Identical By: Ellen Hopkins

I just started reading this book called Identical by Ellen Hopkins. This book looks so cool. Every page is a poem but every poem is just a small part of the whole story. Its a realistic fiction about two sisters who are actually twins. So the two main characters are, Kaeleigh and Raeanne and they describe their lives as appearing picture perfect. They live with their father, who is a judge in a huge house with a maid to clean after them. Their mom is always away but only because she's this huge politician. Everything seems perfect to everyone else but behind closed doors it's more like hell. When Kaeleigh and Raeanne were about 8, their family got in this huge car crash that tore the family apart both physically and emotionally. Their mother had to go through numerous plastic surgeries to hide scars that would never go away and their father became an alcoholic. Then Kaeleigh and Raeanne's mother started to become less and less loving and never wanted to be home. Raeanne has an abusive boyfriend that she's only with to get weed. Kaeleigh is binging and is starting to cut herself. But now Kaeleigh wants out because her family is holding her back. Kaeleigh has to keep to many secrets and she can't do that if she want's to fall in love.

The conflict in the story is that Kaeleigh and Raeanne are in danger. Their health is slowly deteriorating and every passing day it seems that things with their family are getting worse. Something horrible is happening in the book but the author wont tell what. As the story goes on she only provides clues. Raeanne says "I wish he would at least recognize I'm in the room the way he does when Kaeleigh is there." While Kaeleigh wants nothing but to get away from her father's grasp. Every night the sisters hope that their father has knocked himself out with beer and medication. Kaeleigh is terrified of the heavy foot steps that lead to her room at night but most of all she's terrified of the person she might become. In the text it says, "While he's with Kaeleigh, I can only watch because I can do nothing for I'm not really there." This quote shows that the sister's father is not the only conflict but that Kaeleigh and  Raeanne could be one and the same.