Half bookcover

Half

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Description

Growing up, identical twins Paula and Artis speak in one voice-until they can't. After years apart, with lives, partners, and children of their own, they are reunited on the occasion of their father's funeral. Seeking to repair the damage wrought upon their relationship by outside forces, the twins retrace their early lives to uncover what happened-but risk unraveling their carefully constructed cocoons.
Written in spare, lyrical prose, Halfis an achingly beautiful story of intimacy and loss, revealing the complexity-and cost-of sharing your life entirely with someone else. Sharon Harrigan deftly explores how fierce lovecanalso be the very thing that leadsto heartbreak and betrayal.

Product Details

PublisherUniversity of Wisconsin Press
Publish DateJune 09, 2020
Pages280
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780299328542
Dimensions8.4 X 5.5 X 0.7 inches | 0.8 pounds
BISAC Categories: Popular Fiction

About the Author

Sharon Harrigan teaches at WriterHouse, a nonprofit literary center in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is the author of Playing with Dynamite: A Memoir. Her work has appeared in the New York Times (Modern Love), Narrative, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere.

Reviews

"Fans of Jeffrey Eugenides, Andre Dubus III, and Jane Smiley will adore Harrigan's suspenseful, lyrical, and consuming exploration of two difficult lives, intertwined. The adjective 'haunting' can be overused to describe dynamic and poignant literary fiction, but it couldn't be more fitting here. Raw and powerful, Half will stay with you." ─Booklist, Starred Review
"Gripping. . . . Harrigan's novel will leave you eagerly turning pages to discover what happens next."--Foreword Reviews
"Harrigan raises thought-provoking questions in this novel about codependency, narcissism, and both mental and physical illness. Her deft prose and searing imagination render these characters and their behavior credible. A riveting, inventive, quietly disconcerting page-turner."--New York Journal of Books
"Harrigan's bold stylistic choices and memorable voice lend the novel a sense of mystery and magic. . . . Riveting and inventive, this is a cut above the average coming-of-age tale."--Publishers Weekly
"Half is a bright and inventive novel like no other. I was swept away, mesmerized, pulled into the conspiracy that is twindom, with its exquisite sweetness and cruelty. The mystery that propels the story forward artfully reflects the mystery of twindom itself."--Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of American Salvage
"At turns remarkably lovely and frighteningly odd, Half is as sweet as it is creepy and strange. The story is told from the plural perspective of twins, reminiscent of Justin Torres's We the Animals, with tension so organically built i
"I loved this novel. I couldn't put it down. In its (nearly) collective narration by sisters, Half reminds me of Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides, but the story is dazzling, startling, and fresh. Half proves irresistible page after lyrical page."--Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of Underground Women
"Innovative and inventive, this novel does the impossible. It makes us believe two people can be so close they are virtually the same person. Harrigan's magic trick is so convincing that when the twins lose their bond, we feel ourselves being broken in half too."--Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This

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