Untwine : a novel / Edwidge Danticat.

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Title:

Untwine : a novel / Edwidge Danticat.

Author:

Danticat, Edwidge.

ISBN:

9780545423038

Edition:

First edition

Physical Description:

303 p.

Abstract:

Identical twin teenagers Giselle and Isabelle Boyer have always been inseparable, and expected to stay that way even though their Haitian American parents are separating--but when the entire family is caught in a car crash, everyone's world is shattered forever.

Subject Term:

Twins -- Juvenile fiction.

Sisters -- Juvenile fiction.

Haitian American families -- Florida -- Miami -- Juvenile fiction.

Bereavement -- Juvenile fiction.

Grief -- Juvenile fiction.

Traffic accidents -- Juvenile fiction.

Geographic Term:

Miami (Fla.) -- Juvenile fiction.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Teen Fiction Book Hardback	120791002529533	T DAN	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

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.

Reviews (6)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Giselle, an art lover, and Isabelle, a budding composer, are 16-year-old Haitian-American twins living in Miami. After the SUV carrying the girls and their recently separated parents is hit, Giselle's world unravels. Danticat (Krik? Krak!) vividly represents the path from shock to healing as Giselle and her parents grapple with Isabelle's death. When the police start questioning the circumstances of the accident, friends Jean Michel and Tina help Giselle uncover startling details about the driver, a subplot that propels the novel forward with the suggestion that Isabelle's death was not in vain. Danticat's gracious and poetic language haunts as Giselle moves through "star-blinding pain," both physical and emotional, discovering the inner world of her sister and reconciling the guilt she feels at being the surviving twin. With a dynamic family of uncles, aunts, grandparents, and family friends, Giselle creates a bridge for herself, moving from twinned to "untwinned" and to a place where the best of her sister lives on in her. Danticat's final scenes are at once heartbreaking and uplifting. Ages 12-up. Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi Inc. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Horn Book Review

The Boyers get in a horrific car accident, resulting in numerous severe injuries to the family members. While her mother and father are conscious, Giselle remains in a coma-like state, thinking about life with her beloved twin, Isabelle. Gentle and contemplative, this book focuses more on the internal than the physical, and the experience of pain rather than the surpassing of it. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Can 15 minutes really mean the difference between life and death? This is a question that keeps rolling around 16-year-old Giselle's concussed head after a terrible car accident puts her entire family in the hospital and claims the life of her twin sister an accident that might have been avoided if Giselle hadn't been running late. Moving through Giselle's consciousness, lucid dreams, confusion, and pain, Danticat (Claire of the Sea Light, 2013), in her first novel for teens, writes a soulful account of one girl's grief. The narrative is one of reflection rather than action, as readers come to a rounded understanding of both girls through Giselle's episodic remembrances. There's a lot quietly packed into this novel Giselle's Haitian heritage, her parents' imminent separation, the complications and thrills of first love, music, and art yet most interesting is Danticat's rendering of identical twins as unique individuals. This is a poignant story for thoughtful teens that explores what it means to be a twin and how to say good-bye without losing oneself.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2015 Booklist

School Library Journal Review

Gr 7 Up-Identical twins Isabelle and Giselle were born with their fingers entwined and the doctors had to separate them, digit by digit. Now at 16, their parents are separated and considering divorce and the twins are developing their own interests and friends. As the unhappy family is running late to Isabelle's school orchestra concert, the two are once again holding hands when the red minivan hits their SUV. For several days after the accident, the doctors and Aunt Leslie think Giselle is the twin who died and call her Isabelle, and Giselle, trapped in a coma, cannot tell them who she is. Unable to wake up or move, Giselle travels through her memory of friends, family, and mostly of Isabelle as she decides whether to let go of her twin and return to life or to stay in her vegetative state. Waking up, though, only leads to physical pain and grief as she struggles to recover from the accident and her sister's death. Haitian-born Danticat, better known for her adult books, shines in this young adult novel that at times seems to move into the supernatural and mystical before yanking readers back into realism. A bit mystery, a bit romance, even a touch of humor, the strong writing leads readers on a journey through Giselle's past, a journey she must take before she can face the present-and the future without Isabelle. VERDICT Well-crafted characters and strong writing make this a book to recommend, especially for fans of Gayle Forman's If I Stay (Dutton, 2009).-Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

Tragedy strikes twin sisters Giselle and Isabelle, and their world is changed forever. Sixteen-year-old Giselle Boyer wakes up in a hospital room unable to speak or move. She recalls an accident while en route to Isabelle's school orchestra concert. Was the accident her fault? And where are her parents, and where is Isabelle? Alternating between periods of awareness and unconsciousness, Giselle begins to piece together what happened to her family. She also conjures memories: of Isabelle, high-spirited, artistic, and brilliant; of their childhood and unbreakable bond; of their parents' troubled marriage; and of blissful summers past spent in their family's native Haiti. As she ponders, Giselle wonders who she is and who she will be without her twin. National Book Award nominee and American Book Award winner Danticat delivers a lyrical, heart-wrenching novel for teens about love (familial and romantic), friendship, and loss that traverses multiple worldsbetween life and death, between twins, and between the past and the present. In a lyrical, often wistful first-person narration, Giselle seeks to uncover the forces behind the event that altered her life and the lives of everyone she loves. Her emotional pain is raw, and Danticat presents both it and the lingering physical injuries she and her parents struggle with unflinchingly. An honest, endearing exploration of family, grief, and perseverance. (Fiction. 13-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

Danticat's first young adult novel, originally published in 2015, features the lush and lyrical prose that is her hallmark. Giselle, the teenage protagonist, is introduced to the audience from her hospital bed, where she is recovering from an unanticipated tragedy. Somewhat insensible to the world, she wonders what is happening to her parents, successful Haitian immigrants who recently announced their separation, and Isabelle, her identical twin, whose hand she has held at every important juncture of their lives, beginning at birth. Giselle's reflections on family, grief, the nature of twinness, the things other than appearance that mark her as similar to Isabelle, and their divergent artistic pursuits-music for Isabelle and visual art for Giselle-are woven with her increasingly greater awareness of the world outside of her hospital bed. Bahni Turpin seamlessly voices the Haitian and American accents of the novel's large cast of characters. -VERDICT Although entirely suitable for teenage audiences, this audiobook would be a rich addition to any general fiction collection.- Nicole Williams, New York © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Excerpts

From UNTWINEPeople say that things like this happen in slow motion, as though you suddenly become an astronaut in the anti gravity chamber of your own life. This wasn't true for me. Things were speeding up instead and I did my best to slow them down in my mind. Mom was still screaming our names, taking turns calling Isabelle and me by both our proper names and our nicknames: Isabelle, Giselle, Izzie, Gizzie. She then called Dad (David! David! David!), shouting his name over and over again. Isabelle didn't need to call my name. Not because of the twin telepathy thing people always talk about, but because we were holding hands. We were holding hands the tightest we have ever held hands in our entire lives. We were holding hands just as we had been holding hands on the day we were born. We had shared the same amniotic sac, and during Mom's C-section, the doctor told our parents that he would need to untwine our tiny fingers to separate us. We were born holding hands. And now, even as our heads bobbed and our bodies flopped -- mine strapped behind the seatbelt and Isabelle's loose and unprotected -- we screamed for our parents who were screaming for us, but we wouldn't let go. Excerpted from Untwine: A Novel by Edwidge Danticat All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.