Blue Sisters

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapter 10-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Avery

Avery is the eldest of the Blue sisters. At the start of the novel, she is a successful lawyer who lives in a wealthy London neighborhood with her wife, Chiti. Avery and Chiti appear to have a close and loving relationship and are planning to start a family. From an outside perspective, Avery appears confident, successful, and responsible. She has studied at prestigious universities and works as a lawyer. Avery has achieved many of the material markers of prestige: She has “paid off all her college loans and owns furniture that cost almost as much as her tuition” (4). Avery took on the role of a parentified child from a very young age, and as a result, she finds it challenging to admit vulnerability or ask for help. Nonetheless, Avery can be very sensitive: She “would like to be all backbone, but she is tender flesh too” (4). Avery’s tendency to isolate herself and avoid vulnerability has negative impacts on her interpersonal relationships; it gradually drives her away from her wife and leads to tension in her relationships with her sisters. Because Avery strives to appear perfect and in control at all times, others find it challenging to relate to her or understand how to help her. At one point, Bonnie reflects that Avery “was always pulling the ropes of herself taught […] Bonnie wished that just once, she would ask for a hand” (205).

Despite Avery’s confident and composed façade, she often struggles with impulsivity and self-destructive tendencies. Shortly after graduating from college, Avery grappled with addiction to heroin and was eventually able to achieve sobriety; Nicky’s death causes Avery intense pain and leaves her searching for coping strategies. Avery blames herself for not having saved Nicky: As the elder sister and a surrogate parent, Avery positioned herself in a care-giving role and feels that she failed. Because Avery has built her self-image on competence and success, the idea of failure is particularly unsettling to her. Rather than sharing this sense of failure openly, Avery retreats and hides, seeking relief through smoking, shop-lifting, and eventually having a sexual relationship outside of her marriage. Avery gradually alienates the most important people in her life because she can’t turn to them: Her adultery severely damages her marriage, and she says devastating things to Lucky.

Avery experiences growth and personal development, particularly once she learns to be more forthright and vulnerable. Because so much of Avery’s pain stems from her need to control and take responsibility, she achieves significant growth when she confides her pain to her mother. When Avery goes to stay with her mother, she finally expresses how formative experiences during her childhood have shaped her, and she comes to feel a sense of peace by forgiving her mother, who she realizes was simply doing the best she could under very challenging circumstances. Avery also experiences a moment of cathartic transformation when her mother defuses her fears about being responsible for Nicky’s death: Avery’s mother states bluntly, “[Y]ou are not that important” (306). Because so much of Avery’s suffering is rooted in an overdeveloped sense of responsibility stemming from a burden placed upon her by her mother, only her mother can fully absolve her.

Once Avery stops assuming so much responsibility, she is free to encounter the people she loves on their own terms. Avery becomes much softer and more attentive with her sisters, and she is able to be open with Chiti. Avery’s emotional growth doesn’t save her marriage, but it does save both her and Chiti from continuing a marriage that ultimately won’t allow either of them to live the life they want. Avery’s newfound self-awareness leads her to greater peace and contentment. The epilogue depicts Avery happily married, living in New York City with closer ties to her family, and maintaining an affectionate friendship with Chiti. Avery grows and develops into a woman who knows herself and can make genuine connections to others.

Bonnie

Bonnie is the second of the Blue sisters. She has typically had a close relationship with Avery because the two are closest in age, and she was also very close to Nicky before Nicky’s death. Bonnie is quiet, stoic, and self-disciplined. She is a passionate and talented boxer who has devoted her life to training at an elite level. Bonnie is often a peacemaker who balances out the more tempestuous personalities of her sisters, and she is described as “the gentlest of the sisters” (5). However, Bonnie’s tendency to be self-contained and self-sacrificing can lead to her denying her own desires. Bonnie has been in love with her trainer, Pavel, for years, but has been too shy to express her feelings for him. Bonnie is convinced that he will not reciprocate, even though the two of them are extremely close. Bonnie also struggles to prioritize her own needs. Shortly after Nicky’s death (which was especially traumatic for Bonnie, as she was the one to find her sister’s body), Bonnie insists on competing in an important fight. When she performs badly, Pavel calls off the fight to save her from severe injury. This defeat leads to her temporarily quitting her boxing career and harboring resentment toward Pavel for years. Later, Bonnie takes on too much responsibility while trying to help Lucky stay sober—as she explains to Avery, “I gave everything to get her through the week” (231).

Bonnie experiences growth and transformation when she learns to prioritize her own desires and ambitions. She decides to take two key risks: First, she returns to her training, hoping to compete again at an elite level. Second, she confides her feelings to Pavel and learns that he is in love with her as well. Once Bonnie displays the confidence to own her desires, she discovers that she can achieve her goals and live the life she wants. Bonnie is able to achieve her professional goals (becoming a world-class boxer) and eventually start a family, finding herself “undone by love” when she gazes at her newborn daughter (338). When Bonnie gives birth to a baby girl at the end of the novel, she shows how much her character has progressed.

Lucky

Lucky is the youngest of the Blue sisters. Charismatic and strikingly beautiful, she has worked as a model since she was a teenager. Lucky often seems free-spirited, spontaneous, and fun-loving. However, in reality, she is lonely, insecure, and questions her self-worth; her “beauty was a source of both income and shame” (14). Especially in comparison to her high-achieving sisters, Lucky does not feel that her success as a model is meaningful. Lucky thinks that she is simply pretty and stupid; she is also frustrated by the problems she faces in controlling her impulses. Especially in the wake of Nicky’s death, Lucky’s partying has spiraled out of control. Stubborn and rebellious, she dislikes any attempt to interfere in her life; in particular, she often finds Avery overbearing and rejects her attempts to intervene. Lucky is lonely, but she is also uncomfortable with genuine connection. She defaults to partying and casual sex in lieu of any real intimacy.

Lucky experiences gradual growth as she accepts that she is leading a dangerous lifestyle and that the risks she takes are not respectful of Nicky’s memory. When Lucky feels nurtured and supported, she is willing to begin making positive changes; for example, she begins to detox with help from Bonnie. However, Avery’s antagonism leads Lucky to deny that she is even trying to achieve sobriety, and she soon regresses. Avery’s encounter with the caring and non-judgmental Riley allows her to finally accept that she needs help. Once Lucky acknowledges that she wants to change her career and the direction of her life, she can also be much more at ease with her sisters and deepen these relationships. Toward the end of the novel, Lucky performs a song for her sisters, they embrace her, and “Lucky let[s] herself be held” (316).

Lucky’s development is not presented as seamless: At the end of the novel, she is still struggling with addiction and is in a treatment program. Nonetheless, she finds satisfaction in her career as a musician since it nurtures her desire for creativity and self-expression. Lucky’s newfound sense of self-worth allows her to be hopeful about her future.

Chiti

Chiti is married to Avery at the start of the novel. She is a woman of Indian heritage who works as a therapist, and she is seven years older than Avery. Chiti comes from a privileged background and enjoys creating an elegant and cozy domestic life with Avery. Chiti has always dreamed of being a mother; she takes a nurturing role toward her brother and is eager to begin a family with Avery. Chiti is generally very patient and loving with Avery; she tries to help Avery as she sees her struggling with grief, and she develops warm and loving relationships with Avery’s sisters. Despite all these efforts, Avery still withdraws, in part because she is unable to acknowledge that—unlike Chiti—she does not want children. Avery’s closed-off demeanor leaves Chiti feeling hurt and alienated. Chiti is particularly devastated and angry when she learns that Avery has been unfaithful to her. Chiti reveals that while she is caring, she is not a martyr, and she makes it clear that Avery’s behavior is unacceptable. Chiti knows herself, her values, and her priorities. Although it breaks her heart when Avery finally confides that she does not want to have children, Chiti knows that the marriage has to end. Avery displays her strength and resilience by choosing to become a single mother very shortly after her relationship ends; she continues to maintain an affectionate friendship with Avery years later. Chiti does not experience much growth or development over the course of the novel—largely because she is already quite mature and self-aware when the narrative begins—but she does display resilience in the face of very challenging circumstances.