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A haunting and mesmerizing story about sisterhood, family, love, and loss by literary luminary Edwidge Danticat.Giselle Boyer and her identical twin, Isabelle, are as close as sisters can be, even as their family seems to be unraveling. Then the Boyers have a tragic encounter that will shatter everyone's world forever.Giselle wakes up in the hospital, injured and unable to speak or move. Trapped in the prison of her own body, Giselle must revisit her past in order to understand how the people closest to her -- her friends, her parents, and above all, Isabelle, her twin -- have shaped and defined her. Will she allow her love for her family and friends to lead her to recovery? Or will she remain lost in a spiral of longing and regret?Untwine is a spellbinding tale, lyrical and filled with love, mystery, humor, and heartbreak. Award-winning author Edwidge Danticat brings her extraordinary talent to this graceful and unflinching examination of the bonds of friendship, romance, family, the horrors of loss, and the strength we must discover in ourselves when all seems hopeless.
Lexile Measure: 920 (What's this?)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (September 29, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0545423031
ISBN-13: 978-0545423038
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.3 x 8.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #71,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #67 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Difficult Discussions > Illness #97 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Health > Diseases #107 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Difficult Discussions > Death & Dying
Age Range: 12 - 17 years
Grade Level: 7 and up
You know how you see the synopsis for a book and instantly know you have to read it? Even if it is sure to break your heart?Double yes.Add this one to your list of heartbreakers, because it is spectacular.Untwine got to me. It poured right into my soul as I devoured this book into my heart.I knew what I was getting into. Anyone will the minute they read the back cover of Untwine. It’s sure to go only one way, and yet you’re still not ready for it once it finally happens.I loved this book.I loved every single character and the real feeling I got from them.I loved the Haitian culture. The language. The grandparents.I loved the art and the music and the simple innocence of it all.I loved the moments that made me cry (almost all of them) and the ones that made my heart full of joy.I loved the strong family aspect.The beautiful, lyrical writing Mrs. Danticat provides is a gift to this world. God, I never wanted to stop reading this book even though it was such an emotional roller coaster.Phenomenal from start to finish. Untwine is the moving, tragic novel of the year that you will not want to miss. And the one you won’t ever forget.review at yabookscentral.com
Untwined tells of identical twins whose fingers were entwined while in the womb. The delivering doctor had to “untwine” their fingers before their mother could give birth to them. The two girls, Isabelle and Giselle, are as close as any identical twins could possibly be until a horrific car accident leaves one dead and the other in coma. As the surviving twin lies comatose she remembers their shared past.This poignant account, written in present tense, tells of their high school days and experiences with their family and friends. Danticat explores the surviving twin’s loss of her carbon copy sister, her sole mate and friend. The author’s characters are vivid, their dialogue and emotions true and the novel would be a Godsend to high school students who suffer the loss of a loved one.
Danticat's deeply empathetic sense of the unique bond between twins makes this a moving, relatable story which will no doubt appeal to a wide YA audience. Novels about the special relationship shared by twins are not new but Danticat's comes at the theme from the perspective of Haitian-American heritage, lending her own signature flavor.Giselle Boyer's wrenching, arduous journey after losing her twin sister Isabelle is complicated by the period in which her family believed she'd been the lost child. Coming to terms with her survivor's guilt is given that much more poignance when she must also reconcile the fact her family had at first mistaken her identity. So similar in most every way, it's only after her injuries rendered her unrecognizable from her sister that she, in essence, became her sister. Healing involves a deep exploration into what made her separate from Isabelle, as well as what drew them together.
I'm quite a few years beyond age 7, and I loved this wise book about love, loss, and how to square the latter with the former in order to motor on post-tragedy.It's hard to imagine a connection more profound than that of identical twins. There's a wonderful video currently making the rounds of two newborn twins, newly delivered--arms, legs, hands, and fingers of each around the other--and cradled in a midwife's hands as they are gently dipped in a warm water bath. The twins of "Untwine", Giselle and Isabelle, were born by C-section, the doctor startled to find their fingers intwined as they entered the world. Now in their teens with separate friends and divergent interests, their steel-strong DNA connection continues even into shared dreams, and nightmares. In fact, they are together in the backseat of the family car during the worst nightmare of all, a car accident that takes the life of one and leaves the other behind, concussed, untwinned, and bereft.The process through which Giselle slowly recovers, body and soul, from the terrible loss of her mirrored self is a moving story beautifully crafted by the talented Ms. Danticat. I'd not heard of this author before, but I look forward to reading all her books in the future.
This is another is a series of award winning books by Edwidge Danticat; however, this, I think, is her first foray into the realm of teen/tween writing. This is definitely a book for teen girls to read, though adults will love it as well. The story is about twin girls who are born with the fingers of one hand entwined. Through a horrible event, one teen dies, and the other is left to heal and deal with the loss. That is just the first chapter, the real story is almost like a memoir instead of a novel. It is written in such detail and with such depth that it is hard to realize that these are characters and not the author. This is a hallmark of genius in writing in that the reader gets lost in the lives of the characters.Beautiful and sensitive writing, depth of character development, and wonderful story line. Suitable for ages 13 and above.
Untwine
