It was a solid and fun read. The blurb and the string of accolades the book has received promised quite a bit that the book only partially delivered on. The theme of identical twins choosing different lives across color lines is too complicated, aspects of which I thought were dealt with in a rather
perfunctory way.
How the twins grow up and form their personalities and how they diverge…mehrIt was a solid and fun read. The blurb and the string of accolades the book has received promised quite a bit that the book only partially delivered on. The theme of identical twins choosing different lives across color lines is too complicated, aspects of which I thought were dealt with in a rather perfunctory way.
How the twins grow up and form their personalities and how they diverge ostensibly contrary to their personalities was worked out well I thought, but then the novel focuses a little bit too much on certain aspects of the twins' lives to the detriment of everything else: Stella on living lies, especially with regards to her daughter; Desiree on a sense of loss. Each of the main characters, i.e. the twins, their parents, and their daughters are very sophisticated by definition, yet only certain aspects of their characters were played out in the novel.
The denouement in particular was a bit rushed after dragging on with the denials by Stella without going deep into her mental struggles or giving the reader the space to appreciate it. All in all, a fun read, though.