I almost reread Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta two or three times during my first and only read. Every 20ish pages, I thought what I just read revealed that I was reading something totally different from what I thought. So I started again. Eventually I gave that up. Mostly.
It stars two sets of estranged sisters – Myung and Laleh (autonyms based on how fun they are to say), and Wisa and Magali. It is a dense, rich world. As far as I could tell, it’s not based on any specific mythology, but it feels like it is.
Wisa left the sisters Myung and Laleh to live in the Whale of Babel – a magic whale with worlds and playful doors. The sisters work to document the world in the whale. Laleh is content with this life and Myung has questions, so she leaves.
Wisa’s sister has the island instead of the whale. She and her family live there and they are a bit crazy and territorial. Or mad. The island, not unlike the whale, is unmappable.
Then there’s the museum, although it seems more like a library or database to me. Anyway, anyone can go to the museum and find out anything about anyone if they touch their tragus and say the magic word.
And that’s how I found out what a tragus is.
For the first half of the book, I had no idea what it was about. Was it about how sisters love and hate each other? Or family? Was it about religion? I thought Myung’s questions about the whale felt religious. Or was the author creating a magical world full of fictional academic papers just because she can?
Then the story pivoted to Magali and Wisa (the mad sisters), and it got easier to understand. It was more linear and less dense. Although there were still times while reading when I wondered if this is what madness (heh) is. It still wasn’t linear or light.
In the end, it’s obviously just a story about family and sisterhood. And a whale (bat?), an island, and mirabilia diachronism, which I think I understand, but not enough to explain it. Kinda like the book itself. Which I loved.
