Division
Karen Wyle
Smashwords Edition 2013
We all know someone who has identical
twins, or we've gone to school with twins, or we've seen them in
movies and commercials. Those of us lucky enough to actually know
twins are well aware that having the same genetic code doesn't
automatically mean they think the same way at all. As we go through
life, different stimulus can strike us in different ways. Two people
(even twins) who see a car accident don't always see what happened
the same way. One could have been distracted by a bird flying by or
a stray thought at a key moment. Different books they might read
generate different ideas and beliefs, and as these paths diverge,
individuality emerges.
Johnny and Gordon have a unique
problem. Nobody sees them as individuals. They've been together all
their lives but as they grew, their personalities drifted further and
further apart and now it's time they went their separate ways, but
due to circumstances beyond their control and a startling family
secret-- they can't.
Johnny is restless; he wants to get out
on his own. He's sick of having his brother in his face all the
time, and has always been the more emotional and impulsive of the
two. He wants to take action and stop talking about it.
Gordon's delighted with the current
arrangement. All these years he's had Johnny around to help him.
They finished one another's sentences. They always did homework
together, played sports together, had the same friends and went,
together, through the adversity of the folks who stared and pointed
and thought they were weird. They had triumphed over all that
adversity. Why change anything?
Now the technology is available to give
each his own individual life. Johnny wants this desperately. Gordon
doesn't see the point. Brothers can feud, but this is orders of
magnitude worse. They must go to court, each defending his right to
live as he chooses. Johnny's freedom could quite literally threaten
Gordon's life. Gordon's preferred life is slavery by Johnny's
standards. Is it even possible to find a fair solution?
This is one of the most thought
provoking books I've read. The author puts us not only in the
presence of the twins, but into their thought processes and emotional
states. She tackles, aside from the issue of technology bringing us
places we may not want to go, showing, in clear example, the
conflicts that arise when two individuals' separate rights have to be
sorted out. Does Johnny have the right to endanger his brother to
get what he wants? Should Gordon have to completely restructure his
life and sacrifice all he holds dear (and possibly his life) because
Johnny wants a different path? Are we our brothers' keeper, or do we
owe ourselves freedom?
This is adult material, difficult both
from the standpoint of erotica (in the context of the story, not
gratuitous, we are after all talking about teenage boys), but also
from the standpoint of traditional value systems. It is a frank
discussion of what it means to be an individual, of what happens when
rights conflict and there seem to be no viable answers. We see the
public get wrapped in the conflict, both sides angry and vindictive,
and wonder how it can ever be resolved. It challenges our view of
both freedom and justice, while letting us share in the lives of some
very memorable characters. I highly recommend it.
