The Book Lady’s Blog

Recently published October 14, 2008.

I See You Everywhere is the story of sisters Louisa and Clem Jardine. Louisa, older by four years, is the practical, logical, do-what’s-expected one, while Clem is free-spirited, adventurous, and driven to a constant search for excitement and meaning. Author Julia Glass presents the novel from the alternating first-person perspectives of both sisters, who tell us about their childhood together, their complex family dynamic, the battles that have driven them apart, and the unspoken, indescribable bond that somehow always brings them back together.

The novel spans 25 years and allows us to watch the sisters progress from their twenties into their forties. We see Louisa and Clem support each other through a series of failed relationships, through illnesses and injuries, and through tricky conversations with their intrepid mother and tepid father. Louisa and Clem rarely see eye to eye, and they often harbor resentment and anger toward each other, but they continually find themselves calling each other in moments of crisis, reaching out to their sister as the one person on whom they can count.

The narrative skips spans of several years a few times throughout the book, but the sister who picks up the story always fills us in on her perspective on the events we know about and brings us up to speed with details from the events we don’t know about yet but will need to understand as the story progresses. Louisa and Clem are excellent complements for each other, and their voices are unique, distinctive, and easily recognizable. 

Though we only see the sisters in a handful of situations together, Glass provides us with enough insight into their minds, their personal lives, and their complex relationship that we are able to understand them fully anyway. Louisa and Clem tell us about themselves, but the things they tell us about each other are the things that make this novel and Glass’s understanding of the sister dynamic most remarkable.

I was pulled into the story within the first few pages, but a surprising turn in the last third of the book made it absolutely impossible to put down. Glass is not afraid to explore the difficulty and pain of tragedy, and her presentation of the Jardine family and of the sisters’ understandings of each other as they try to make sense of what has happened has that amazing quality that comes through when fiction succeeds in mirroring real life. Glass’s characters are real and flawed; Louisa and Clem have their neuroses and their hang-ups, and they don’t always do what they should do. And we recognize ourselves and our families in them.

I See You Everywhere is a beautifully written character-driven novel about family and what it means to be a sister and to have a sister. As the older, practical, feet-planted-firmly-on-the-ground sister in my family, I identified with Louisa throughout the book and recognized traces of my sister in Clem.  As the story progressed, I found myself understanding and sympathizing with Clem as well—recognizing the qualities, quirks, and character flaws my sister must see in me—and this gave me an even deeper appreciation of Glass’s skill with characterization. 

I haven’t read Three Junes, for which Julia Glass won the National Book Award, but if I See You Anywhere is anything like it, then it’s clear that she deserves to be recognized as a phenomenal contemporary writer with a wonderful ability to write about families, sisterhood, and the complexity of human relationships. 4.5 out of 5.