The Three Incestuous Sisters (2005) – OGN
Story & Art by: Audrey Niffenegger
Review by: Derrick Crow
Summary: This is the tale of three sisters who live alone in a house, by a lighthouse, miles from the town. One night, after a thunder storm claims the life of the lighthouse keeper, the girls call for the keeper's son. The son, Paris, and one of the sister's fall in love. Now begins a tale of jealousy, death, and forgiveness.
Review: The Three Incestuous Sisters is a very interesting title for Niffenegger to have used, especially when it ended up being a story dedicated to his own real life sisters. But despite the noticeable title, there is no actual incest in this story. None of the girls share relations with one another, or anyone else in this story that could be considered family. So I'm not sure why he chose that title, but be rest assured there is no actual incest in this story.
No, instead what we get is a story told as if it's a children's book that you would find in the kids section, but the story itself is a dark existential tale of three sisters who seek petty vengeance on one another and their lives simply go down from there.
Niffenegger also has an interesting art style, it's very simple and at times uneven but never unpleasant to look at (even though the whole theme of this story is unpleasantness). It threw me off at first, seeing the off-kilter look everything here seems to have. But I got used to it once I started to realize how perfect it is was for the atmosphere Niffenegger is trying to convey.
Is The Three Incestuous Sisters a good story, though? I feel it has the potential to be the more you sit there and think about it, and I also feel it has a strong foundation when it comes to telling its odyssey. It's only in the execution that Niffenegger delivers that I end up not being a total fan.
There's a lot of jumping around and pointless subplots in this comic. Some to do with the redheaded sister, Clothilde who exhibits psychic abilities early on in the story and keeps them throughout. However, her big pointless story is when we get to see how headaches for her feel like birds plucking her hair out. It's a whole strange thing, don't worry about it.
The youngest sister, Bettine, is the one who falls in love with Paris and eventually they have a child. Ophile, the oldest, hates their relationship and seeks to end it herself. After being successful in such, she finds herself haunted by her actions. Clothilde is then visited by Bettine's son many years later, and the two form a wonderful friendship.
If all this sounds strange, or hard to follow, it's because there for awhile it is. Like I said earlier, I think it is a solid foundation for a story, however Niffenegger's execution remains just under the expected bar. Again, he jumps around a lot in the story, and there are little transitions like one where Bettine closes all the windows so that a coming storm won't get in the house and then suddenly, the light house keeper gets killed out of absolutely nowhere.
I simply never enjoyed the awkward transitions.
Do I think you should check out The Three Incestuous Sisters? Well, I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you can get it really cheap like I did, instead find it at your local library if they have it at all. I do feel it is an interesting experience that, if you're into slight horror with a psychological twist, could be right up your alley. But unfortunately I just don't feel the story reached the potential that it had within reach the entire time. Falling short too often throughout. Go read this OGN if you feel so inclined, but it's not really anything special nor does it add anything new to the genre it's a part of.
I think the saddest part about all of is that Niffenegger says in the afterword that this story of his was one that took him 13 years to make... and if that's the case... he should've spent more time than that trying to figure out exactly how to execute it. Then he could've had a masterpiece.
Final Score: Only 2 Incestuous Sisters out of 5
Editor's Note: Head here to grab up The Three Incestuous Sisters!
Story & Art by: Audrey Niffenegger
Review by: Derrick Crow
Summary: This is the tale of three sisters who live alone in a house, by a lighthouse, miles from the town. One night, after a thunder storm claims the life of the lighthouse keeper, the girls call for the keeper's son. The son, Paris, and one of the sister's fall in love. Now begins a tale of jealousy, death, and forgiveness.
Review: The Three Incestuous Sisters is a very interesting title for Niffenegger to have used, especially when it ended up being a story dedicated to his own real life sisters. But despite the noticeable title, there is no actual incest in this story. None of the girls share relations with one another, or anyone else in this story that could be considered family. So I'm not sure why he chose that title, but be rest assured there is no actual incest in this story.
No, instead what we get is a story told as if it's a children's book that you would find in the kids section, but the story itself is a dark existential tale of three sisters who seek petty vengeance on one another and their lives simply go down from there.
Niffenegger also has an interesting art style, it's very simple and at times uneven but never unpleasant to look at (even though the whole theme of this story is unpleasantness). It threw me off at first, seeing the off-kilter look everything here seems to have. But I got used to it once I started to realize how perfect it is was for the atmosphere Niffenegger is trying to convey.
Is The Three Incestuous Sisters a good story, though? I feel it has the potential to be the more you sit there and think about it, and I also feel it has a strong foundation when it comes to telling its odyssey. It's only in the execution that Niffenegger delivers that I end up not being a total fan.
There's a lot of jumping around and pointless subplots in this comic. Some to do with the redheaded sister, Clothilde who exhibits psychic abilities early on in the story and keeps them throughout. However, her big pointless story is when we get to see how headaches for her feel like birds plucking her hair out. It's a whole strange thing, don't worry about it.
The youngest sister, Bettine, is the one who falls in love with Paris and eventually they have a child. Ophile, the oldest, hates their relationship and seeks to end it herself. After being successful in such, she finds herself haunted by her actions. Clothilde is then visited by Bettine's son many years later, and the two form a wonderful friendship.
If all this sounds strange, or hard to follow, it's because there for awhile it is. Like I said earlier, I think it is a solid foundation for a story, however Niffenegger's execution remains just under the expected bar. Again, he jumps around a lot in the story, and there are little transitions like one where Bettine closes all the windows so that a coming storm won't get in the house and then suddenly, the light house keeper gets killed out of absolutely nowhere.
I simply never enjoyed the awkward transitions.
Do I think you should check out The Three Incestuous Sisters? Well, I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you can get it really cheap like I did, instead find it at your local library if they have it at all. I do feel it is an interesting experience that, if you're into slight horror with a psychological twist, could be right up your alley. But unfortunately I just don't feel the story reached the potential that it had within reach the entire time. Falling short too often throughout. Go read this OGN if you feel so inclined, but it's not really anything special nor does it add anything new to the genre it's a part of.
I think the saddest part about all of is that Niffenegger says in the afterword that this story of his was one that took him 13 years to make... and if that's the case... he should've spent more time than that trying to figure out exactly how to execute it. Then he could've had a masterpiece.
Final Score: Only 2 Incestuous Sisters out of 5
Editor's Note: Head here to grab up The Three Incestuous Sisters!