"It would be easy to say that this collection is an indictment, but there is nothing easy about these poems. They are each skillfully wrought pieces about impossible subjects. . . . Though she speaks of "straddling a fence," of "switching all the time / between isn't and ain't" ("Straddling Fences"), there is no question of Brown's belonging to the literary realm. . . . Sister is at once memoir and confession, rebuke and invitation. These poems are of the hour between dog and wolf when neither creature seems particularly safe. However, the Preface' evokes light–battery-powered and not standing much of a chance against the darkness–but "light nonetheless," and this collection ends with that glimmer of hope, too.