My Sister Rosa Book Club Essay

The balance between truth and lie is one of the most prominent themes in the novel “My
Sister Rosa” by Justine Larbalestier. Several characters in the novel struggle with and debate
the morality of lying and whether it lands on the scale of “good” or “bad” or somewhere in
between. Throughout the novel, Larbalestier teaches us that lies can exist in many forms and
are often told in order to protect oneself from a harsher reality. This struggle is evidenced in
Che, who fails to tell his family about him sparring even though they explicitly told him not too. It
is seen in Sally who lives in delusion and lies to herself about the true nature of Rosa and the
rest of her family. Finally the struggle of lying is seen in David who lies to his entire family to
hide his true intentions and protect himself. All these characters display how lying can affect
interpersonal relationships and eventually lead to ruin.
The first character to struggle with the morality of lying in the novel is Che Taylor. Che is
constantly haunted by his sister Rosa who seems to find trouble in everything she does. Che
frequently reminds Rosa about what is “good” and bad” and tells her that lying is wrong. Rosa
however, offers a different point of view that raises many questions about the ethics of lying.
Rosa tells Che that “Everyone pretends lying is bad but everyone does it. Telling the truth is
ruder than lying” (Larbalestier 90). Rosa continues to prove her point by saying Che himself lies
in many situations by not telling people his true opinions on his parents or emotions
(Larbalestier 91). This is the first time Larbalestier reminds us that lies are not always harmful
and can be used to avoid unnecessary conflict or awkward situations. Rosa’s view about lying
are truly brought to light when Che begins sparring at his boxing gym. Sparring is something
that was banned by Che’s parents and a source of conflict between Che and his parents for a
large part of the novel. Eventually Che breaks his promise and begins to spar without his
parent’s knowledge. Che is torn between telling the truth and risking Rosa seeing him as a
hypocrite or keeping the secret while hoping they don’t find out. This demonstrates a change in
Che who is usually pure and would never disobey his parents. When he returns home from
sparring one day with a bruised nose he simply claims that “sometimes the pads slip” and that it
happens all the time (Larbalestier 107). Che later admits that this is simply an evasion from the
question and that evasions can still count as lies. This reveals that Che is more willing to lie than
tell the truth even when given a chance to confess. Che is afraid of the consequences of
exposing his actions to his parents and would rather live in a reality where he can spar without
judgement or disappointment by anyone. This once again displays the usefulness of lying to
avoid unwanted situations. Despite this, Che’s lie is eventually found out by force and the
consequences create perhaps a worse reality than the actual truth. Sally, Che’s mother, tells
him that “lying by omission is still lying” and that she has lost trust in him (Larbalestier 162). This
punishment impacts Che’s relationship with his mother for the rest of the novel and exemplifies
the negative impacts of lies. Despite her convictions however, Sally herself is not perfect and is
guilty of another form of lie, self delusion.
Larbalestier uses the character of Sally Taylor to teach the reader about the
consequences of lying. Sally is a strong advocate against lying, violence and misogyny and is
quick to provide her opinions on all the those topics whenever she can. Sally is described as a
selfless, good samaritan with a perfect husband and loving family. She lives in her own perfect
reality and because of this, she is quick to defend it at all costs. In the novel, Che frequently
tries to warn Sally about the true nature of his sister Rosa being a psychopath but she refuses
to even listen to him. Instead, whenever Che brings it up, Sally quickly snaps back that Rosa
simply sees the world differently and is too young to understand all while trying to change the
subject to something else (Larbalestier 99-101). Through all these deflections of the issue, Sally
lies to herself in order to maintain her version of a perfect reality. She cannot even fathom a
disturbance to her beliefs. This is later confirmed by David, Che’s father, during a conversation
between the two. David tells Che that, “I [David] think Sally does know. She won’t admit it to
herself. She doesn’t want to believe there’s anything wrong with Rosa” (Larbalestier 235). This
proves that Sally is simply lying to herself because it is easier and more convenient for her to
believe Rosa is normal than actually dealing with the issue. Sally is very clearly delusional and
as David puts it, “She can’t believe the evidence in front of her own eyes” (Larbalestier 236).
Sally’s lies also eventually lead to the downfall of many her relationships and a reality much
darker than if she had listened to Che’s concerns. When Rosa finally reveals her true colours
and her role in a plot to kill the daughter of Sally’s best friends the McBrunights, Sally can no
longer deny the truth. Due to her inability to accept the truth and continues lies, Sally lost her
best friends as well as her husband during the Rosa scandal. At the end of the novel, Sally is
mentally destroyed and as Che points out, appears as if “the merest breeze will break her”
(Larbalestier 325). While Sally lies to herself about the true nature of others, her husband David
plays a reverse role, he lies to others about his own true nature.
David Klein is yet another character in the novel that questions the ethics of lying. David
begins the story a symbol of perfection in every way and is noted for his charm and good looks.
David also shares the loving family that Sally does, and seems to live in a perfect world. David is
rarely seen worrying about anything and keeps himself pristine. David however, holds some
deep secrets and intentions yet to be seen by many characters in the novel. David first reveals
some of his darker side to Che when he tells him “I [David] know about Rosa. I’ve known for a
long time” (Larbalestier 234). This revelation is important as it means David had been lying to
Che and others about Rosa’s condition for a long time. This action is the first display of David’s
true agenda and ability to lie and keep secrets. David also explicitly tells Che the reason he lies
about Rosa is because doing so “could destroy our family” (Larbalestier 236). This a
confirmation of the reason he lies to protect his version of a world where his family is absolutely
perfect. This once again proves how lying can often be used as a shield from reality. David is
also willing to protect his lie at all costs as he refuses to help Che and the McBurnight’s
daughter Leilani warn everyone about Rosa’s condition (Larbalestier 265). Later when Rosa
blames Che for the death of Maya, one of the McBrunight daughters, David once again refuses
to share his knowledge of Rosa condition as Che himself says “the only one that can back me
up is David and he’s not saying anything” (Larbalestier 299). Eventually it is revealed David
himself was a psychopath same as Rosa and it was his plan to kill Maya. His failure to reveal his
own true nature can also be considered a lie as Sally said before that “lying by omission is still
lying” (Larbalestier 162). It is revealed in the story that David used his family to disguise that fact
that he was a psychopath and he fooled everyone into thinking he was normal by acting as
them. Che realizes this when he remembers that both Sally and David seemed to share many
opinions and often repeated the same sayings and metaphors (Larbalestier 328). By acting
normal and lying about his true nature, David created convenient reality for himself. His lies
eventually led to catastrophe just like all other characters in the novel as he was forced to leave
the country as a fugitive and abandon everything he once knew due to his involvement in
Maya’s murder.
The character developments in “My Sister Rosa” reveal how lies are used to avoid
inconvenient truths while also leading to one’s own downfall in the process. Che lied about
sparring to avoid punishment but eventually lost the trust of his family, Sally lied to herself about
Rosa being a psychopath and paid for her delusions with the loss of her friends and husband
and finally David lied to the entire world about his true intentions and was forced to leave
everything behind. Through these characters, Larbalestier causes us to question our own
morals in regards to truth versus lie and show us the danger of deception.

Works Cited:
"Children's Book Review: My Sister Rosa." ​Publishers Weekly​. N.p., 2018. Web. 28 May
2018.

Cosola, Mary. "My Sister Rosa - Book Review." ​Common Sense Media​. N.p., 2018. Web.
28 May 2018.

Larbalestier, Justine. ​My Sister Rosa​. 1st ed. New York: Soho Teen, 2016. Print.

"My Sister Rosa." ​Goodreads.com​. N.p., 2018. Web. 28 May 2018.

Richardson, Owen. "My Sister Rosa Review: Justine Larbalestier's Chilling Tale Of
Childhood Evil." ​The Sydney Morning Herald​. N.p., 2018. Web. 28 May 2018.

Waters, Sophie. "And The Winner Is… Justine Larbalestier May Be A Little Obsessed With
Psychopaths PLUS Win A Signed Copy Of ‘My Sister Rosa’." ​Maximum Pop!​. N.p.,
2018. Web. 28 May 2018.