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This harrowing but arresting memoir-written in alternating voices by
identical twins, now in their 50s-reveals how devastating schizophrenia is
to both the victim and those who love her.
The condition, which
afflicts Pamela (an award-winning poet), can be controlled with drugs and
psychiatry, but never cured. When the twins were young, Pamela always
outshone Carolyn. But in junior high, Pamela was beset by fears and began
a lifelong pattern of cutting and burning herself.
After the two
entered Brown University, Pamela's decline into paranoia accelerated until
she attempted suicide. During the ensuing years of Pamela's frequent
breakdowns and hospitalizations, Carolyn became a psychiatrist, married
and had two children. Empathetic and concerned, Carolyn nonetheless
conveys her overwhelming frustration. and occasional alienation from her
sister, when she is unable to help. Pamela's schizophrenia caused their
father to sever his relationship with her.
Remarkably descriptive,
Pamela's account details how it feels to hear voices and to suspect evil
in everyone. Though she struggles with her medications, Pamela remains a
committed poet and is now reconciled with her father and close to her
twin. |
