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A fascinating premise, which leads into an ambitious and sprawling narrative, spanning several continents and a whole host of challenging themes.
Just how far should one ethically go in one’s effort to save the planet, and humankind, – as we know it to be now, and as we are leaving it for future generations?
And how much of who we are is pre-ordained, through our genes, how much is shaped by what we experience, and what, if anything at all, are we ‘freely’ left to choose?
Jose and Christopher are identical twins conceived by cloning and carried by two surrogate mothers, only one of whom believes to understand the significance of her son’s shared donor DNA. For Evelyn (birth mother to Christopher), a fortyish geneticist and sometime amateur archeologist, retrieved the DNA herself, from an ancient grave uncovered during a trip to Israel. A grave containing bones discovered to be more than two thousand years old, and buried with artifacts hinting at a potentially jaw-dropping human source.
As the boys, raised in radically different environments but bearing identical genetic material, strike out in adulthood on paths they have ‘chosen’, the author explores the contributory impact of experiences and upbringing, to ideals, behavior and values.
For Christopher, lovingly raised by Evelyn in Australia, middle-class life affords a comfortable, somewhat superficial existence. For Jose, on the other hand, who was raised in the slums of Buenos Aires, life is far from simple.
As their paths spin and churn and finally appear to converge, Jose and Christopher encounter issues including climate change, runaway corporate greed, far right and left environmental agendas, and the crushing victimization of radical political ideologies.
It’s not at all clear (to the reader at least), how each young man will emerge, as legacy genetics meet destiny for Jose and Christopher, on a modern-day playing field rife with complexities and violence.
A thoughtful, interesting take on a terrifically novel idea, this is a book well worth reading, and one that (if at all like this reader), will set the reader’s mind spinning.
A great big thank you to the author and publicist for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
@mckinneymediagroup #ariverdivided #georgepaxinos
