New cloning technology gives conjoined twins Gordon and Johnny the chance to live separate lives -- but only one of them wants that chance.
New technology, new choices . . . but who gets to choose?
Conjoined twins Gordon and Johnny have never let their condition keep them from living full and fulfilling lives. Gordon looks forward to many years of closeness and cooperation. Johnny, however, faces their future with increasing restlessness, even dread.
When the boys are in their teens, the new technologies of accelerated human cloning and brain transplants are combined into a single medical procedure -- Transplant to Clone, or TTC. Someone whose body has suffered such extensive damage as to make normal life impossible may -- with court approval -- be cloned and then given a brain transplant into the clone body. With Gordon's unwitting assistance, Johnny realizes that the TTC procedure provides the chance he had never dared to hope for -- the chance to live in a "normal," separate body.
But Gordon considers their conjoined life a blessing, rather than a curse. He has no intention of accepting separation -- not without a fight . . . .
Division, like Wyle's earlier novels, uses original settings and situations to explore universal themes: the complexity and intensity of family relationships, the nature of individual identity, and the far-reaching effects of the choices we make.
Excerpt
New technology, new choices . . . but who gets to choose?
Conjoined twins Gordon and Johnny have never let their condition keep them from living full and fulfilling lives. Gordon looks forward to many years of closeness and cooperation. Johnny, however, faces their future with increasing restlessness, even dread.
When the boys are in their teens, the new technologies of accelerated human cloning and brain transplants are combined into a single medical procedure -- Transplant to Clone, or TTC. Someone whose body has suffered such extensive damage as to make normal life impossible may -- with court approval -- be cloned and then given a brain transplant into the clone body. With Gordon's unwitting assistance, Johnny realizes that the TTC procedure provides the chance he had never dared to hope for -- the chance to live in a "normal," separate body.
But Gordon considers their conjoined life a blessing, rather than a curse. He has no intention of accepting separation -- not without a fight . . . .
Division, like Wyle's earlier novels, uses original settings and situations to explore universal themes: the complexity and intensity of family relationships, the nature of individual identity, and the far-reaching effects of the choices we make.
Professional Reviews
Review by Sheila Deeth, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer
Twins share many things, but Karen Wyle’s novel, Division, explores what happens when twins grow up sharing even more than most, including the same body. Gordon and Johnny are so close they cannot move apart, but so different that a lifetime of compromise can't keep them together. With different interests and different attitudes to life, they’ve lived as closely joined as two people can be and have learned to dream and cope. Meanwhile the girl next door has become their closest ally and friend. Their mother quietly supports and encourages. And adulthood looms large.
Particularly convincing is the small-town feel of a place where conjoined boys are just two guys in the graduating class, and tourists’ stares are a hazard of summer sun. But a near-future world is changing around these boys, offering possibilities previously unknown. They travel, go to court, argue, laugh, and seem so achingly real in their conflict that readers will genuinely wonder whose side to take. Is it more stubborn to change, or stay the same? Is it cruel to think of your own needs above your twin’s? Is it more honest to stay with the past, or to reach for future’s promise? And where will we, or our future selves, draw the line in moral debate?
The story’s as convincing in its court scenes as in the home, or on the road. The characters are just as human when they’re friends as when they’re foes. And the future world has no easier answers than the present day after all. But the questions will leave readers pondering possibilities and implications.
Beautifully researched and convincingly told, this novel reads like a present day drama with just a touch of the future—just enough to make us question the present more truly. I really enjoyed it.
Disclosure: The author kindly offered me a free ecopy because I’d enjoyed her work in the past.
Review by Danielle Tara Evans
This is the fourth book I have read that was written by Karen A. Wyle, and it certainly did not disappoint. She has proven once again to be an exceptional writer. In Division, we enter the world of Gordon and Johnny, and we get a glimpse of what it would be like to live as conjoined twins. I kept trying to imagine how that would feel, and it seemed like an overwhelmingly difficult way to live. To never, ever be alone; that is too hard for most of us to fathom. Every movement you make and every decision you make will impact your twin and vice versa.
Division takes place in a future where a human can be cloned, the aging process can be accelerated, and then the brain can be transplanted into the clone's body. This is only permitted when a person's quality of life is severely limited due to an ailment or injury. The implications of this procedure (TTC - Transplant to Clone) could be the answer to Johnny and Gordon's problem--except only Johnny believes it is a problem, and Gordon is perfectly content living as a conjoined twin.
When Johnny decides to fight for this procedure in court, their relationship is irrevocably changed. It was really hard for me to pick sides; I could understand both points of view. I found myself leaning more towards Johnny, only because I could understand why he would want to live a more normal and independent life. But then I felt badly for Gordon, because even though living your life attached to someone else sounds awful, I realize that that was all he knew. That was how his entire life was so he couldn’t imagine living it any other way. And it didn’t seem fair that he should have to go through such a risky procedure when it wasn’t medically necessary.
I really got to know and care for the main characters, including their mother and their girlfriend, Dodi. It is a complex family drama that kept me hooked from beginning to end. Between the controversial cloning procedure and the psychological issues, this is a thought provoking, human interest story that you will not forget. Division is an excellent book worthy of five stars. Highly recommended.
Review by Karen Banes
Beautifully written book about a controversial and fascinating subject. When conjoined twins share a blood stream and several organs, but each have their own free will, what happens when they disagree about whether to go through life as nature intended, or try a risky procedure to gain their independence. By setting the story in the near future the author gives them options not currently available to provide a major dilemma and lots of fascinating conflict.
I've enjoyed everything I've read by this author so far. She has a great knack for world building and story telling, and isn't afraid to tackle some hard subjects.
Major League ballplayer Justin Moore is kidnapped from his own ballpark and transported to a foreign land. It might take high-level international negotiations to free him. Or maybe he will take matters into his own hands.
Major League ballplayer Justin Moore is kidnapped from his own ballpark and transported to a foreign land. It might take high-level international negotiations to free him. Or maybe he will take matters into his own hands.
