Untwined

            This book is with its protagonist during, what is most likely, the most difficult time in her life.  Her pain is new and fresh, as well as being the most devastating kind.  We’re with her when she is told her sister has died, and stay with her during he recovery period, where depression and guilt kick in.  There isn’t a strong message of hope in this book, but the protagonist is committed to living.  Her loss is something she probably won’t ever really heal from, but she does plan her future.  It’s so difficult to write about a time like this in someone’s life, often writers refer to something of this nature in flashback and delve more deeply into moving on from trauma.  This spares the reader the intense and inescapable pain of what the character is going through during the crisis.  This book is about the actual event, the deep loss survivors feel, the crushing pain that there is no way to deal with. 

The author does use flashback to give you a sense of who the characters were beforehand.  The novel begins with the crash, so we only experience Isabelle through Giselle’s memories.  You get to hear Giselle’s thoughts, so we already feel attuned with her, but she’s in such an extreme situation that the flashbacks tell the most about her.  All the characters are going through so much, the reader only understands who they were by reliving the past.  All their interactions with each other in their present are so difficult and strained, that the past is the only place where we can appreciate the difference in their behavior. 

            The setting for this book is very dramatic, everything is high stakes, life or death.  There are two devices that amp up the drama even more, but I’m not sure they were necessary.  Initially, Giselle is confused for Isabelle, they are twins and their parents are hospitalized as well.  Giselle admits how dangerous this is, being medically confused with Isabelle could have serious consequences.  But the issue is quickly resolved, almost before any real tension has been built over it.  I kept waiting for her to hear something she wasn’t supposed to, or almost given medication she is allergic to.  But nothing like this happens and the whole thing goes away.  I had forgotten all about it by the time I got to the end of the book, and was only reminded of it when an organ recipient references Giselle’s heart, not Isabelle’s. 

The other element that created a lot of drama in the beginning was the probability that the crash had not been an accident.  In all, this did not play a huge role in the book.  Basically, it was an accident, and Giselle had very little to do with investigating what had happened.  I’m still curious about why the author included this and to then let it quietly diffuse into a non-issue.  There’s already so much happening in the book, it wasn’t needed for more padding in the grand scheme of the book.  It doesn’t add as much as is suggested in the beginning, at first it is a huge, intimidating shadow, but it’s revealed to be a whole other heartbreaking story.

            Giselle is seriously injured, and her concussion dominates her physical sensations.  The ache of her head allows her to skip around her memories.  It loosens her from this world, especially when she’s in the hospital and coming into and then out of consciousness.  She wanders out of her brain and into Isabelle’s injuries and fear.  This is the last thing they’ll share.  She feels Isabelle’s broken bones and missing teeth, then slides back into her own body, confused about what condition she, herself is in, “I think now that I might have felt the moment Isabelle died…Then she must have pulled me under, carrying me away with her for a while.” (Danticat 216).  Giselle and Isabelle had an almost physical, tangible connection with each other, “I have no desire to explain what I’m feeling.  I have no one to explain it to who would fully understand.  Only Isabelle would have understood.” (Danticat 266).  A lot of how Giselle related to Isabelle was through her own body.  She even saw Isabelle as her double, despite being aware of their most dramatic differences.  They shared so much emotionally, but in going through Giselle’s memories you can also see how their physical similarities lend themselves to a sharing of bodily feeling.  Because of this Isabelle’s death is especially hard on Giselle.  Going through life with a close twin sister, and then finding yourself alone is impossible to imagine.  Giselle hopes she still holds some part of Isabelle, that they were close enough that Isabelle is somehow surviving through her.  She struggles with what she is to be called, maybe a dosa now.  Along with Giselle’s agonizing loss, she also must find herself again, without Isabelle to anchor her, she’s not sure who she is.      

-Iris Keenan