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Separated @ Birth: A True Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited
Imagine one day opening Facebook and reading a message from a stranger that says, "I think we might be twins - don't freak out..."
It all began when design student Anaïs Bordier viewed a YouTube video and saw her own face staring back. After some research, Anaïs found that the Los Angeles actress Samantha Futerman was born in a South Korean port city called Busan on November 19, 1987 - the exact same location and day that Anaïs was born. This propelled her to make contact - via Facebook. One message later, both girls wondered: Could they be twins?
Thus begins their remarkable journey to build a relationship as sisters, continents apart. Over Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, they learned that they shared much more than a strikingly similar appearance. Eventually, they traveled to Korea together to discover more about the land of their separation. One of Facebook's Top Ten Stories of 2013, Separated @ Birth is a story that spans the world and peels back some of the complex and emotional layers of foreign adoption.
It all began when design student Anaïs Bordier viewed a YouTube video and saw her own face staring back. After some research, Anaïs found that the Los Angeles actress Samantha Futerman was born in a South Korean port city called Busan on November 19, 1987 - the exact same location and day that Anaïs was born. This propelled her to make contact - via Facebook. One message later, both girls wondered: Could they be twins?
Thus begins their remarkable journey to build a relationship as sisters, continents apart. Over Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, they learned that they shared much more than a strikingly similar appearance. Eventually, they traveled to Korea together to discover more about the land of their separation. One of Facebook's Top Ten Stories of 2013, Separated @ Birth is a story that spans the world and peels back some of the complex and emotional layers of foreign adoption.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 30, 2014
38 people are currently reading
872 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
March 20, 2017
I had my doubts about this book, but as an identical twin myself, it's pretty much inevitable that I'm going to read any "separated at birth" story--there's just too much that's fascinating about what twins discover about themselves and each other when they finally meet. And indeed, the best parts of this book concerned the twins, the American Samantha and the French Anais, discovering each other, getting to know each other, researching their adoptions from South Korea, meeting each other's families, etc. Because all this happened only two or three years ago, the initial contact and a lot of subsequent communication happened over social media, which added an interesting contemporary twist.
Unfortunately, this book had way too many problems for me to recommend it. First off, sad to say, neither of these young women came across as particularly interesting on her own, so whenever the book delved into their individual histories, the whole thing became frustratingly dull. I see this primarily as a failure of the writing, actually--one of the twins is a fairly successful Hollywood actress and the other is a fashion designer, so there's probably more going on with them creatively and intellectually than the book implies. But the writing is so basic, so chirpy and immature, there's no room for any real depth on anyone's part.
On the other hand, I do have some doubts about Samantha's maturity and depth. Samantha is an actress, and as soon as her "team" (agent, manager, etc.) find out about her long-lost twin, they immediately urge her to pull together funding for a documentary on their reunion. A good friend of Samantha's does remind her that that what's happening is a huge deal emotionally and she should probably focus on what's in her heart, rather than on pulling together a group of people to make a film. Good advice! Samantha follows it for about five seconds before she apparently decides "pictures or it didn't happen," and from that point on the book becomes as much about the making of the documentary as it does about the twins' remarkable story. Poor Anais and her parents agree to the documentary only reluctantly, and the filming becomes a major source of stress for Anais: After every major event, from meeting her twin in person to meeting the foster mother who initially raised her in Korea to going to her adoption agency, she's required to instantly give an interview where she talks about her emotions, before she's really even had a chance to process them! Attempting to talk to the film crew about her stress doesn't help; they are wholly focused on "getting what they need."And Samantha, we're told, as an actress, is totally comfortable living on camera and can't even really understand Anais's emotional turmoil. As a result, Samantha comes off as flighty, shallow, and insensitive--which made it difficult to care about her or her story.
My final gripe about the book concerns the writing. As I indicated above, the writing seemed unsuccessful in portraying the twins' complexity as human beings. But it was also awful at the sentence level--the grammar was often bad, and sometimes the meaning of the second half of a sentence didn't even logically follow from the first half. Just careless and sloppy. It's particularly confusing to me because this book was ghostwritten. A ghostwriter is hired to be the mouthpiece for people who have an interesting story to tell but don't have the writing skills to tell it. Therefore, it should stand to reason that ghostwriters should have writing skills. So why are so many of them such bad writers? Maybe I should try to get into the ghostwriting business. I certainly couldn't do any worse than this.
This book tried my patience so much that I considered giving it one star. I added the extra star for a few reasons. The first was that the story of the twins' reunion was interesting in spite of all the flaws in the telling of it. Second was that I learned a few things about the way unwed mothers are viewed in South Korea, how adoptions have been handled there, and how that's beginning to change for the better. I also added the extra star to show some sympathy for poor Anais, who seemed to be trying so hard to have a genuine experience amid all the noise Samantha introduced. And finally, I was very moved by the way Anais and Samantha's parents each reacted to the news that their daughter had a twin: Both couples immediately said, "We have another daughter." The way the two families came together and seem determined to become one large extended family is touching and shows how openhearted people can be in extraordinary circumstances. I thought this was the best thing about the book, and it's definitely the aspect I'll remember most.
Despite this, the book has way too many problems for me to recommend it, with one exception--I think young teenagers, maybe 13-15, would enjoy this and learn a few things from it. Everyone else should pass.
Unfortunately, this book had way too many problems for me to recommend it. First off, sad to say, neither of these young women came across as particularly interesting on her own, so whenever the book delved into their individual histories, the whole thing became frustratingly dull. I see this primarily as a failure of the writing, actually--one of the twins is a fairly successful Hollywood actress and the other is a fashion designer, so there's probably more going on with them creatively and intellectually than the book implies. But the writing is so basic, so chirpy and immature, there's no room for any real depth on anyone's part.
On the other hand, I do have some doubts about Samantha's maturity and depth. Samantha is an actress, and as soon as her "team" (agent, manager, etc.) find out about her long-lost twin, they immediately urge her to pull together funding for a documentary on their reunion. A good friend of Samantha's does remind her that that what's happening is a huge deal emotionally and she should probably focus on what's in her heart, rather than on pulling together a group of people to make a film. Good advice! Samantha follows it for about five seconds before she apparently decides "pictures or it didn't happen," and from that point on the book becomes as much about the making of the documentary as it does about the twins' remarkable story. Poor Anais and her parents agree to the documentary only reluctantly, and the filming becomes a major source of stress for Anais: After every major event, from meeting her twin in person to meeting the foster mother who initially raised her in Korea to going to her adoption agency, she's required to instantly give an interview where she talks about her emotions, before she's really even had a chance to process them! Attempting to talk to the film crew about her stress doesn't help; they are wholly focused on "getting what they need."And Samantha, we're told, as an actress, is totally comfortable living on camera and can't even really understand Anais's emotional turmoil. As a result, Samantha comes off as flighty, shallow, and insensitive--which made it difficult to care about her or her story.
My final gripe about the book concerns the writing. As I indicated above, the writing seemed unsuccessful in portraying the twins' complexity as human beings. But it was also awful at the sentence level--the grammar was often bad, and sometimes the meaning of the second half of a sentence didn't even logically follow from the first half. Just careless and sloppy. It's particularly confusing to me because this book was ghostwritten. A ghostwriter is hired to be the mouthpiece for people who have an interesting story to tell but don't have the writing skills to tell it. Therefore, it should stand to reason that ghostwriters should have writing skills. So why are so many of them such bad writers? Maybe I should try to get into the ghostwriting business. I certainly couldn't do any worse than this.
This book tried my patience so much that I considered giving it one star. I added the extra star for a few reasons. The first was that the story of the twins' reunion was interesting in spite of all the flaws in the telling of it. Second was that I learned a few things about the way unwed mothers are viewed in South Korea, how adoptions have been handled there, and how that's beginning to change for the better. I also added the extra star to show some sympathy for poor Anais, who seemed to be trying so hard to have a genuine experience amid all the noise Samantha introduced. And finally, I was very moved by the way Anais and Samantha's parents each reacted to the news that their daughter had a twin: Both couples immediately said, "We have another daughter." The way the two families came together and seem determined to become one large extended family is touching and shows how openhearted people can be in extraordinary circumstances. I thought this was the best thing about the book, and it's definitely the aspect I'll remember most.
Despite this, the book has way too many problems for me to recommend it, with one exception--I think young teenagers, maybe 13-15, would enjoy this and learn a few things from it. Everyone else should pass.
January 28, 2018
This book could have been condensed into one paragraph and saved me a lot of wasted time:
"We love ourselves. We love each other. We are very excited about finding each other. Our parents love us and spoil us. We love them back. Even though we are intelligent, we act like airheads. We hope to make some money off our story and Sam hopes it will boost her acting career. We do not know how to write a long or complicated sentence. We both hate cooked carrots but raw ones are okay. By the way, we are twins separated @ birth, but that doesn't make us good writers or give us much to say. Oh--and did we mention that we repeat ourselves over and over again?
"We love ourselves. We love each other. We are very excited about finding each other. Our parents love us and spoil us. We love them back. Even though we are intelligent, we act like airheads. We hope to make some money off our story and Sam hopes it will boost her acting career. We do not know how to write a long or complicated sentence. We both hate cooked carrots but raw ones are okay. By the way, we are twins separated @ birth, but that doesn't make us good writers or give us much to say. Oh--and did we mention that we repeat ourselves over and over again?
December 5, 2014
I was a goodreads first reads winner of this book. I was glad I got the chance to read this book about two girls who were separated at birth. Anais Bordier and Samantha Futerman were born in Korea in 1987. they grew up for 25 years not knowing they were identical twins that were separated after being born. Anais was adopted and grew up in France. Samantha was adopted and grew up on the east coast in the USA. at 25 a friend of Anais saw a video of a girl that looked just like Anais. soon Anais contacted Samantha with the news. after some research it was found that they were born on the same day same place in Korea. Soon the ladies made arrangements to meet. this is their story. Each gal takes turns telling their reactions. how they got together,met each other's families. and eventually went to Korea. they even made a documentary about each other. this was a neat read. I had heard about them and was happy to read their story. I am adopted myself. so i guess i can relate to what it must be like to find out that their is a twin out there somewhere you had no idea existed.
August 14, 2016
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS STORY.
“I could have had a mental breakdown when I found out about Anaïs. I could have gone into a deep depression about the meaning of life […] But what would be the point? When I least expected it, I have found someone to be happy with for the rest of my life. I have been given a gift…”—Sam (p. 229)
First I watched the documentary, 'Twinsters,' on Netflix—which I stumbled upon in the StumbleUpon App, on my iPad—which I learned about while reading Kevin Kelly's book, ‘The Inevitable.’ Such is the twisting logic of the Internet road.
Adding to the six-degrees-of-separation feeling of it all, while watching the documentary, I recognized one of the participants. Dr. Nancy Segal, from the University of California, Fullerton. I’d seen her at a book talk/signing on the Cal Tech campus, about a year ago.
All these strange twists and coincidences pale in comparison, though, to the real life stories of Anaïs and Samantha. It’s all in their incredible, readable, delightful memoir… Separated @ Birth: a true love story of twin sisters reunited.” Told in both their voices; it is engaging and enchanting from start to finish.
These young ladies, and their families, are adorable; and their story is amazing. I used to love Ripley’s Believe It or Not! as a kid. Nothing Ripley came up with could top this.
Recommendation: One the best human interest tales I’ve ever read. I highly recommend both the book and the documentary.
“When your life changes so profoundly, so suddenly, you need something familiar. You need a bit of order no matter how happy the upheaval might be.”—Anaïs (p. 230)
NOOKbook edition, 265 pages
“I could have had a mental breakdown when I found out about Anaïs. I could have gone into a deep depression about the meaning of life […] But what would be the point? When I least expected it, I have found someone to be happy with for the rest of my life. I have been given a gift…”—Sam (p. 229)
First I watched the documentary, 'Twinsters,' on Netflix—which I stumbled upon in the StumbleUpon App, on my iPad—which I learned about while reading Kevin Kelly's book, ‘The Inevitable.’ Such is the twisting logic of the Internet road.
Adding to the six-degrees-of-separation feeling of it all, while watching the documentary, I recognized one of the participants. Dr. Nancy Segal, from the University of California, Fullerton. I’d seen her at a book talk/signing on the Cal Tech campus, about a year ago.
All these strange twists and coincidences pale in comparison, though, to the real life stories of Anaïs and Samantha. It’s all in their incredible, readable, delightful memoir… Separated @ Birth: a true love story of twin sisters reunited.” Told in both their voices; it is engaging and enchanting from start to finish.
These young ladies, and their families, are adorable; and their story is amazing. I used to love Ripley’s Believe It or Not! as a kid. Nothing Ripley came up with could top this.
Recommendation: One the best human interest tales I’ve ever read. I highly recommend both the book and the documentary.
“When your life changes so profoundly, so suddenly, you need something familiar. You need a bit of order no matter how happy the upheaval might be.”—Anaïs (p. 230)
NOOKbook edition, 265 pages
January 31, 2015
Told from each girl's perspective, this is the story of identical twins who find each other at age 25. Neither knowing that they had a twin and being raised through adoption on different continents. It is 2.5 star, but I could not raise it up. There is such redundancy, even within exact wording, and not enough twin study data. Parts were interesting and yet the eventual combinations of visits and family entwining events became more central than any aspect of twin study. The twin study in analysis for such pairs can be enthralling, and this only chose to highlight personality and/or feelings of the moments rather than crux comparison information. IMHO, it seemed the girls wrote a book without wanting to truly examine themselves in the process.
August 25, 2019
4 stars for enjoyment factor.
December 18, 2014
1. It took me forever to read this book because I was constantly researching and then explaining things to my husband. Maps, YouTube videos, IMDB, Wikipedia pages, news clips, their documentary information, looking words up in the dictionary, figuring out there was such thing as Facebook message spam and then having to go check mine and change some privacy settings, looking up books that were mentioned and maybe adding them to my reading list, more YouTube videos, looking at their pictures in the middle of this book a million times, trying to figure out which twin is which in certain pictures, thinking about watching all of the films Sam is in, looking up their Kickstarter page, looking up why they would use WhatsApp as apposed to regular text messaging and figuring out their is no international charges with WhatsApp, looking up Anais's clothing collection, looking up French phrases, looking up foods and drinks they mentioned, looking up their website kindredadoption.org and finding out the co-founder is Tina Cohen-Chang from Glee (so cool!)
2. Holy $h!+ was used too much. Speaking of, "holy shit" was on the same page as "holy sh*t." Why the inconsistency?
3. Weirdly enough, America's Next Top Model season 21 was in Seoul, South Korea. I had never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago and now I'm reading this book and getting to know it better.
4. I am fascinated by this twin study stuff. I want to read the books mentioned and learn more.
5. I want that turkey soup recipe.
6. My overall reaction to the book is positive. The story is facilitating because it's so impossible, I learned so many new things, and watching the Youtube videos about these two girls made me cry.
7. It's just so hard to wrap my head around the fact that they now have two sets of parents, birth parents, and foster parents. And automatic siblings.
8. I can't wait for the documentary.
9. They were so fortunate to have traveled to all of those places.
2. Holy $h!+ was used too much. Speaking of, "holy shit" was on the same page as "holy sh*t." Why the inconsistency?
3. Weirdly enough, America's Next Top Model season 21 was in Seoul, South Korea. I had never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago and now I'm reading this book and getting to know it better.
4. I am fascinated by this twin study stuff. I want to read the books mentioned and learn more.
5. I want that turkey soup recipe.
6. My overall reaction to the book is positive. The story is facilitating because it's so impossible, I learned so many new things, and watching the Youtube videos about these two girls made me cry.
7. It's just so hard to wrap my head around the fact that they now have two sets of parents, birth parents, and foster parents. And automatic siblings.
8. I can't wait for the documentary.
9. They were so fortunate to have traveled to all of those places.
May 10, 2016
I won this via GoodReads Firstreads.
I really enjoyed this book, but I have some reservations about it. It is a happy feel-good story about how two adopted Korean women found out that they were twins and what happened after that fact was discovered. I liked the parts leading up to and directly after they met, BUT the whole documentary thing seemed in slightly poor taste. I guess I'm just tired of the American "reality TV" thing, but the movie seemed over the top. The book, with maybe some pictures, ok. A movie AND a book? Too far.
The twin raised in America, Sam, was all for the exposure of the movie, maybe because she is an actress in LA and it would possibly help her land more roles. The twin raised in France, Anais, was much more private, as was her family. I wonder if where they were raised had something to do with it? Americans are seen as being ok with over-exposure and over-sharing. I'm not personally, but maybe others are?
The book took a dip for me when the documentary was mentioned and their trip to South Korea, as Anais was clearly not feeling it, but did it to keep her twin Sam happy. Sam, for her part, didn't seem to really understand how shy and private and unhappy Anais was, despite being her twin.
Final thoughts? Not a bad book, but I think they should have stopped at a book and not documented it all on film. I did enjoy how we saw pivotal life events from both Sam's and Anais' POV. Their families both seemed incredibly loving and amazing.
Sad how South Korea is starting to shut down foreign adoptions and that children without papers aren't even allowed to be adopted, but have to be orphans. It's great that South Korea is trying to help their own, but it is very difficult to adopt American children in America. Foreign countries are sometimes the only viable way to go.
3.5 stars, rounded down, because the book did dip in the middle and the documentary really rubbed me the wrong way. I'm happy the sisters were able to find one another and I hope that if they want to find out more about their birth parents that the opportunity will present itself.
I would recommend this book if you like to read about positive real-life happenings and if the idea of twins separated at birth and finding each other as adults is interesting to you.
I really enjoyed this book, but I have some reservations about it. It is a happy feel-good story about how two adopted Korean women found out that they were twins and what happened after that fact was discovered. I liked the parts leading up to and directly after they met, BUT the whole documentary thing seemed in slightly poor taste. I guess I'm just tired of the American "reality TV" thing, but the movie seemed over the top. The book, with maybe some pictures, ok. A movie AND a book? Too far.
The twin raised in America, Sam, was all for the exposure of the movie, maybe because she is an actress in LA and it would possibly help her land more roles. The twin raised in France, Anais, was much more private, as was her family. I wonder if where they were raised had something to do with it? Americans are seen as being ok with over-exposure and over-sharing. I'm not personally, but maybe others are?
The book took a dip for me when the documentary was mentioned and their trip to South Korea, as Anais was clearly not feeling it, but did it to keep her twin Sam happy. Sam, for her part, didn't seem to really understand how shy and private and unhappy Anais was, despite being her twin.
Final thoughts? Not a bad book, but I think they should have stopped at a book and not documented it all on film. I did enjoy how we saw pivotal life events from both Sam's and Anais' POV. Their families both seemed incredibly loving and amazing.
Sad how South Korea is starting to shut down foreign adoptions and that children without papers aren't even allowed to be adopted, but have to be orphans. It's great that South Korea is trying to help their own, but it is very difficult to adopt American children in America. Foreign countries are sometimes the only viable way to go.
3.5 stars, rounded down, because the book did dip in the middle and the documentary really rubbed me the wrong way. I'm happy the sisters were able to find one another and I hope that if they want to find out more about their birth parents that the opportunity will present itself.
I would recommend this book if you like to read about positive real-life happenings and if the idea of twins separated at birth and finding each other as adults is interesting to you.
February 14, 2017
Zanimljiva priča.
October 5, 2014
I received Separated @ Birth as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
Samantha Futerman and Anais Bordier, adopted from South Korea as infants, grew up on opposite sides of the Atlantic, with Sam just outside of New York City and Anais in France. One day in 2012, however, a friend sent Anais, then a twentysomething fashion design student in London a link to a YouTube video featuring Sam, a budding actress living in L.A.--and Anais' mirror image. Told in alternating chapters from each woman's point of view, this is the story of their reunion, their search for answers about their shared past, and the relationship that they and their families have now forged.
A very sweet, heartwarming read. Both young women grew up happy, healthy, and into successful and talented adults, and their personalities shine through in their respective chapters. It's a great tale, one of those "one in a million" shots that everyone loves to hear about, and I'm thrilled that they remain close despite their physical distance. Warmed this old pessimist's heart on a chilly autumn morning.
Samantha Futerman and Anais Bordier, adopted from South Korea as infants, grew up on opposite sides of the Atlantic, with Sam just outside of New York City and Anais in France. One day in 2012, however, a friend sent Anais, then a twentysomething fashion design student in London a link to a YouTube video featuring Sam, a budding actress living in L.A.--and Anais' mirror image. Told in alternating chapters from each woman's point of view, this is the story of their reunion, their search for answers about their shared past, and the relationship that they and their families have now forged.
A very sweet, heartwarming read. Both young women grew up happy, healthy, and into successful and talented adults, and their personalities shine through in their respective chapters. It's a great tale, one of those "one in a million" shots that everyone loves to hear about, and I'm thrilled that they remain close despite their physical distance. Warmed this old pessimist's heart on a chilly autumn morning.
March 31, 2015
The story itself is compelling and joyous. However the writing is sophomoric and trite to the point that it because nauseating. Target audience: junior high girls who wish they had a secret twin sister out there.
November 27, 2014
Loved it! Review to follow on www.helenafairfax.com
April 21, 2015
Loved it--excellent.
December 21, 2015
Nevjerojatna prica ispricana vrlo hladno.. Vise mi slici na dokumetnarac.. :/
July 24, 2019
I watched the movie "Twinsters" a few years ago and didn't realize that Anais Bordier and Samantha Futerman had also written a book about their experiences. The pair, both Korean adoptees, found out they were twins at the age of 25 -- a circumstance made all the more remarkable by the fact Sam was raised in New Jersey and Anais in France and both had adoption paperwork saying they were single births. Thanks to the internet, they reunited.
While neither is a natural writer, I'm glad to have read "Separated @ Birth" it because it really cleared up some aspects of Anais' story that were unclear in the movie (mainly that she had more negative feelings about her adoption than Sam -- I thought she had a difficult relationship with her adoptive parents but that wasn't the case at all, and is amply illustrated in her portions of the book.)
I came away from this book with a bit of a sad feeling about Sam, (an actress) who is surrounded by people who upon learning about her discovery of a twin immediately responded with "business opportunity."
While neither is a natural writer, I'm glad to have read "Separated @ Birth" it because it really cleared up some aspects of Anais' story that were unclear in the movie (mainly that she had more negative feelings about her adoption than Sam -- I thought she had a difficult relationship with her adoptive parents but that wasn't the case at all, and is amply illustrated in her portions of the book.)
I came away from this book with a bit of a sad feeling about Sam, (an actress) who is surrounded by people who upon learning about her discovery of a twin immediately responded with "business opportunity."
May 15, 2019
Poor writing, weak narrative structure. I enjoyed learning about the state of adoption in Korea and how identical twins are studied in the U.S.
February 7, 2015
Imagine one day opening Facebook and reading a message from a stranger that says, "I think we might be twins... don't freak out..."
I was introduced to the women in this book Samantha and Anaïs through their Kickstarter Page 'TWINSTERS' that had gone viral last year. I was fascinated by their story: two sisters, one an American actress living in California and the other a french fashion design student living in London found each other through social media. By the time I got around to their kickstarter page, their campaign had ended and since I didn't want to wait around for the documentary, I found their book online. I don't usually read memoirs but I found this book really interesting. Not just because the plot sounds like it could be a Lifetime movie event but because I was basically given the ending (the sisters finding each other) and having to work backwards to fill in their journey.
The book narration switches between the two sisters Samantha and Anaïs, throughout the book. By the fourth chapter I knew who was writing the section even without the heading because each sister had such an individual voice and style of writing. The story spans over several months and spans over three continents in their journey of discovering not just each other but each other's families, friends and life. Having watched their Kickstarter trailer and a couple of their interviews on YouTube, I can see their personality in the way they write. Sam is a very 'take charge' kinda girl (she was also the one that initiated their trip to South Korea) while Anaïs presence just oozes French. The 19 chapters + epilogue covers their journey, from their initial contact on Facebook to exchanging adoption papers and photos, meeting each other in person, travelling thousands of miles to South Korea and spending holidays together. There's a lot of love, laughs and joy that's contained in this book. I never once felt that they were angry or sad about their circumstances but rather grateful and joyful that they were able to find each other through the power of social media which is something that may not have not have been possible 10 years ago.
This book also covers their feelings about 1) being adopted and 2) being Asian and adopted by white families in two different continents. They talked in depth about the prejudices they individually encounters even to this day. There was even a section where Anaïs talks about how if one of her neighbor sees her on the street and doesn't know her family they may think that she's the maid not the daughter.
I had a hard time placing this book my reading challenge list between a memoir or a book that made me cry. Books rarely make me cry and I am not a big fan of the memoir genre but since I made the commitment to read one book per challenge, I will mark this book down as a book that made me cry. I may have had a couple of sniffles throughout the book but I made it through 19 chapters without a single tear.Then I hit the epilogue where the sisters had their sets of parents write their experiences and Anaïs' dad got me, "When I held Sam in my arms to greet her, my heart fainted and all my rational prejudices faded away instantly. I did not need a DNA test anymore to know that the extraordinary had happened." Merci for the tears Monsieur Jacque Bordier.
I was introduced to the women in this book Samantha and Anaïs through their Kickstarter Page 'TWINSTERS' that had gone viral last year. I was fascinated by their story: two sisters, one an American actress living in California and the other a french fashion design student living in London found each other through social media. By the time I got around to their kickstarter page, their campaign had ended and since I didn't want to wait around for the documentary, I found their book online. I don't usually read memoirs but I found this book really interesting. Not just because the plot sounds like it could be a Lifetime movie event but because I was basically given the ending (the sisters finding each other) and having to work backwards to fill in their journey.
The book narration switches between the two sisters Samantha and Anaïs, throughout the book. By the fourth chapter I knew who was writing the section even without the heading because each sister had such an individual voice and style of writing. The story spans over several months and spans over three continents in their journey of discovering not just each other but each other's families, friends and life. Having watched their Kickstarter trailer and a couple of their interviews on YouTube, I can see their personality in the way they write. Sam is a very 'take charge' kinda girl (she was also the one that initiated their trip to South Korea) while Anaïs presence just oozes French. The 19 chapters + epilogue covers their journey, from their initial contact on Facebook to exchanging adoption papers and photos, meeting each other in person, travelling thousands of miles to South Korea and spending holidays together. There's a lot of love, laughs and joy that's contained in this book. I never once felt that they were angry or sad about their circumstances but rather grateful and joyful that they were able to find each other through the power of social media which is something that may not have not have been possible 10 years ago.
This book also covers their feelings about 1) being adopted and 2) being Asian and adopted by white families in two different continents. They talked in depth about the prejudices they individually encounters even to this day. There was even a section where Anaïs talks about how if one of her neighbor sees her on the street and doesn't know her family they may think that she's the maid not the daughter.
I had a hard time placing this book my reading challenge list between a memoir or a book that made me cry. Books rarely make me cry and I am not a big fan of the memoir genre but since I made the commitment to read one book per challenge, I will mark this book down as a book that made me cry. I may have had a couple of sniffles throughout the book but I made it through 19 chapters without a single tear.Then I hit the epilogue where the sisters had their sets of parents write their experiences and Anaïs' dad got me, "When I held Sam in my arms to greet her, my heart fainted and all my rational prejudices faded away instantly. I did not need a DNA test anymore to know that the extraordinary had happened." Merci for the tears Monsieur Jacque Bordier.
October 22, 2014
A true story told from the two distinct voices of young women separated at birth in South Korea, and adopted to different countries. The tale of how they found each other at age 24, how they grew up, how they each processed their adoptions, their reunion, the joining of their adoptive families, and their search for birth family in Korea.
A very sweet story, a lovely read. They are adoptees who are very peaceful about the lies in their adoption paperwork, which felt surprising, and the gooshy heart warming acceptance of it all made me want to stand up and fight for them. I wanted to say "no! you deserve to know the truth! The adoption agencies are not your friends, they make money off of adoptions, it's an industry built on lies and money!" But that is not the direction they go or believe at all. They feel the adoption agencies are just helping poor mothers out, who turn babies over at birth. In fact, the way they describe birthing houses full of women who hand over babies as soon as they are born for adoption agencies to process them made my skin crawl. Red Flag Alert! As an adoption ethics advocate the young ladies' perspective on this is hard to sit down and take, but it is their belief and their perspective and all adoptees should get to have their voices heard. They are at peace, and they have each other, and that is a good thing.
I enjoyed reading the book, and am thrilled for them that they have each other, and trying to just sit with my anger that their story of lies and separation from each other is repeated the world over, not by beneficent kind adoption agencies, but by lying folks who know how to capitalize on at poor, at risk women and families to get babies for well meaning, usually loving western families.
A worthwhile read even though the authors write in more of a bloggey style of prose, neither I think could claim to be "writers" per se, and yet their story was worth telling and it's wonderful they put it out there in their own words. I think my adopted children will enjoy it when they are a little older reading this as well.
A very sweet story, a lovely read. They are adoptees who are very peaceful about the lies in their adoption paperwork, which felt surprising, and the gooshy heart warming acceptance of it all made me want to stand up and fight for them. I wanted to say "no! you deserve to know the truth! The adoption agencies are not your friends, they make money off of adoptions, it's an industry built on lies and money!" But that is not the direction they go or believe at all. They feel the adoption agencies are just helping poor mothers out, who turn babies over at birth. In fact, the way they describe birthing houses full of women who hand over babies as soon as they are born for adoption agencies to process them made my skin crawl. Red Flag Alert! As an adoption ethics advocate the young ladies' perspective on this is hard to sit down and take, but it is their belief and their perspective and all adoptees should get to have their voices heard. They are at peace, and they have each other, and that is a good thing.
I enjoyed reading the book, and am thrilled for them that they have each other, and trying to just sit with my anger that their story of lies and separation from each other is repeated the world over, not by beneficent kind adoption agencies, but by lying folks who know how to capitalize on at poor, at risk women and families to get babies for well meaning, usually loving western families.
A worthwhile read even though the authors write in more of a bloggey style of prose, neither I think could claim to be "writers" per se, and yet their story was worth telling and it's wonderful they put it out there in their own words. I think my adopted children will enjoy it when they are a little older reading this as well.
September 18, 2015
I really wanted to like this book more. I had seen an ad for the documentary and didn't get a chance to see it, so when I saw this book on the New Books shelf at the library, I snapped it up.
I was really disappointed in this book. It would be one thing if it were cut in half by length and existed as some sort of shared blog between the girls. It's another thing to slog through this book--my goodness. It would be great to se more about the twin study--but I'm guessing it wasn't included in an in-depth way so that the researcher could write up her research for her publications. After all, Cal Fullerton paid for DNA, IQ, and another battery of tests.
However, having all this information pulled together will be great for the birth mother (if she ever wants to hear about it), the two sets of parents, and any future children of either twin. I wish them all the best and am hoping that the documentary film was a more exciting effort.
I was also kind of flabbergasted by their lives/careers and sheer privilege. Who takes all sorts of lessons, goes to private or specialty schools, etc? I wonder if Sam's brothers got any of this luxury treatment.
Surprisingly, I did finish this book. If you want to read it, get a library copy so you can skim it instead of reading it all the way through like I did. There's a LOT of navel gazing going on in the manner of a teenager.
I was really disappointed in this book. It would be one thing if it were cut in half by length and existed as some sort of shared blog between the girls. It's another thing to slog through this book--my goodness. It would be great to se more about the twin study--but I'm guessing it wasn't included in an in-depth way so that the researcher could write up her research for her publications. After all, Cal Fullerton paid for DNA, IQ, and another battery of tests.
However, having all this information pulled together will be great for the birth mother (if she ever wants to hear about it), the two sets of parents, and any future children of either twin. I wish them all the best and am hoping that the documentary film was a more exciting effort.
I was also kind of flabbergasted by their lives/careers and sheer privilege. Who takes all sorts of lessons, goes to private or specialty schools, etc? I wonder if Sam's brothers got any of this luxury treatment.
Surprisingly, I did finish this book. If you want to read it, get a library copy so you can skim it instead of reading it all the way through like I did. There's a LOT of navel gazing going on in the manner of a teenager.
August 26, 2015
After seeing their documentary "Twinsters," I knew I wanted to read this book. It's about twin sisters that were unknowingly separated at birth in South Korea. Anais grew up in France as an only child, while Sam grew up on New Jersey. By chance, one of Anais' friends see's a YouTube video of Sam, who is an actress, and realizes how much she looks like Anais. This is the story of their life and how they found each other after being separated for 25 years. They talk about their childhood and backgrounds and it follows their union up to the next year and getting to know each other. They travel back to Korea together for an adoption conference, which was interesting to get both of their takes on this monumental step. This book does not go into a lot of detail regarding Korea's dark history with adoption or how many adoption records are false, including Sam's and Anais' since neither of their records indicated that they were twins. Dr. Segal, one of the leading doctors who does twin studies, does a study of the girls. It's interesting to get a little information on the similarities and differences and nature vs. nuture. While this can read like a typical 20 something in language, I found it to be very worth while.
June 29, 2015
This book was amazing. I was drawn to this book not only by the story (twin sisters separated at birth who find each other thanks to modern technology and social media) but as the older sister of an adoptee. As I read their story, especially as they told their adoption stories, I found so many similarities to my brother's adoption. That story was already so real to me because I lived it, an eyewitness, but it was really nice to see the adoption story told by the adoptees, told stories over and over and how real and important it is to them, but also how it doesn't define them. Adoption is just one of the many things that make Samantha and Anais unique as individuals and, to some extent, as twins.
To me, this story was like a fairy-tale: finding a long-lost twin, gaining new family members, traveling to be with them and see them face-to-face for the very first time. Even going to Korea to meet their foster mothers was breathtakingly wonderful. For Samantha and Anais, it was a dream come true, a dream they never even knew could be possible.
To me, this story was like a fairy-tale: finding a long-lost twin, gaining new family members, traveling to be with them and see them face-to-face for the very first time. Even going to Korea to meet their foster mothers was breathtakingly wonderful. For Samantha and Anais, it was a dream come true, a dream they never even knew could be possible.
November 9, 2015
Being a twin (not identical and not separated at birth) I found this to be a really interesting read and throughly enjoyed it. The book goes back and forth with Sam and Anaïs perspectives throughout the journey of discovering one another and their first meet, and then their visits after that. There is a documentary they created called Twinsters that I watched right after finishing this book. I highly recommend reading the book and then watching the documentary. The book goes into details about the experiences and emotion behind the story for Sam and AnaÏs and also how the documentary came to be. The documentary couldn't encompass everything the book gets into and it was neat to know how everyone involved was feeling based on what I read in the book first. There is also a portion on what they learned about Twins in general during the evaluations, and what they did to discover if they were identical twins or not.
October 25, 2015
Inspiring and Uplifting Love Story of Sister Reunited
Have you ever wished for a twin? Imagine clicking on a YouTube link to find a person who looks just like you. Further investigation shows that this mysterious woman shares your birthday and birthplace. This is just the beginning of the story of two strangers who discover they are identical twins. I saw the movie and loved it but the book answered many of the questions I still had about the girls and their story. Sam and Anais are two of the bravest women. They fought to overcome time, space and distance to reunite and love each other. In doing so, they brought together friends and family to merge into the world of the Twinsters. This is a true story of two remarkable women who chose to face their past and find answers to the mystery of their birth while living in the present and moving forward together.
Have you ever wished for a twin? Imagine clicking on a YouTube link to find a person who looks just like you. Further investigation shows that this mysterious woman shares your birthday and birthplace. This is just the beginning of the story of two strangers who discover they are identical twins. I saw the movie and loved it but the book answered many of the questions I still had about the girls and their story. Sam and Anais are two of the bravest women. They fought to overcome time, space and distance to reunite and love each other. In doing so, they brought together friends and family to merge into the world of the Twinsters. This is a true story of two remarkable women who chose to face their past and find answers to the mystery of their birth while living in the present and moving forward together.
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July 2, 2016Kada pomislite da je nemoguće biti razdvojen od brata/sestre blizanke - vjerujte moguce je. Dvije djevojčice u dobi od 4 mjeseca posvojene u različite obitelji nisu ni slutile da bi nakon dugo godina mogle pronaći jedna drugu. Istinita priča koja je pobudila u meni zanimanje koliko takvih parova blizanaca budu razdvojeni? Inače u to doba u Južnoj Koreji je vladall ozračje da trudna žena mora biti udana ili biva izbačena iz društva.
Divna priča koju vrijedi pročitati.
Kako bismo se osjećali da saznamo da postoji jos jedan isti ja, da je taj dio mene uživao u obitelji i imao pravo bratsko okruženje, a s druge strane da je suprotna strana mene živjela kao jedinica?
Moja ocjena : 4/5
Divna priča koju vrijedi pročitati.
Kako bismo se osjećali da saznamo da postoji jos jedan isti ja, da je taj dio mene uživao u obitelji i imao pravo bratsko okruženje, a s druge strane da je suprotna strana mene živjela kao jedinica?
Moja ocjena : 4/5
November 20, 2017
What an astounding story! Two adopted young Korean women, one living in France and the other in America, discover through social media that they are identical twins. They wrote this book together and together they delineate the joy, the fear, the shock, the excitement and the surreal feeling of meeting each other, meeting each other's families, their travels to Korea to try and find out more about their birth family, and the adjustments to be made in their own lives. Some of their "matching" traits and habits are astounding. It's a great book to read and ponder how much of "nature" vs. "nurture" takes place in raised-apart twins and to marvel at how much they are alike!
December 30, 2014
This nonfiction book tells an amazing and love filled story! Twenty-five year old Anais Bordier lives in France. She had been adopted by her parents from South Korea. One day a friend of hers sends a you tube link of an American actress named Samantha who looks just like Anais! Anais finds Samantha on Facebook and messages her. Samantha had also been adopted from South Korea and the girls discover they were born on the same day! Could they possibly be twins? Read this heartwarming book and be enchanted!
August 14, 2015
Saw the documentary and was really touched by the true life story of these identical twins who were separated at birth and adopted to families in different countries who found each other through social media. The book goes more in depth and also shows the side of Anaïs more than the documentary. Great read, great story. Highly suggest both the book and the film.
May 14, 2016
I sought out this book after seeing Samantha and Anaïs's documentary, Twinsters. It's such a fascinating story and I was eager to find out more. The book is a bit repetitive, but it also does give a little more insight into the internal thoughts that were going through each sister's head as the possibility of having a long-lost twin became more of a reality.
November 3, 2014
An incredible account of their journey discovering each other and of themselves! Their personal reflections throughout the novel really brings you in as a reader, and connects you with their experience. A must read. Looking forward to their film now!
December 18, 2015
Moderately interesting. Twin researcher Nancy Segal's books on twins separated at birth are much more enlightening (and written better). I felt I was reading something written by teens and agree with Mary's recent one paragraph condensation of this book.
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