I really enjoyed this, however, I thought I was reading a noirish dark thriller type of novel. Turns out, I was reading a book about monkeys.
It's still great, but definitely not what it was sold to me as. ( )