Original Kin: 2the Search for Connection Among Adult Sisters and Brothers

In this instructive, broadly researched study, Sandmaier ( The Invisible Alcoholics ) examines the complex bonds between brothers and sisters. Sibling relationships are central, she shows, to emotional development. Drawing on her own uneven sibling ties and on interviews with a socio-economic cross section of 80 siblings, she cites the fury or devotion, but mostly the ambivalence which characterizes these ties. Sandmaier claims that our culture's gender-defined goals tend to create close sister/sister and less intense but rivalry-prone brother/brother bonds, while predisposing siblings of the opposite sex ``towards separateness.'' The author suggests that a family crisis, frequently the death of a parent or sibling, can heal rifts and bring survivors to reconnection. (Mar.)