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Mary's review

Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited
by Elyse Schein (Goodreads author!), Paula Bernstein

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1020312.Identical_Strangers_A_Memoir_of_Twins_Separated_and_Reunited?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180288948m/1020312.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1020312.Identical_Strangers_A_Memoir_of_Twins_Separated_and_Reunited?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/510653.Elyse_Schein">Elyse Schein</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18246874?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars I read this book, not only because it came highly recommended from my mom, but also because I enjoyed Ann Fessler's book The Girls Who Went Away so much. Fessler's book begins to remove the shroud of silence that was the hallmark of out-of-wedlock births in America for decades and is told, despite Fessler being an adoptee, from the perspective of birth mothers. 
 
 Identical Strangers is the other side, told from the perspective of the adoptees, identical twins Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein who discover their twinship at age 35. The very novelty of this story makes it a must-read, but the real yearning for Elyse and Paula to make sense of this bizarre twist of events as their real lives and not some freak show is what makes it compelling.
 
 Unfortunately, I felt like a lot of this story was hinged on discovering their real identities and spent little time really analyzing the evolving nature of the twins' relationship other than that it grew and the back-and-forthing of "she loved, I felt confused...she cringed, I cringed" which frankly: made me cringe, not to mention the tiresome "You have depression? Gasp! I, too, have depression!" The world yawns, people. Once the twins had sussed out as much of their biological heritage, the story just kind of ended with no falling action or any kind of gentle comedown from the drama; this seemed ironic since both twins constantly insisted how they were not merely the sum of their genetics and incredibly unique.
 
 Fortunately, the writing, alternately by Elyse and Paula (as it should be) is solid and is filled with really interesting and well-researched tidbits about adoption, twins, psychology, and so on. For example, who knew that it is only fraternal twins, NOT identical twins, that is hereditary, despite the prevalence of identical twins in many families. Well, I'm sure some people knew, but not me.
 
 I recommend this book to feminists, those interested in American history, genetics, or psychology, or those just out for a good story.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/598440?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Mary's review
rating:

I read this book, not only because it came highly recommended from my mom, but also because I enjoyed Ann Fessler's book The Girls Who Went Away so much. Fessler's book begins to remove the shroud of silence that was the hallmark of out-of-wedlock births in America for decades and is told, despite Fessler being an adoptee, from the perspective of birth mothers.

Identical Strangers is the other side, told from the perspective of the adoptees, identical twins Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein who discover their twinship at age 35. The very novelty of this story makes it a must-read, but the real yearning for Elyse and Paula to make sense of this bizarre twist of events as their real lives and not some freak show is what makes it compelling.

Unfortunately, I felt like a lot of this story was hinged on discovering their real identities and spent little time really analyzing the evolving nature of the twins' relationship other than that it grew and the back-and-forthing ...more I read this book, not only because it came highly recommended from my mom, but also because I enjoyed Ann Fessler's book The Girls Who Went Away so much. Fessler's book begins to remove the shroud of silence that was the hallmark of out-of-wedlock births in America for decades and is told, despite Fessler being an adoptee, from the perspective of birth mothers.

Identical Strangers is the other side, told from the perspective of the adoptees, identical twins Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein who discover their twinship at age 35. The very novelty of this story makes it a must-read, but the real yearning for Elyse and Paula to make sense of this bizarre twist of events as their real lives and not some freak show is what makes it compelling.

Unfortunately, I felt like a lot of this story was hinged on discovering their real identities and spent little time really analyzing the evolving nature of the twins' relationship other than that it grew and the back-and-forthing of "she loved, I felt confused...she cringed, I cringed" which frankly: made me cringe, not to mention the tiresome "You have depression? Gasp! I, too, have depression!" The world yawns, people. Once the twins had sussed out as much of their biological heritage, the story just kind of ended with no falling action or any kind of gentle comedown from the drama; this seemed ironic since both twins constantly insisted how they were not merely the sum of their genetics and incredibly unique.

Fortunately, the writing, alternately by Elyse and Paula (as it should be) is solid and is filled with really interesting and well-researched tidbits about adoption, twins, psychology, and so on. For example, who knew that it is only fraternal twins, NOT identical twins, that is hereditary, despite the prevalence of identical twins in many families. Well, I'm sure some people knew, but not me.

I recommend this book to feminists, those interested in American history, genetics, or psychology, or those just out for a good story....less

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message 1: by Emma

04/04/2008 08:18AM

I am totally getting this book - being a twin and all.