Kaeleigh’s split-personality was adopted on the night Raenne died in a fatal car accident. While this is a clever narrative device when you realise at the end that they’re both one person with a split-personality disorder to cope with the father’s sexual abuse… at the time of reading it I was a bit muddled. Kaeleigh somehow knew what Raenne had experienced the previous day despite not having been present for the instance, nor being informed via dialogue later on. Conflicts at school seemed continuous, as if the twins were a singular person being targeted. Hints were peppered throughout the novel that foreshadowed the conclusion, but at the time of reading them didn’t particularly make sense. The father sexually abuses Kaeleigh who binges and purges her food as a point of control – the only control she has over her body – while Raenne pursues drugs as an outlet. A fatal accident is also briefly alluded to throughout the narrative. Identical focuses on two abused sixteen-year-old twin daughters with twisted priorities. Hopkins writes verse poetry novels, often featuring split-perspective narratives.
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