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Summary
Summary
I should not exist. But I do.
Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else--two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren't they settling? Why isn't one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn't. . . .
For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she's still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable--hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Everyone is born with a twin: two souls-one body. Only, in America, it's illegal to remain that way-to be a hybrid. The dominant soul is supposed to take over, and the recessive, or weaker one is supposed to disappear, usually by the time the child is six. But even though Addie was the stronger soul, Eva held on. Despite the fact that she could no longer move or speak to anyone but Addie, she didn't go away. Now that they are teens, Addie and Eva have adopted rules of behavior in order to survive: don't stand out, don't be exceptional, blend in at all costs. But then the girls become friends with Hally and her brother, Devon, and the siblings show the sisters that there's another way to live-Eva can reemerge. But Eva's freedom comes at high price: imprisonment in a hospital that wants to "cure" kids of being hybrids and where patients who "go home" are never heard from again. This uniquely imagined novel doesn't fall short in the execution. Zhang's prose is lovely, and the plot is compelling to the last page. If there's one complaint to be made it's that the differences in characterization of the hybrid siblings are very subtle, and it's occasionally difficult to immediately see the change when different personalities take over. It will be easy to categorize this book as yet another dystopian novel, but it is remarkable and will stand out from the rest.-Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
First in the Hybrid Chronicles, Zhang's debut novel, set in a xenophobic alternate America, is narrated by 15-year-old Eva, who shares a body with her "sister," Addie. The girls are a "hybrid," with Addie controlling motor function and acting as their public persona. They live in a society in which hybrids have been forbidden for decades. "Settling"-allowing the dominant soul to assert itself- is mandatory, so Eva's existence must remain secret, even from their family. Soon after Addie and Eva meet two other hybrids, they are all in danger of being discovered and taken away for treatment. Addressing issues of identity, ethics, and choice, Zhang's concept is original and provocative; the deep bond between Eva and Addie (the shifts between I, we, and she in Eva's narration are especially haunting) and the mystery about why their society is so desperate to "fix" hybrids are riveting. An abundance of questions remain, even after Zhang's well-orchestrated nail-biter of an ending. Zhang's singular premise all but guarantees that readers will be eagerly awaiting those answers in the next installment. Ages 13-up. Agent: Emmanuelle Morgen, Stonesong. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
An unsettling dystopian adventure of two souls trapped in a single body. Like all children, Addie and Eva were born as two souls in the same body. As young children, the two personalities were both loved and indulged by their parents, but, unlike all the other children, Addie and Eva didn't "settle." In settling, the dominant soul takes over the single body and the recessive soul fades away. Children who don't settle are labeled hybrids and institutionalized. At age 6, Addie and Eva started seeing specialists to hasten the settling process, but the years of treatments have been unsuccessful. To hide their shame, Addie takes the dominant role and Eva becomes invisible to the outside world, thereby convincing society that they are not a hybrid. However, when an experiment with their classmates goes wrong, Addie/Eva find themselves institutionalized and wrestling with what it means to have a voice. Brackets within the text differentiate Addie's external communication and Eva's internal dialogue with Addie, helping to clarify who is speaking when. Worldbuilding is a little on the thin side, but Addie and Eva's emotions are more than enough to carry readers along. A thought-provoking first installment in a series that unflinchingly takes on ethically challenging topics. (Dystopia. 13 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Eva and Addie were born as two individual souls in a single body. Though one soul, Eva, was supposed to fade away or settle she remained alongside Addie, defying convention and government law. Now 15 and publicly known only as Addie, Eva lacks corporeal abilities but still has a voice, and the girls communicate and coexist internally. But concealing being a hybrid is getting harder, especially after Eva learns that classmate Hally/Lissa and her brother, Devon/Ryan, are hidden hybrids, too. Then their secret is discovered, and Eva/Addie are taken to Nornand Clinic for treatment, and survival for both souls means a dangerous escape. The Hybrid Chronicles series opener touches on provocative concepts and themes, such as the impact of bigotry and bias on lives. Eva's internal first-person narrative intricately, if densely, details her and sometimes Addie's thoughts, feelings, and events. Despite some predictable story elements and the occasionally confusing use of collective and individual pronouns, this debut offers an intriguing depiction of sibling relationships and the challenges of learning to live as distinct, though not physically separate, individuals.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
ONE of the many pleasures of reading dystopian novels is encountering a different but recognizable world, and then uncovering clues to how things ended up this way and relishing the sense of discovery. Two new dystopian novels not only explore such alternative realms and the societies that populate them, but also probe the smaller worlds of human bodies and the souls that inhabit them. Both Rachel Cohn's "Beta" and Kat Zhang's "What's Left of Me" offer meticulously crafted settings and unusual characters while posing fascinating questions about the nature of body and soul. Cohn, the author of many young adult novels (including "Cupcake" and "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," written with David Levithan), creates a lush and soporific world in "Beta." The island of Demesne, formed especially as a playground and residence for the extremely wealthy, is saturated in oxygenrich air and surrounded by the sea of Io, which "ripples in patented violet crests, and offers a totally transformative experience." Demesne is tropical, decadent and intoxicating - paradise indeed. By contrast, in "What's Left of Me," by the first-time author Zhang, the action takes place in a world that feels worn around the edges; the town where it is set, "known for absolutely nothing." Much of the novel occurs in an institution rife with all the usual accouterments: "white walls, the tiled floor, the metal-framed beds and thin pillows." Although their respective worlds are different, the main characters (Elysia in "Beta" and Eva in "What's Left of Me") share the knowledge that the physical bodies they inhabit are not entirely their own. Sixteen-year-old Elysia is a clone - her body is identical to that of someone who died, and she retains some of the memories of her progenitor. She is considered inferior in intelligence to humans, an object available for her owner's purchase and pleasure because she doesn't "carry the burden of a heavy soul." Eva's problem, in contrast, is too many souls. Like others in their society, Eva and her sister, Addie, "were born into the same body, our souls' ghostly fingers entwined before we gasped our very first breath." During childhood a "settling" is meant to take place, with the dominant soul assuming control and the recessive soul disappearing altogether. Addie and Eva's great secret is that Eva (assumed by everyone to be the recessive soul) didn't go away. The sisters love each other, but they also both want a chance to control their shared physical self. Here lies the true strength of Zhang's novel. The push-and-pull conflict between Addie and Eva is easily recognizable, particularly for teenagers. Who doesn't want to be alone sometimes? Who doesn't feel a deep sense of fear when the loss of a trusted companion - even in a contentious relationship - looms? NEITHER Cohn nor Zhang shies away from challenging readers' conceptions about the body found in our own society (and taken to the extreme in ones they've created). Both Elysia and Eva are in peril because neither is perceived to have any real right to her body. In "Beta," Elysia is purchased by her owners and the violent, sexual implications of that purchase are front and center in the narrative, with many characters using her for their own purposes and pleasure. As Elysia notes: "They don't just think they own me. They do own me. This is a fact." In "What's Left of Me," when outsiders begin to suspect that Eva is still inside, they are determined to destroy her. Eva doesn't want to vanish. As she puts it: "Though I'd been told my entire short life that it was only natural for the recessive soul to fade away, I didn't want to go." Both Elysia and Eva desperately want to inhabit and assert control of their own bodies. The same goes for their souls. Indoctrinated to believe it's impossible for a clone to have a soul, Elysia nonetheless begins to suspect there may be more to her than just her body. Eva, too, wonders who, and what, she really is. And if she is her own entity, can she extricate what she wants to feel from a sister with whom she is necessarily and deeply intertwined? Cohn and Zhang have each created intriguing settings in which the reader is easily and totally immersed. But the true discoveries of the novels are affecting portraits of their main characters. Both Elysia and Eva put into words a struggle relevant to young women in our own time and place - the complexity and importance of claiming those essential personal qualities that matter most. Ally Condie's novel "Reached," the conclusion of her Matched trilogy, is out this month.