We could be rats had me bawling my eyes out in public. Sigrid is a queer woman in a small town called Drysdale. She spends her days wasting away at her job, being eaten away by a secret she keeps about her best friend. When Sigrid makes an attempt at her life it us up to Margit, her sister, to explain her sister's suicide. 

The whole story is told from the first person, you experience two POVs, Sigrids, and Margit. The novel opens to "Attempt 1" and each chapter is divided like this. With each page you learn more and more about this person who has potentially already passed. When I first started I was horrifired. I was so scared to find that the person I was reading about, this young woman I saw aspects of myself in was already dead. I had to put it down to breathe, but Sigrid lives a life worth reading about and I was back in the book.

We jump back and forth from present day, a recent past, some older memories and Sigrids childhood. We learn of her sister, of her parents, we learn of her best friend. We see the way Sigrid changes from childhood to adulthood, we see the ways she stayed the same. Sigrid doesn't know how to write a suicide note, she tells us herself, with each chapter she tackles a new memory and a new way of telling us about herself. At some point she gives individual letters for the people close in her life. We see how these people have affected Sigrid directly, how she feels about them, how they make her feel. 

And then we get to the second part of the novel. The last thing we read is Sigrid asking Margit to write her suicide note for her, Sigrid is no good at it. We switch perspectives and find out that Margit has been writing everything we've read so far. Sigrid sits in a hospital bed and Margit weeps beside her sister. We see first hand how horrible Margit is taking it. Sigrid had always thought her sister too controlling and despite loving her hadn't always thought the most of her. Margit is in shambles, she hasn't been to classes in weeks, her entire life is put on pause and she want's nothing more in the world than to have her sister back. 

When Sigrid does awaken from her coma, we switch back to her. Or rather for the first time we hear from Sigrid. We see how she interacts with the world. We see how she and her sister handle the same situation and we find that Margit understands Sigrid. The book ends with a phonecall between the two, and it looks like they can make up for lost time. 

I fucking love this book. With every page I saw my own insecurities. It was like reading a mirror. I saw the person I wanted to be in Sigrid, and the person I was in Margit. I saw the opposite as well. It showed me how multi faceted everything was and reminded me that everyone has their story. I- I'll re-read it and give you a proper glaze. or maybe add on to this. Just know for as  long as it took me to finish I ooze love for this novel. 

- Dyl