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• Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited
Elyse Schein, Paula Bernstein

Random House, 2007 - 288 pages

average customer review:based on 65 reviews
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   highly recommended  highly recommended






An Engaging Story -- Highly personal, Heart-felt, and Deeply Emotional

Half way through "Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited" by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein, one twin asks the other: "If your family had raised me and mine had raised you, would I be you and would you be me?" By the end of the book, the reader clearly understands the answer is "no." It is worth reading the whole book to find out why. But a far more compelling reason to read the book is this: we are all suckers for reunion stories, and perhaps there is no more fascinating reunion story than one between identical twins reunited after half a lifetime of not knowing that they had a twin. That is what drew me so strongly to this book, and on this score, too, the book delivers nicely.

Elyse and Paula were adopted by separate families completely unaware that their daughters had an identical twin being raised by another family located in the same city. The girls reunite in 2003 when they are 35 years old. The book is their joint memoir about their difficult reunion and the resulting deep bond that slowly, and at times painfully, develops between them.

Their story is highly personal, heart-felt, and deeply emotional. Plus there are mysteries at the core that compel you to find out more. Who was their mother? Why did she abandon them? Who are their biological family? Where are they?

Halfway through their investigation, the twins discover a dark side to their particular adoption. With dogged journalistic skills they uncover every lead until they finally arrive at the truth. You'll be thoroughly surprised to learn the true reasons behind their unusual adoptions...and you can't help but be proud of their perseverance. These are two extremely bright and tough women.

Identical Strangers is excellent journalism made personal. Both woman write compelling first-person narratives and are not embarrassed to expose their true feelings. The alternating first person narratives falter from time to time, when each twin switches gears to incorporate summary academic findings about twins reared apart or the nature-vs.-nurture debate. But this information is useful and it is covered in an easy-to-understand, nonscientific manner.


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Identical strangers

We loved it and we are so proud of these women.

Paula's parents, Marilyn and Bernie Bernstein









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Very good read, good autobiographical work

I liked this book immensely (I am actually exactly halfway through, started it today) but I kept being bothered by Elyses brother in the book-I kept wondering if he had neuropsychiatric Lyme disease- and then I came across the description of him spending lots of time time in their OAK tree and it just made me want to write my first review on here (Amazon) ever- because oak trees are the preferred habitat of Lyme ticks and New York is endemic- and wanted to write Marty & Elyse & Jay & say that schizophrenia can be a byproduct of neuropsyche Lyme which can be sero- and there is a great doctor named Kenneth Liegner in Armonk, NY!!! BUT REGARDLESS of my wanting to get that message across, this book was well worth reading so far, am stopping just to write this and then diving back in- can't wait to find out what happens further on- Good writing, ALTHOUGH a funny thing- not sure if they did this on purpose- but I find it impossible to tell their sections apart and have to go back and check whose section is whose- the writing voices sounds alike to me- kind of funny in regard to the subject- What lucky babies to have ended up in TWO such great families!!!! Definitely worth acquiring!!!


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Wonderful Memoir

This was a fantastic read -- I was captivated by the story and it was beautifully written. I read it in one afternoon because I was absolutely unable to put it down to do anything else. Highly recommended!!!


A Fascinating Book on a Fascinating Topic

This is a fascinating book for anyone who has ever fantasized about finding a long-lost twin...to the authors of this book, separated at birth and adopted by different families, this actually happened. What is surprising and intriguing about the book is that it is not merely a warm reunion story---it lays bare the complications of suddenly discovering someone who resembles oneself and yet remains on some level a stranger. Although it is overall a positive book, after reading it one realizes that the long-lost-twin fantasy isn't necessarily as simple or as glorious in real life as it may be in imagination.


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reviews: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, page 13



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