Review: Identical by Ellen Hopkins
Title: Identical
Hardcover, 565 pages
Author: Ellen Hopkins
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Publication Date: August 26, 2008
Source: Library
Buy: Amazon
Book Summary:
Kaeleigh and Raeanne are 16-year-old identical twins, the daughters of a district court judge father and politician mother running for Congress. Everything on the surface of their lives seems Norman Rockwell perfect, but underneath run deep and damaging secrets.
Kaeleigh is the good girl-her father’s perfect flower, something she has tried so hard to be since she was nine and he started sexually abusing her. She cuts herself and vomits after every binge, desperate to feel something normal. Raeanne uses painkillers, drugs, alcohol, and sex to numb the pain of not being Daddy’s favorite. Both girls must figure out how to become whole, but how can they when their world has been torn to shreds?
Review:
Identical is yet another excellent Ellen Hopkins book.
The main focus of Identical is sexual abuse – the narration is interesting because it’s based on identical twins rather than just one constant viewpoint.
There are some twists in this book that I do not want to reveal based on my review, so I won’t be discussing the actual content of this book. The most important thing is that the verse from Hopkins is as strong as ever – switching from one twin to the other she plays on the words and has some verse from the end of one “chapter” repeat at the beginning of the next chapter for the new twin, which was a powerful way to show their differences and the ways words and phrases can be interpreted.
Though this topic can be hard to read about, there is some hope in this book, and it was not nearly as hard for me to read as Tricks (though some scenes did make me uncomfortable). As always, I recommend reading at least one Ellen Hopkins book in your lifetime – be it this one or another. They really do force you to consider your life and the lives of those around you.
Buy: Amazon
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I’ve never read a book by Ellen Hopkins… Are you a big fan of hers? Would you recommend a starting point? Identical sounds pretty fascinating!
I really do love Ellen Hopkins and her books. They all have very powerful messages and are very well written. You can start with any – though her first is Crank, which is based on her daughter. Crank, Glass, and Fallout are part of a series but the others are all stand alones (so far). Burned is probably my favorite of them all, but I really loved Crank, Glass, and Fallout too because you got to see three books worth of progression and characters!
This one sounds interesting, the subject matter might put me off though. Great review
I recently bought this and am looking forward to it. Ellen Hopkins writes incredibly well and I really feel like it’s important for me to read more of her books.
Very happy that you’re making it a mission to read more of her books! Identical is quite unique, you’ll see when you read
I have read all of Ellen Hopkins book and I would have to say she is my favorite writer by far