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    Untwine
    Untwine
    Untwine
    Audiobook7 hours

    Untwine

    Written by Edwidge Danticat

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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 are caught in a car crash 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScholastic
    Release dateSep 29, 2015
    ISBN9780545881739
    Untwine
    Author

    Edwidge Danticat

    Edwidge Danticat is the author of several books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah's Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; and the novel-in-stories, The Dew Breaker. She is the editor of The Butterfly’s Way: Voices from the Haitian Diaspora in the United States and The Beacon Best of 2000: Great Writing by Men and Women of All Colors and Cultures, Haiti Noir and Haiti Noir 2, and Best American Essays 2011. She has written several books for young adults and children—Anacaona, Behind the Mountains, Eight Days, The Last Mapou, Mama's Nightingale, and Untwine—as well as a travel narrative, After the Dance, A Walk Through Carnival in Jacmel. Her memoir, Brother, I’m Dying, was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Award and a 2008 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. She is a 2009 MacArthur Fellow.

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    Reviews for Untwine

    4/5

    64 ratings14 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I enjoy reading Edwidge Danticat books ... Being also of Haitian heritage her books brings me to a nostalgic place ... She has a beautiful way of intertwining the culture within the characters ... To me this novel is about healing after a death do not have to be a place of reinventing ourselves but a place of discovery ... Great book!!
    • 4/5
      Giselle and her twin sister Isabelle were born holding hands. Though they've always been encouraged to develop their own interests and friend groups, they're still as close as twins can be. On the way to a school concert, the family's car is struck by a van. One twin is killed in the accident, and everyone in the family is injured. The remaining sister swims in and out of consciousness. When she wakes up, she must deal with the grief of living without her twin.This is a poignant story of a family suffering together through a terrible tragedy, and how grief can affect all kinds of relationships. There's a side plot about the teen driver who caused the crash that I found unnecessary, and I thought it actually detracted from the main story. Recommended to readers of realistic (sometimes tragic) YA.
    • 3/5
      Untwine tells the story of a young woman losing her twin sister under mysterious and heartbreaking circumstances. The story moves continuously from present to past while she is dealing with the loss, worrying about her parents' marital issues, and remembering better times.

      I was looking forward to this book because I loved "Claire of the Sea Light" and have a few other Danticat books I haven't read yet. I was a little let-down with this one. It was heartfelt but I expected more from the overall story than what I got. The flashback sections came entirely too often and the drama felt manufactured. Certain parts are intentionally misleading. In the end it feels underdeveloped, like some part of the story is missing. I'm still looking forward to reading Danticat's other works.
    • 3/5
      I didn’t really enjoy it.
      I wish the synopsis gave more of an idea of what this book is really about. It was well written and I’m sure many people will love it, but it was just too sad and dramatic for me. I know death is sad, but if I knew the whole book would be about this, I wouldn’t have read it
    • 4/5
      Giselle and Isabel are16 year old twins who are very different, but one of their lives are shattered when a random car accidents kills one of the twins. Questions start to as the police start to invistagate the accident.
    • 5/5
      I sobbed through this book from start to finish but couldn't put it down. Edwidge Danticat again writes of love, loss, and pain in the most beautiful way. Her unique voice shows us so much of ourselves.
    • 5/5
      This was a sad story, but for me it was also very touching. I thought the way Danticat described everything was very eloquent. For example, her writing made me want to take the time and listen to the Haitian singer, Emeline, for myself. Now, I listen to words I don't even understand. Though, mostly I just loved how this story was able to leave me with this grateful feeling in having found it. Someday, I will encourage my daughter to read it.
    • 5/5
      16 year-old identical twins Giselle and Isabelle are headed to a late to a high school concert with their parents when another car crashes into theirs, leaving Giselle comatose in a hospital room. Told in flashbacks and the murky unconsciousness of Giselle, we learn more about the parents' planned separation, the closeness and "differentness" of the twins and their lives and loves, and the family and their Haitian story. Giselle doesn't know what's happened to her sister, but learns the worst (and suffers even more when her aunt thinks she's Isabelle and that Giselle has died). She awakens, and is eventually released to go home under the care of her injured parents, where they all have to figure out what life means without Isabelle. This is a beautifully written story. I was completely captivated by it, could not put it down. While the plot is compelling, the writing captures the confusion, pain and loss of a teenaged girl perfectly. Danticat knows and loves her characters, and yearns for Giselle as we do, that she can find a way to survive after losing half of herself. This book would be appropriate for grades 7-9 as well as 10-12, but older students will get the subtlety of the book better. For fans of If I Stay by Gayle Forman.
    • 4/5
      Giselle and Isabelle are close, although they've worked hard in high school to develop their own interests and friendships at school. The family is running late to a concert, the parents have just announced they are getting separated. A red van hits their car, a couple times. Everyone in the family is injured. When Giselle comes to. she finds herself in a hospital bed, trapped somewhere between a dreamwork and consciousness. She realizes that her sister is dead and her parents have been injured. Readers get insight into the twin's lives. Once Giselle wakes up, she has to navigate a life without her other half. I was interested in this Haitian-American family's story. Although I don't know that this one would appeal to younger students. It works for middle school.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written. I was not a fan of the Janice story - it felt a bit contrived in what was otherwise such an intimate family story.
    • 5/5
      This is the story of twin teens Isabelle and Giselle. They have always been extremely close, a lifetime of being there for each other, of being best friends. Then the unexpected happens, and Giselle must learn to live without her other half. This is a beautiful story of love, loss and hope.
    • 5/5
      Profoundly stunning were the words that came to mind when I finished the last sentence in this poignant and tender story dealing with sisterhood, family, love, loss and grief. Readers quickly learn that sixteen-year-old Haitian-American identical twins, Giselle and Isabelle were born holding hands and now as a car crashes into their SUV on their way to Isabelle’s concert their last interaction with each other will be holding hands making the title so appropriate as the reader journey’s with Giselle as she wonders how she will move forward without her twin. Danticat’s prose is exceptionally perceptive as she realistically conveys Giselle’s inner and spoken feelings. The mythology regarding twins and spirits had magical yet riveting touches. There is not one wasted word in this exquisitely plotted beautifully written tale but then this was what Danticat’s fans have come to expect when reading her work. And I would be neglectful if I did not mention the well-developed rich characterizations that set the tone. I recommend this book for mature teens and adults looking for a storyline that is generous in spirit yet unsparing in its honesty.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written story about a teenager dealing with a big change in her life.
    • 4/5
      3.5 Have always loved Danticat's adult novels so when I saw this one targeted form the Ya group I had to grab it. She did a wonderful job.Two twins, soon to celebrate their seventeenth birthday, Isabelle and Giselle, close as can be though they have differences, in friends, in interests. A car ride to the concert, where Isabelle will play her flute, will change everything forever for, this family.A novel about grief, recovery and how to move ahead when one is missing. A strong family unit with some wonderful characters. I was glad that Haiti was still a part of, this, novel though it is set in the USA. Have a hard time judging YA novels, can only say that as an adult I liked this one very much. A bit dramatic at times but since I have never lost a twin I cannot imagine how one would feel. The author though does have experience with twins so I trust that she got it right.