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Twins
The Breakfast Club meets Heathers in the anti-chicklit a fabulously black comedy about identical twins struggling to eighteen in wealthy American suburbia. Chloe and Sue, blonde and beautiful, have one each other. However, when their parents abandon them their future becomes how badly wrong can perfect girls go? For everyone who loved Clueless or The O.C. and wonders why no book comes close, this is their novel. Funny, addictive, disturbing and redemptive, Twins is a deliciously twisted story of teenage dreams.
Paperback
First published July 18, 2005
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About the author
Marcy Dermansky
9 books29.1k followersMarcy Dermansky is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Hurricane Girl, Very Nice, The Red Car, Bad Marie and Twins. Her new novel Hot Air will be released in the spring of 2025.
Marcy has received fellowships from MacDowell and The Edward Albee Foundation. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey with her daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
October 23, 2025
I almost didn't make it through this book... it was really too unhinged, toxic, audacious, crazy stuff... and I thought this was too much... there's too much hate and meanness... but that changed slowly, and I was lulled back in... I finally liked Sue just as much as Chloe..I was watching "The Last Dance" and could picture Markman as a stockier Jordan. It finished with a warm fuzzy ending, and I happily bought it. I didn't laugh as much as I did for Dermansky's " Hurricane Girl" but I felt just as emotionally kidnapped for the ride.... even if I was at point screaming for the ride to stop.
October 26, 2022
My introduction to the fiction of Marcy Dermansky is her debut novel Twins. Published in 2005, I ran to this after my book club assignment for November should've had a Mr. Yuk warning label. (For those interested in hearing a tipsy man roast a bestselling adult fairy tale, DM me for details). Dermansky's debut was the antidote to my book poisoning: a harrowing, nuanced and darkly funny novel about teenagers written for adults. This is the first book I've read in some time that I stayed up past midnight to finish. I couldn't sleep without knowing the outcome.
Set in present day, the novel alternates between the points of view of two identical twin sisters, Sue and Chloe, growing up from the ages of thirteen to eighteen in suburban New Jersey. Blonde haired and blue eyed, their parents are both divorce attorneys who wear matching suits and never get down on the floor to wrestle with the family's standard poodle, Daisy. Working all the time, they keep the girls and their sullen, introverted older brother Daniel well provided for with money and little else.
Sue, born four minutes later and 1/8 inches shorter than her twin sister, steals cash from her mother's wallet and later, knicks her father's credit cards. Given to emotional outbursts when she doesn't get her way, her parents are afraid to discipline her. All Sue feels she wants or needs is the love of Chloe, who begins to develop headaches placating her sister's erratic demands. For their thirteenth birthday, Sue has arranged they get matching tattoos. Later, at their surprise party, Chloe is thrilled when the most popular girl at school, Lisa Markman, whispers to her that she likes Chloe better than Sue.
My entire life, no one had ever singled me out in this way. When we were younger, my parents used to call our names so fast it sounded like one word: Chloeandsue. Strangers would point to us and whisper: Look at the twins. We were constantly told how pretty we were, together, but somehow on my own, it wasn't the same. I wasn't interesting. At school, Sue and I were in all the same classes, and she always sat next to me. Everyone took for granted that Sue was my best friend and I was hers. We were considered the same person, undistinguishable, even when Sue threw pens at boys or hopped through the halls like a kangaroo. But I was not Sue.
I was not Sue.
Lisa Markman, whose father is a retired star NBA player, attempts to peel Chloe away from Sue. She invites Chloe over for a party which Sue insists on crashing. Playing their version of Spin the Bottle, all the boys choose Chloe for their three minutes in the closet. When Sue drags Chloe home, her sister bargains with Sue by offering to switch clothes if they can return to the party. The first boy who takes Sue in the closet thinking she's Chloe gets punched in the stomach. If Sue can't have her sister, no one will. Chloe's stress intensifies as her appetite diminishes.
Wanting to be liked by someone other than her twin, Chloe leaves Sue to go to the mall with Lisa and her friends. Their brother Daniel, who Sue considers obnoxious, agrees to drive her to the mall in an effort to spend quality time together. Sue confronts Lisa Markman and deciding no one else will have her sister, fires one of their dog's tennis balls at Lisa's face, breaking her nose. Their parents convene a family meeting, concerned that Lisa's father might press assault charges. Chloe takes responsibility for the incident and asks to move into Daniel's room when he leaves for college.
Unable to use clothes or makeup to distinguish herself from her twin, Chloe endeavors to become a top student, purchasing school supplies and studying for the SAT the summer before they enter high school. Sue has used their father's credit card to order two unicycles she insists Chloe learn to ride with her. She trashes her sister's supplies and treats Chloe cruelly, obviously hurt as her twin tries to pull away from her. Convinced that being fitted with glasses might cure her headaches, Chloe asks her mother to take her to the optometrist. Sue gleefully sabotages the big day.
I listened in disbelief as they walked down the stairs. My mother did not know that she was talking to Sue, who babbled about her progress on the unicycle. I heard the front door open and close. I listened to the ignition of the car. I knew that I had plenty of time to run after them, but I didn't. I didn't want to spend the day with my mother anymore, not if she didn't even know who I was. I could get used to the headaches. I put down my hairbrush, went into my room, and climbed back into bed.
But still, I wondered what it would have been like to eat alone in a restaurant with my mother. She once said that she liked to eat steak, but we never ate steak at home. Maybe I could have ordered a steak too. Women at lunch, I supposed, ordered salads. Spinach salad or chicken salad or mixed greens with goat cheese. I lay in the bed with my eyes closed. My headache was slowly going away. I closed my eyes and pictured a steak on a plate, with a baked potato in the side. I put my hand on my stomach and rubbed it. I must have fallen asleep, because I didn't hear the door to the house open and I was surprised to see Sue standing over me, laughing.
"She had no fucking idea," she said.
I blinked, confused, because I was staring at myself. Sue was wearing my clothes. She had brushed her hair and put on my lip gloss. She even smelled like me; she had put on my perfume.
"Now she is pissed," Sue said. "because you are going to be late for your appointment, and she just wanted to relax for a change. On her precious day off."
"She is pissed at me?" I said.
"She is just pissed," Sue said. "She can't even tell her own daughters apart. She feels like a retard. She had this idea of a special mother-daughter day, only she had the wrong daughter. I would have pulled it off if I hadn't started laughing. She was asking me about the honors' classes, and I told her it was all bullshit."
"What's bullshit?"
"The idea that good grades make you smart."
I got out of bed.
"This isn't funny," I said, rubbing my forehead. "I need to go to the eye doctor. I get headaches."
"I bet you a hundred dollars there is nothing wrong with your eyes."
"You don't have a hundred dollars."
Sue's arm snaked around her back. She was touching her tattoo.
"Hurry up," she said. "The bitch in the silver Mercedes is pissed."
I found my mother reading a legal brief while she waited.
"Whoa," she said when we got in the car. "I better get my eyes tested, because I'm seeing double."
The plans had changed, and my mother had invited Sue to come along with us. I got in the front and Sue hopped in the back.
"That's a terrible joke," I said, putting on my seat belt.
My mother nodded.
"I'm sorry about the mix-up before, Chloe."
I shrugged. Once I let myself get angry, I'd never be able to stop.
"Why aren't you sorry to me?" Sue said.
The ophthalmologist told me that I had perfect vision. I did not need glasses. My mother seemed relieved when she heard the news.
"You are perfect," Sue said. Her voice was cold with hate.
At the Italian restaurant afterward, my mother ordered the capellini with shrimp and peas. I don't know why, but somehow, this made me feel sad. There weren't any sort of steak on the lunch menu. I felt too tired to eat, but Sue insisted I finish my Caesar salad. She put butter on my bread and made me eat that too.
Twins is everything I want in a novel. I want an author to take me along as she breaks into a home, shining a light on the stuff locked behind closed doors. Maybe we discover a secret or stumble into something the homeowners keep private. Mean things, nasty things. And maybe the homeowner discovers us and we have to run for our lives. This novel is acidic in its wit and as a coming-of-age tale, absolutely harrowing. How any of us survive adolescence, I really don't know. How we find ourselves or find people who will support us is a mystery and probably one reason I read.
I've disliked books that flip-flop between points of view and there was the potential here for the Sue/ Antisocial Twin chapters to be far more compelling than the Chloe/ Perfect Twin chapters. Dermansky is such an agile writer that she quickly made Chloe as complicated as her impish circus freak twin. I was so excited for Sue when she found someone who set boundaries for her, but I was thrilled for Chloe when she found something she was good at that boosted her self-esteem. And these are fictional characters that had me so involved in their development.
As debut novels go, I was reminded of The Virgin Suicides but only because both novels involve perfect blonde teenagers in the suburbs and Twins is much better written. Instead of gazing at beguiling sisters through binoculars or studying them under a microscope, Dermansky gets up close and personal and gives the sisters the agency to tell their own story. Rather than start with an outcome and force the story to comply to that, Dermansky starts with characters and allows them to determine their outcome. The prose has a savage brevity. The dialogue is a delight.
Set in present day, the novel alternates between the points of view of two identical twin sisters, Sue and Chloe, growing up from the ages of thirteen to eighteen in suburban New Jersey. Blonde haired and blue eyed, their parents are both divorce attorneys who wear matching suits and never get down on the floor to wrestle with the family's standard poodle, Daisy. Working all the time, they keep the girls and their sullen, introverted older brother Daniel well provided for with money and little else.
Sue, born four minutes later and 1/8 inches shorter than her twin sister, steals cash from her mother's wallet and later, knicks her father's credit cards. Given to emotional outbursts when she doesn't get her way, her parents are afraid to discipline her. All Sue feels she wants or needs is the love of Chloe, who begins to develop headaches placating her sister's erratic demands. For their thirteenth birthday, Sue has arranged they get matching tattoos. Later, at their surprise party, Chloe is thrilled when the most popular girl at school, Lisa Markman, whispers to her that she likes Chloe better than Sue.
My entire life, no one had ever singled me out in this way. When we were younger, my parents used to call our names so fast it sounded like one word: Chloeandsue. Strangers would point to us and whisper: Look at the twins. We were constantly told how pretty we were, together, but somehow on my own, it wasn't the same. I wasn't interesting. At school, Sue and I were in all the same classes, and she always sat next to me. Everyone took for granted that Sue was my best friend and I was hers. We were considered the same person, undistinguishable, even when Sue threw pens at boys or hopped through the halls like a kangaroo. But I was not Sue.
I was not Sue.
Lisa Markman, whose father is a retired star NBA player, attempts to peel Chloe away from Sue. She invites Chloe over for a party which Sue insists on crashing. Playing their version of Spin the Bottle, all the boys choose Chloe for their three minutes in the closet. When Sue drags Chloe home, her sister bargains with Sue by offering to switch clothes if they can return to the party. The first boy who takes Sue in the closet thinking she's Chloe gets punched in the stomach. If Sue can't have her sister, no one will. Chloe's stress intensifies as her appetite diminishes.
Wanting to be liked by someone other than her twin, Chloe leaves Sue to go to the mall with Lisa and her friends. Their brother Daniel, who Sue considers obnoxious, agrees to drive her to the mall in an effort to spend quality time together. Sue confronts Lisa Markman and deciding no one else will have her sister, fires one of their dog's tennis balls at Lisa's face, breaking her nose. Their parents convene a family meeting, concerned that Lisa's father might press assault charges. Chloe takes responsibility for the incident and asks to move into Daniel's room when he leaves for college.
Unable to use clothes or makeup to distinguish herself from her twin, Chloe endeavors to become a top student, purchasing school supplies and studying for the SAT the summer before they enter high school. Sue has used their father's credit card to order two unicycles she insists Chloe learn to ride with her. She trashes her sister's supplies and treats Chloe cruelly, obviously hurt as her twin tries to pull away from her. Convinced that being fitted with glasses might cure her headaches, Chloe asks her mother to take her to the optometrist. Sue gleefully sabotages the big day.
I listened in disbelief as they walked down the stairs. My mother did not know that she was talking to Sue, who babbled about her progress on the unicycle. I heard the front door open and close. I listened to the ignition of the car. I knew that I had plenty of time to run after them, but I didn't. I didn't want to spend the day with my mother anymore, not if she didn't even know who I was. I could get used to the headaches. I put down my hairbrush, went into my room, and climbed back into bed.
But still, I wondered what it would have been like to eat alone in a restaurant with my mother. She once said that she liked to eat steak, but we never ate steak at home. Maybe I could have ordered a steak too. Women at lunch, I supposed, ordered salads. Spinach salad or chicken salad or mixed greens with goat cheese. I lay in the bed with my eyes closed. My headache was slowly going away. I closed my eyes and pictured a steak on a plate, with a baked potato in the side. I put my hand on my stomach and rubbed it. I must have fallen asleep, because I didn't hear the door to the house open and I was surprised to see Sue standing over me, laughing.
"She had no fucking idea," she said.
I blinked, confused, because I was staring at myself. Sue was wearing my clothes. She had brushed her hair and put on my lip gloss. She even smelled like me; she had put on my perfume.
"Now she is pissed," Sue said. "because you are going to be late for your appointment, and she just wanted to relax for a change. On her precious day off."
"She is pissed at me?" I said.
"She is just pissed," Sue said. "She can't even tell her own daughters apart. She feels like a retard. She had this idea of a special mother-daughter day, only she had the wrong daughter. I would have pulled it off if I hadn't started laughing. She was asking me about the honors' classes, and I told her it was all bullshit."
"What's bullshit?"
"The idea that good grades make you smart."
I got out of bed.
"This isn't funny," I said, rubbing my forehead. "I need to go to the eye doctor. I get headaches."
"I bet you a hundred dollars there is nothing wrong with your eyes."
"You don't have a hundred dollars."
Sue's arm snaked around her back. She was touching her tattoo.
"Hurry up," she said. "The bitch in the silver Mercedes is pissed."
I found my mother reading a legal brief while she waited.
"Whoa," she said when we got in the car. "I better get my eyes tested, because I'm seeing double."
The plans had changed, and my mother had invited Sue to come along with us. I got in the front and Sue hopped in the back.
"That's a terrible joke," I said, putting on my seat belt.
My mother nodded.
"I'm sorry about the mix-up before, Chloe."
I shrugged. Once I let myself get angry, I'd never be able to stop.
"Why aren't you sorry to me?" Sue said.
The ophthalmologist told me that I had perfect vision. I did not need glasses. My mother seemed relieved when she heard the news.
"You are perfect," Sue said. Her voice was cold with hate.
At the Italian restaurant afterward, my mother ordered the capellini with shrimp and peas. I don't know why, but somehow, this made me feel sad. There weren't any sort of steak on the lunch menu. I felt too tired to eat, but Sue insisted I finish my Caesar salad. She put butter on my bread and made me eat that too.
Twins is everything I want in a novel. I want an author to take me along as she breaks into a home, shining a light on the stuff locked behind closed doors. Maybe we discover a secret or stumble into something the homeowners keep private. Mean things, nasty things. And maybe the homeowner discovers us and we have to run for our lives. This novel is acidic in its wit and as a coming-of-age tale, absolutely harrowing. How any of us survive adolescence, I really don't know. How we find ourselves or find people who will support us is a mystery and probably one reason I read.
I've disliked books that flip-flop between points of view and there was the potential here for the Sue/ Antisocial Twin chapters to be far more compelling than the Chloe/ Perfect Twin chapters. Dermansky is such an agile writer that she quickly made Chloe as complicated as her impish circus freak twin. I was so excited for Sue when she found someone who set boundaries for her, but I was thrilled for Chloe when she found something she was good at that boosted her self-esteem. And these are fictional characters that had me so involved in their development.
As debut novels go, I was reminded of The Virgin Suicides but only because both novels involve perfect blonde teenagers in the suburbs and Twins is much better written. Instead of gazing at beguiling sisters through binoculars or studying them under a microscope, Dermansky gets up close and personal and gives the sisters the agency to tell their own story. Rather than start with an outcome and force the story to comply to that, Dermansky starts with characters and allows them to determine their outcome. The prose has a savage brevity. The dialogue is a delight.
October 10, 2022
Who knows what kind of crap lies beneath a perfect exterior?
Identical twins Chloe and Sue have just turned 13. We find out pretty quickly that they are identical on the outside only. Otherwise, it is an unlucky matchup, almost a dirty trick. One is seemingly perfect, the other is far from it. Jealously runs rampant.
This was the author's debut novel. I went into it expecting the same dark humor of Dermansky's other four books. It was most certainly dark, but I did not find that delicious humor of which I had become so fond. It has a whole different feel to it. The characters in Dermansky's other novels were closer to 30-something than teenagers, so there is that. The teen years are not an easy period to navigate, and the difficulty is compounded here. It would be fair to say that the parents put the "dys" in "dysfunctional". Unavailable, too busy to worry about the care and feeding and general upbringing of their progeny. There is also an older brother and a pet dog that come out on the short end of the stick, as it were. I am giving this three stars due to an ending that didn't seem to belong to the rest of the book.
Identical twins Chloe and Sue have just turned 13. We find out pretty quickly that they are identical on the outside only. Otherwise, it is an unlucky matchup, almost a dirty trick. One is seemingly perfect, the other is far from it. Jealously runs rampant.
This was the author's debut novel. I went into it expecting the same dark humor of Dermansky's other four books. It was most certainly dark, but I did not find that delicious humor of which I had become so fond. It has a whole different feel to it. The characters in Dermansky's other novels were closer to 30-something than teenagers, so there is that. The teen years are not an easy period to navigate, and the difficulty is compounded here. It would be fair to say that the parents put the "dys" in "dysfunctional". Unavailable, too busy to worry about the care and feeding and general upbringing of their progeny. There is also an older brother and a pet dog that come out on the short end of the stick, as it were. I am giving this three stars due to an ending that didn't seem to belong to the rest of the book.
August 3, 2024
4.5 This a unique tale of obsessive love that one identical twin has for another. It takes place during their adolescence, the perfect time for the schism: the more one tries on new identities and tries to individualize, the more the other wants to reel her twin back into symbiotic bliss.
Told in Dermansky’s usual propulsive, staccato prose, it’s a relatable story about both the desire to self-actualize and the terror of abandonment when things change. Both twins get an equal say, and both are compelling to follow.
I always appreciate how much Dermansky says between the words, how she approaches relatable themes with a dark enough slant to keep things interesting, and how her humor highlights, rather than eclipses, the heart.
Told in Dermansky’s usual propulsive, staccato prose, it’s a relatable story about both the desire to self-actualize and the terror of abandonment when things change. Both twins get an equal say, and both are compelling to follow.
I always appreciate how much Dermansky says between the words, how she approaches relatable themes with a dark enough slant to keep things interesting, and how her humor highlights, rather than eclipses, the heart.
November 21, 2022
My second foray into the work of Marcy Dermansky after the amazing Hurricane Girl was an absolute success.
This debut is fun (remember fun?), smart and very, very addictive. In short, a complete page turner.
The story alternates between both girls point of view but that never even bothered me because both voices were as different and interesting personality wise as they were compelling.
Like the stunning Hurricane Girl, this is nuanced and elegant storytelling and I never, not even for a single second, felt like things were being thrown at my face.
If you’re one of those readers who like or feel the need to be told what to think and feel at all times, you shouldn’t even get close to this one (or Hurricane Girl, by the way).
I would also like to point out that, despite the colourful sort of silly cover, and the fact that basically all characters are teenagers, this is as faaaaaaar from being a novel for young adults as you can get.
Trigger warnings aplenty for this one, my friends - sex, drugs and rock n’roll.
Just saying, yeah?! Ahah.
I love trigger warnings!
If it wasn’t for the ending, it would’ve been perfect.
Still, this was fun, fun, fun…
This debut is fun (remember fun?), smart and very, very addictive. In short, a complete page turner.
The story alternates between both girls point of view but that never even bothered me because both voices were as different and interesting personality wise as they were compelling.
Like the stunning Hurricane Girl, this is nuanced and elegant storytelling and I never, not even for a single second, felt like things were being thrown at my face.
If you’re one of those readers who like or feel the need to be told what to think and feel at all times, you shouldn’t even get close to this one (or Hurricane Girl, by the way).
I would also like to point out that, despite the colourful sort of silly cover, and the fact that basically all characters are teenagers, this is as faaaaaaar from being a novel for young adults as you can get.
Trigger warnings aplenty for this one, my friends - sex, drugs and rock n’roll.
Just saying, yeah?! Ahah.
I love trigger warnings!
If it wasn’t for the ending, it would’ve been perfect.
Still, this was fun, fun, fun…
August 22, 2019
After finishing this, I have read all four of Marcy Dermansky's books and I can't think of another author who gives me so much pure reading pleasure. Her writing is clear, economical and witty, and her plots are creative, but I think her special skill is creating fucked-up female protagonists of all varieties, from the spinning-out-of control twin teens to the floating-out-of-control Bad Marie (my favorite), to the more thoughtful-but-at-sea women in The Red Car and Very Nice. I've seen this book labeled YA, but if it is, it's a deliciously twisted, black version of the genre. I think the teen me would have loved it as much as the now me.
July 19, 2024
This is the fifth book I’ve read by Marcy Dermansky, her debut novel from 2005, and I can see both the growth and the original talent.
This story of teenage identical twins is painful—painful if you’ve ever suffered feeling love and loyalty to somebody who cannot be sane, in an insane situation that cannot be fixed. A lot of the reviews called it funny; to me, pain far outshone humor. But it’s this edge and dedication to the truth of these characters that takes a book about teenagers into the adult book category.
This book hurts. And that’s a compliment. And it made me, a person who’s never had any interest in sports, fall so in love with basketball that I might even take myself to see a live game.
This story of teenage identical twins is painful—painful if you’ve ever suffered feeling love and loyalty to somebody who cannot be sane, in an insane situation that cannot be fixed. A lot of the reviews called it funny; to me, pain far outshone humor. But it’s this edge and dedication to the truth of these characters that takes a book about teenagers into the adult book category.
This book hurts. And that’s a compliment. And it made me, a person who’s never had any interest in sports, fall so in love with basketball that I might even take myself to see a live game.
January 29, 2021
Marcy Dermansky punches me in the gut repeatedly when I read her work, and yet I keep coming back. Twins reminded me of how scary and alienating it is to be a teen girl, but it was also so darkly funny that I laughed out loud reading it. The real feat for me was the continuous evolution of Sue, along with the realization that . Daniel's relationship with both twins is so interesting and well done.
I have absolutely no idea who I would recommend this to. Bad Marie is still my favorite Dermansky, but this one takes a very close second. Also, I reread my review of Red Car, and I mention Yumiko in it!! Is Yumiko travelling across the Dermansky universe? (It has been three years since Red Car so I forgive myself for asking this question.)
I have absolutely no idea who I would recommend this to. Bad Marie is still my favorite Dermansky, but this one takes a very close second. Also, I reread my review of Red Car, and I mention Yumiko in it!! Is Yumiko travelling across the Dermansky universe? (It has been three years since Red Car so I forgive myself for asking this question.)
May 10, 2023
Captivating & deeply unsettling exploration of the complexities of sibling relationships and the blurred boundaries between love and obsession.
December 11, 2008
It’s clear to any reformed YA reader where the author got her idea for this novel: blonde, beautiful twin sisters and their college-age brother live out their teenage years in upper-middle-class suburbia. Sound familiar?
However, this is Sweet Valley High put through the chick-noir blender. Elizabeth’s passivity becomes masochism in the form of “good” twin, Chloe. Jessica’s penchant for recklessness is transformed into a destructive madness in Sue. Daniel, SVH’s Steven by another name, is a loner who does nothing but read books about the Nazis.
Twins, though light on plot, constructs a world that is dark and twisted, where human cruelty is the norm. In fact, as the story wears on, it really does begin to wear. There’s a reason authors usually balance darkness with moments of levity – the reader needs that kind of safety valve, or the story becomes unbearable. Dermansky offers little in the way of such release for the readers of Twins. Unhappiness congeals into misery and the reader is forced to crawl along in the emotional equivalent of mud for the majority of the novel. Its rather understated ending feels anti-climactic after all the build-up (or rather, tear-down, because everything sucks all the time here).
I’d like to say that the novel’s darkness reveals psychological insight. Unfortunately, the pop psychology of poorly-parented children either internalizing their pain or running amok is rather heavy-handed. By the middle of the novel, the angst that the characters suffer begins to feel like misery porn.
Though there are stylistic flaws – the author has a tin ear for dialogue and her plotting has a quality of, “and then this happened, and then this happened, and then, and then…” – it’s not a poorly written book. Unfortunately, neither is it a good read.
However, this is Sweet Valley High put through the chick-noir blender. Elizabeth’s passivity becomes masochism in the form of “good” twin, Chloe. Jessica’s penchant for recklessness is transformed into a destructive madness in Sue. Daniel, SVH’s Steven by another name, is a loner who does nothing but read books about the Nazis.
Twins, though light on plot, constructs a world that is dark and twisted, where human cruelty is the norm. In fact, as the story wears on, it really does begin to wear. There’s a reason authors usually balance darkness with moments of levity – the reader needs that kind of safety valve, or the story becomes unbearable. Dermansky offers little in the way of such release for the readers of Twins. Unhappiness congeals into misery and the reader is forced to crawl along in the emotional equivalent of mud for the majority of the novel. Its rather understated ending feels anti-climactic after all the build-up (or rather, tear-down, because everything sucks all the time here).
I’d like to say that the novel’s darkness reveals psychological insight. Unfortunately, the pop psychology of poorly-parented children either internalizing their pain or running amok is rather heavy-handed. By the middle of the novel, the angst that the characters suffer begins to feel like misery porn.
Though there are stylistic flaws – the author has a tin ear for dialogue and her plotting has a quality of, “and then this happened, and then this happened, and then, and then…” – it’s not a poorly written book. Unfortunately, neither is it a good read.
August 12, 2017
In Twins, there are (not surprisingly) two lead characters, one "good" twin (Chloe), and one who is slightly bonkers (Sue); they are clearly two sides of the same coin. We get alternating chapters in each twin's first-person narration that really show their different personalities. They may look identical, but that's were the similarities end. I won't rehash the whole plot here, but I love the unpredictability of the story (of all Dermansky's novels, actually). And a cool thing happens--the characters evolve, and the good twin may not be so perfect, and the bad twin may not be so fucked up after all. Kudos to Demansky for keeping the separate voices of each twin so distinct.
January 26, 2018
i have read it now; this is my reaction and also a response to another reader's review. the people in this book are so bad you start to think, "this is ridiculous. nobody is this cruel in real life. bad parents are not just bad parents. there is not one perfect twin and one totally messed up twin." but then you start to think, "yes huh. people can totally be this cruel in real life. there are people who are so blissfully unaware of themselves and the effect they have on other people that they could easily be this unlikable and effed up." and then you start to think, "i really like how it turns out both twins are fucked up, but in spite of the incompetence of everyone else in their lives, they don't just fall apart." and then you start to think, "i'm really hungry. carl's jr. is a terrible establishment, and nothing they serve is real food." and you start to think how grateful you are that this book is pretty short and you still have time to make yourself a decent snack.
also, you think the ending was kind of a cop out.
...
Not done yet, barely started but here's a tale:
i was sitting in a coffeeshop, starting to read this book, thinking it was like a much darker, more depressing version of Sweet Valley High, when in walk two blond, teenaged IDENTICAL TWIN GIRLS! just like the book. i did not tell them how creepy it was that they walked in. i also did not recommend that they read this book, because it is completely inappropriate for actual identical twins to read, i bet.
also, full disclosure: it was not a coffeeshop; it was Carl's Jr.
also, you think the ending was kind of a cop out.
...
Not done yet, barely started but here's a tale:
i was sitting in a coffeeshop, starting to read this book, thinking it was like a much darker, more depressing version of Sweet Valley High, when in walk two blond, teenaged IDENTICAL TWIN GIRLS! just like the book. i did not tell them how creepy it was that they walked in. i also did not recommend that they read this book, because it is completely inappropriate for actual identical twins to read, i bet.
also, full disclosure: it was not a coffeeshop; it was Carl's Jr.
March 16, 2012
What ticks me off the most about this utterly depressing, melodramatic novel, is that twice on the cover I am told it is 'funny.' You're going to have to give me page and line number on which parts were supposed to be 'funny.' The girls leap from one psychotic episode to the next; neither are sympathetic characters until about 10 pages from the end and their parents are so unbelievable as to be mere cyphers to allow the author to put her twins in ever-more ridiculous situations. Ugh. Bypass.
June 6, 2011
What if instead of the smart and practical Elizabeth Wakefield girl reporter, there was a Chloe, a hardworking, soon-to-be popular teenager stunted by her enabling? And instead of that rowdy, boy-crazy Jessica Wakefield there was a Sue with the tendencies of a low-level sociopath, crippling co-dependency and a lack of self control?
And what if, when you were introduced to them, instead of giddy hopefulness about getting into the elite high school sorority, these twins were worried about the sterilization practices of a tattoo artist at the local strip mall?
This is where Marcy Dermansky has taken her pretty blonde protagonists in her wonderfully awful novel "Twins." It's like she took "Sweet Valley High," plopped it in New Jersey and all-but doused it in pig's blood.
Sue strong arms her twin into getting a tattoo that says "Sue," while she plans to get one that says "Chloe." This is a 13th birthday marker, funded by money Sue has been stealing from their father's wallet. Sue wants a permanent record of their forever-ness. Chloe is reluctant, but it is nothing that some waterworks from Sue -- the drama queen -- can't fix.
The story opens at a point in their relationship when Chloe is eager to shed her sister weight and forge her own identity. She's snagged the interest of the popular crowd with her fluffy princess hair and lip gloss. At 13, she is already dreaming about going off to college, a different college than her sister. Sue is jealous about sharing Chloe with this popular posse. And frankly, the posse isn't really feeling her, either. She's prone to violence and fits of rage. She breaks the ringleader's nose with a tennis ball. She is also anti-authority and anti soap and dabbling in the art of bulimia.
Their parents, lawyers who work in New York City, are rarely home and throw hundred dollar bills at problems. Sometimes they pull out legal pads and tape recorders before not solving anything. Their older brother Daniel is a social misfit who also has his eye on the front door. He's a Sue loyalist, though, although she fails to see that he has her back.
The twins go through a lifetime of changes in a four-year span. They are together, they aren't together. They're grudgingly together, Sue holding tight like a jealous boyfriend. Then Chloe finds a way out of this obsessive relationship by discovering she's got a special talent. And Sue hitches her star to a sexy stranger's wagon and finds a new path of her own.
The story is told in alternating voices as the twins race to find a new and specially tailored routes to rock bottom.
Dermansky likes her characters flawed. She likes to roll them in muck. And like I said after lapping up her other novel, "Bad Marie," she likes to rip the wings off of them. And so far she is 2-for-2 in writing the sort of stories that make one cackle with evil glee.
And what if, when you were introduced to them, instead of giddy hopefulness about getting into the elite high school sorority, these twins were worried about the sterilization practices of a tattoo artist at the local strip mall?
This is where Marcy Dermansky has taken her pretty blonde protagonists in her wonderfully awful novel "Twins." It's like she took "Sweet Valley High," plopped it in New Jersey and all-but doused it in pig's blood.
Sue strong arms her twin into getting a tattoo that says "Sue," while she plans to get one that says "Chloe." This is a 13th birthday marker, funded by money Sue has been stealing from their father's wallet. Sue wants a permanent record of their forever-ness. Chloe is reluctant, but it is nothing that some waterworks from Sue -- the drama queen -- can't fix.
The story opens at a point in their relationship when Chloe is eager to shed her sister weight and forge her own identity. She's snagged the interest of the popular crowd with her fluffy princess hair and lip gloss. At 13, she is already dreaming about going off to college, a different college than her sister. Sue is jealous about sharing Chloe with this popular posse. And frankly, the posse isn't really feeling her, either. She's prone to violence and fits of rage. She breaks the ringleader's nose with a tennis ball. She is also anti-authority and anti soap and dabbling in the art of bulimia.
Their parents, lawyers who work in New York City, are rarely home and throw hundred dollar bills at problems. Sometimes they pull out legal pads and tape recorders before not solving anything. Their older brother Daniel is a social misfit who also has his eye on the front door. He's a Sue loyalist, though, although she fails to see that he has her back.
The twins go through a lifetime of changes in a four-year span. They are together, they aren't together. They're grudgingly together, Sue holding tight like a jealous boyfriend. Then Chloe finds a way out of this obsessive relationship by discovering she's got a special talent. And Sue hitches her star to a sexy stranger's wagon and finds a new path of her own.
The story is told in alternating voices as the twins race to find a new and specially tailored routes to rock bottom.
Dermansky likes her characters flawed. She likes to roll them in muck. And like I said after lapping up her other novel, "Bad Marie," she likes to rip the wings off of them. And so far she is 2-for-2 in writing the sort of stories that make one cackle with evil glee.
September 30, 2014
I needed a quick read and this book caught my eye. I myself am an identical twin so I was very curious to what the story had to offer. I hadn't even finished the first page and I wanted to cry. I find this book honestly disturbing. I find myself to be able to understand Sue seeing myself in her place. How she describes Chloe is how I see my sister most of the time because I compare myself a lot to her. Both Sue's obsession and Chloe's want to individualize herself made this book almost unbearable to read. How they separate breaks my heart, yet I enjoyed how Sue was able to find herself and mature to where she realized how mean her actions were to Chloe.
The end of the book was almost satisfying to me, leaving me wanted more. At first, I hated reading and couldnt stand to read any more, but something about it just drew me in. It's the kind of book that once you start it, you just can't simply leave it. There's just so many mixed emotions.
This book gave me a lot to think about. To me, it set the importance of identity to twins that's usually understated in society. Yes, comparing twins is awful and to say they are the same person is even worse. "Package deal" was the phrase that hit the most upon reading. People really take for granted what twins are, and don't really see that they are unique and that they are their own person. But although it has its hardships, it does have its rewards.
Painful, but a very good read.
The end of the book was almost satisfying to me, leaving me wanted more. At first, I hated reading and couldnt stand to read any more, but something about it just drew me in. It's the kind of book that once you start it, you just can't simply leave it. There's just so many mixed emotions.
This book gave me a lot to think about. To me, it set the importance of identity to twins that's usually understated in society. Yes, comparing twins is awful and to say they are the same person is even worse. "Package deal" was the phrase that hit the most upon reading. People really take for granted what twins are, and don't really see that they are unique and that they are their own person. But although it has its hardships, it does have its rewards.
Painful, but a very good read.
January 19, 2010
This book was...gritty, harsh, deep, dark, bitterly hilarious. It's one of the best YA novels I've ever read. Two beautiful sisters with one thing in common- each other. They grow up, together and apart, each making her own mistakes and learning. They separate when Sue, who loves only her sister, goes too far, and Chloe, longing to be her own person, breaks away. They find their way back to each other slowly, working through hard times and heartbreaks. It's hard to describe what makes this book so good; I think it's Dermansky's two captivating voices.
May 15, 2011
I've always been fascinated by twins, so was very excited when I found this. The other reason I bought it was the blurb; "The Breakfast Club meets Heathers in this anti-chicklit novel". You just described my ideal book! And I wasn't disappointed; it's dark, it's funny, it's filled with coming-of-age angst and grit. One of my favourite books.
September 15, 2016
I read this book many years ago in high school. I remember picking it up from the library and I enjoyed reading it. It was very disturbing and crazy but it is something not a lot of people think about. It is a great book about the harsh reality of growing up and thoughts a lot of young girls have. I might have to find another copy and re read it so I can get a fresh take on the book.
November 14, 2017
Good god, this book gutted me. I loved it.
April 22, 2020
Dark, twisted, funny. Marcy Dermansky is brilliant in every way.
January 12, 2023
Every Marcy Dermansky book is a wild ride. Her debut novel was no exception! I’m a life long fan!
June 4, 2021
If I see a book about twins, I will run to it, grab it, and read it immediately.
I actively search for books about twins. All the time.
Yet I'm not even a twin.
In fact, I barely have a sibling. Just one, estranged, half-sibling, decades older than I.
I tell most people that I'm an only child. It's just easier that way.
But my whole life, I've wanted that sibling. Someone close. A twin would have been best. But that's not something that was really in my control.
So the next best thing was to make up my own sibling.
Lucky for me, I'm a maladaptive daydreamer (MD). My two main characters are twins. They have been with me for over 20 years.
So even though I don't actually have a twin, I feel like I am a twin, and thus I want to read more about twins. They are my people, in some sort of way.
Anyway.
This was a pleasant surprise! When I first picked it up, I thought I was in for another juvenile YA cringefest. But this wasn't that at all. I'm not even sure if it can be considered YA? It seemed a bit more mature than that.
I zoomed through this thing so fast. Super engaging with a wonderful cast of unique characters that stick with you way after you're done. Plus a whole lot of inexplicable weirdness that adds a bit of a dream-like quality to pieces of the plot (really? the parents just got up and left their child at home?). The ending was quite wonderful. I had to write some of the passages down. Marcy's a great writer. I'm looking forward to reading some more of her work.
I actively search for books about twins. All the time.
Yet I'm not even a twin.
In fact, I barely have a sibling. Just one, estranged, half-sibling, decades older than I.
I tell most people that I'm an only child. It's just easier that way.
But my whole life, I've wanted that sibling. Someone close. A twin would have been best. But that's not something that was really in my control.
So the next best thing was to make up my own sibling.
Lucky for me, I'm a maladaptive daydreamer (MD). My two main characters are twins. They have been with me for over 20 years.
So even though I don't actually have a twin, I feel like I am a twin, and thus I want to read more about twins. They are my people, in some sort of way.
Anyway.
This was a pleasant surprise! When I first picked it up, I thought I was in for another juvenile YA cringefest. But this wasn't that at all. I'm not even sure if it can be considered YA? It seemed a bit more mature than that.
I zoomed through this thing so fast. Super engaging with a wonderful cast of unique characters that stick with you way after you're done. Plus a whole lot of inexplicable weirdness that adds a bit of a dream-like quality to pieces of the plot (really? the parents just got up and left their child at home?). The ending was quite wonderful. I had to write some of the passages down. Marcy's a great writer. I'm looking forward to reading some more of her work.
January 8, 2010
There are only a handful of books in every decade that truly capture the essence of what it is like growing up at the time. Marcy Dermanskys Twins manages to do just that. The story is told from two points of views. Sue is the rebellious and possessive one, and Chloe the ‘good twin’. The story spans about 6 years from when they just turned 13 until they are around 19. Their story is told in separate perspectives, sometimes humorous other times tragic. These separate vantage points tell their struggles growing up twins without attentive parents and what it really means to love each other above all else. When reading this book you will most likely find yourself honestly caring for the fate of Chloe and sues relationship and will feel yourself connect to the characters as if you actually know them. At least I know that is what I got out of this book, a must read!
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December 12, 2014I thought this book was really cool. Marcy Dermansky wrote this book about twin girls who are basically living life on their own in their teenage years. They parents never spend time with them and their brother is a nerd so they are face with figuring the world out. Chloe and Sue are identical twins but with completely different attitudes. Chloe is outgoing and wants to have a normal teenage life when all Sue wants is to have her world revolve around Chloe. In this book they figure out that they may upset each other a lot but they still love each other no matter how much they deny it.
I think this is a really good book because it is told from Chloe and Sue's perspective. You get to see how both girls feel about their problems with each other. I recommend this book to anyone who likes hearing both sides of the story.
I think this is a really good book because it is told from Chloe and Sue's perspective. You get to see how both girls feel about their problems with each other. I recommend this book to anyone who likes hearing both sides of the story.
September 1, 2011
I found this book about the love/hate relationship between this set of twins disturbing. There's the type of disturbing that tells a good story, and then there's disturbing of bad, unsympathetic characters, with one in particular who should have probably been in a mental institution. I am fairly liberal with giving characters the benefit of the doubt, but I couldn't find much - if anything - redeeming about these girls. I kept asking myself why a person would even care about them.
April 2, 2008
An odd, and interesting book. I'm not sure I bought Sue's complete turnaround - she seemed mentally ill at the beginning, and I'm also not certain that the parents' absolute neglect really rang true, but the book definitely kept me interested, and I loved that neither twin became the stereotypical pretty high school girl (which was what I imagined for Chloe at the beginning).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2010
Couldn't put it down. I'll let my erudite friend Greg say it for me:
"A great novel aboutthe lives of twin sisters (in present day, east coast US) from age 13 to age 17, showing each sister's POV in alternating chapters. Not only does the author keep the two personalities separate, but she manages to present the psychology of twinness in a very entertaining and credible way."
"A great novel aboutthe lives of twin sisters (in present day, east coast US) from age 13 to age 17, showing each sister's POV in alternating chapters. Not only does the author keep the two personalities separate, but she manages to present the psychology of twinness in a very entertaining and credible way."
May 22, 2015
I really like this writer's style. Twins and Bad Marie's characters are unusual and compelling in such a way that you have no idea what they are going to do next. I find that refreshing. Twins also affirmed my belief that young people need people caring and watching out for them in order to succeed. This is not an action or suspense driven novel yet it was a page turner. Very much recommend.
May 4, 2012
Loved it, but the language was extremely repetitive.
March 26, 2025
Teen twins Sue and Chloe are truly an original set. Gorgeous blondes, they're exact opposites of each other. Sue is the shit disturber who steals money from her parents, gets in trouble at school and forces her sister to partake in a shared tattoo session. Over time, their roles switch up. Chloe becomes close friends with her friend's dad (former basketball star), who teaches her the love for the sport. Sue becomes friends with a kleptomaniac and eventually becomes a live-in maid for a writer. Their lawyer parents have no idea how to parent and eventually disown their daughters. Messed up novel that highlights the highly toxic love and hate relationship of two individuals who can't live without each other (no matter how hard they try).
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