Riding the Bus with my Sister

 Riding the Bus with My Sister
a True Life Journey
by: Rachel Simon
2002
paperback; 296 pages

Generally I have chosen to only read books that come to me via a recommendation,  but recently I found myself in a new library and very ready for a light novel. Surrounded by books, I could not think of one title that someone recommended, so this light blue paperback caught my eye because of its size; perfect weight and good margins so I could read it while hula-hooping and that is how I began the story of a year of  bus journeys.  At first I almost put the book down after a chapter or two, as it seemed a bit predictable and self-indigent; the writer was writing of how she, a successful got-it-together independent woman, was going to learn life lessons (and ultimately become a bit more successful) by writing about  her sister and her mental disability to shine light on the importing things of life.  But putting aside my cynicism, I pressed on and found much more to the story.  The big sister really does care about the little sister and as one review stated the book is, "clever and unsentimental".  I liked learning about the variety of bus drivers and their healthy perspectives on life, all who make up Beth's world as she rides day after day around a city in Pennsylvania.  As each month leads to the next, I discover more about Beth (the little sister) and consequently Rachel's (the writer) relationship with her. The author also does a very good job of going backward in time to describe things in chronological progression of her childhood and how she (and her siblings) were effected by not only the "different-ness" of having a sister who was different, but their parent's  divorce and the lingering effects it had on everyone.  Her detail in memories brings the richness to the story's re-telling of the music and fashion of the past in which she grew and gives authenticity to the joys and challenges life presented.  I am now excited about becoming a bus-rider and the people I just meet on the journey..I  have my bus pass, just need a destination and look out, maybe I will learn the ins and outs of Houston and the people that make up this great city.  At the end I read more slowly as I did not want to have Beth out of my life.  A story well told.