Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Hopkins, Ellen. (2008). Identical. NY: Margaret K. McElderry.
ISBN: 978-1416950059
Awards: ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2009)
Amazing Audio books for Young Adults (2010)
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Sexual Abuse, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, Eating Disorders, Abusive Parents
Genre: Fiction
Annotation: Kaeleigh and Raeanne are 16 year old identical twins; their father is a court judge, and their mother a politician running for Congress. On the surface their lives seem perfect, but underneath are broken and full of terrible secrets.
Summary: Identical switches back and forth between the voices of twins Kaeleigh and Raeanne. Kaeleigh is the good girl to the world, but is being sexually abused by her alcoholic father and ignored by her mother. To fight this, she binges, cuts herself, and denies herself a boyfriend. Raeanne is her opposite. Raeanne hates that Kaeleigh gets all of daddy's attention and has her own way of rebelling. She forces herself to vomit, drinks, does drugs, and is promiscuous. As the girls tell their stories, readers slowly learn the truth about the past, and uncover terrible secrets.
Evaluation: I both loved and hated this book. I love it because it is fascinating and the characters are drawn up and developed incredibly well. It is full of self reflection, life lessons, and raw emotion. I hate it because it is so real. It is full of anguish, pain, and torment of the most human kind; and this is awful.