Customer Reviews

The Duplicate (Teens)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

David is teenager who thinks his problems are over when he finds a machine on the beach. This machine is different from others because it can create duplicates of living organisms. When David discovers the machine's power, he thinks that his problems are solved. When he makes a duplicate of himself, he can be in two places at once. He can be out on a date, while the duplicate is going to his grandma's house. But the duplicate has a mind of it's own. The duplicate finds a hideout, in an abandoned World War 2 outpost. The real David finds traps hidden inside and thinks that the duplicate is trying to kill him. But the duplicate has duplicated himself, and the duplicates want to get rid of the real David.... This book really gives out a strong message that you should think before you act. Think out all of the consequences before you do something.

I give The Duplicate five out five stars because it had lots of action with some romance. I like how this book leaves you in suspence at the end of every chapter. William Sleator used soom good description. When he describes David, the author says, "I'm a good son, decent, well behaved, and all that boring stuff." He also describes Carl as "Very tall, with curly black hair, and dark eyes." I also like how he wrote the book. He wrote it so everyone can understand what is going on. In addition to the action to the action and romance, there is a little bit of mystery and a little bit of fright. Since I really liked this book, I don't think there are many bad things. But one thing I didn't like was the very last line. It makes you want to read on but it is the end of the book. Also, this author did not wrap all the questions at the end of the book. Just like the other chapters, William Sleator leaves you in suspense. But, there is no sequal to this book so you don't know what happens. I would recommend this book because it is really interesting and you will wonder what will happen next. This book would be good for everyone because it has a little bit of everything in it. I learned that in the future when we are able to duplicate ourselves, it might not be as good as everyone thinks it will be. This book helped me understand that having a duplicate is not like having a twin sister or brother.

"The Duplicate" was an exceptionally good book, which keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole story. It will keep your interest throughout the entire story, giving you several twists and turns to read through. When David finds a mysterious machine, the Spee-dee-dupe, which only copies living organisms, he thinks that all his problems are over. In this case, he could go out with Angela, and the duplicate could go to his grandmothers. Just use your imagination. You could spend the whole day at the mall, while the other was at school. All these possibilities are never ending, or in this case, a never ending nightmare. I'm sure you will find hardly any negative points in this book. In the begining of the story it gives you some very unnecessary information which makes it a little boring. Throughout the whole story, everything is written flawlessly untill you reach the end. It has an okay ending, but it's kind of hard to really picture people acting the way they do. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, wether you're a bookworm, a Sci-fi freak, or just the opposite of those. This action packed book is remarkably suspenseful, and everyone should read it at least once in their life time.This book also teaches you a lot about life. It taught me that you can necer take the short cut through life. Always sort out your problems as they come along, and never leave one behind, because it will always be with you.

The Duplicate is an awesome book. I absolutely loved it. It is full of suspense, which makes it very exciting. I couldn't stop reading it. Every time I want to stop, I can't because I want to find out what's going to happen next.
The Duplicate is about a boy who makes a copy of himself, so he can go to two places at once. However, that causes problems because they can't let anyone find out about them. They find a hideout where one of them could stay and the other could go to school. One day, the original finds another duplicate, and that means even more problems. The two duplicates fight, but you have to read the book to find out what happens after the battle.
Overall, The Duplicate is an amazing book. I would reccomend this book to people of all ages. I beleive that everyone should enjoy this book.
By Tom I.

The Duplicate
William Sleator

The Duplicate by William Sleator is an interesting book. It is about a teenage boy whom finds an extrehmely advanced machine that makes a replica of the living thing that touches it. The only difference between the duplicates and the original is that certain characteristics change as the duplicating strays farther from the original. Also, the main character, David, tests the Spee-Dee-Dupe on one of his fish after he saw a bird touch it and duplicate. David is then faced with many troubles that start from trying to prove that he is the original to trying to save Angela from the crazed duplicates while trying to keep the duplicates from killing him too.
This book is an excellent novel for all kinds of readers. The vocabulary is easy to understand along with the storyline. The characteristics of the different David's all start off the same way from looking alike to liking Angela, although one of them says he doesn't, but some of their personality characteristics are very different. Their anger, bravery, and trust change a lot after each duplicate. The Duplicate is an excellent science-fiction novel and is also great for people whom like mystery novels because David has to find who is really behind the traps, to still be trustful, and to find out how to survive until tomorrow.

The Duplicate was a very good and unpredictable book. It was about a young boy named David who was on the beach and found a machine which was called the Spee Dee Dupe. When David noticed the machine he went over towards it and he pushed a button on it, when he looked around he noticed that now their was two seagulls instead of one, they looked exactly the same. David decided to bring the Spee Dee Dupe home and see what it actually was. When it was brought home he decided to try it out on his fish, and not only now did he have one fish, but now he has two. David thought it would be cool to have someone to help him out so he didn't see how duplicating himself could be such a bad idea. You should read this book to see what David has to go through with a double of himself and what he must do to resolve it. This book is Science Fiction and it was very enjoyable, I couldn't put it down. If you don't read this book your missing out on a wonderful thrill.

Not as well known as Sleator's Interstellar Pig, the Duplicate takes a conventional premise (cloning oneself) that's a staple of Saturday morning cartoons and ingeniously twists it into an eerie, gripping parable about employing forces beyond one's control for personal gain.

The spare, short novel is a series of episodes that grow darker and darker as Sleator adds touches of realism to the possibilities of cloning: why do we assume that a clone would do our bidding, if it has the same feelings we do? And a copy of yourself might be much like the original--but what about a copy of the copy?

These intriguing questions build in a suspenseful, chilly tale with a gripping climax. The narrative has a claustrophic, inevitable feel to it, and there's no unecessary "fat" on the bones of the story. While the characters aren't so fleshed out, and the "unknown" seems to conveniently drop in from nowhere, Sleator's exploration of the premise's unforseen possibilities more than makes up for it.

I've always admired this book's intense focus. It would be a surprise to find a more thorough exploration of this particular "what if?". Recommended.

By William Sleator

The story is about a boy. The boy had a date, but had to go to his grandma's party. He finds a device that can duplicate living organisms. He duplicated himself. The duplicate went on the date. Later the duplicate found a hideout. It was an old watchtower. The duplicate duplicated himself. They both planned to kill the original. It was the best book I ever read. I liked the whole entire story.

I like the book The Duplicate because it is full of a lot of action and suspense. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. After I read this book I wanted to read other books by the same author because I like the way he writes science fiction. Sleator's books are very,very fantastic books to read.

Some positive things I liked about this book were that it had lots of action. This book would catch any reader's eyes that love science fiction. I also think that Sleator describes a lot of things real well. For example, he decribes the scene where the kids were on top of the mountain.

Some negetive things that I didn't like were that the character duplicated himself in the beginning of the third chapter. Maybe Sleator could have built the story up more before doing this. Also, some parts of the story were boring. For example, in the middle of the story some chapters were very boring because they didn't have any action.

I would recommend this book to children from the ages ten through fifteen. I think you'll love this book.

The Duplicate was a excellent book that I would love to explain to many others. I am giving this book 5 out of 5 stars for a great science fiction story. There was great creativity in the story. I love how he gives his charachters totally different personalities. For example, the two duplicates were given different personalities. One was good, and the other was evil. Another thing is how he explains what's happening. He has his characters tell what's happpening by them talking to themselves inside their heads. The book is about a boy named David, and how he finds a mysterious machine that can copy living things. He thinks his problems are over. By duplicating himself, he can be in two places at once, which was his grandmother's house, and his date's house at the same time. I would have never done that. I would have just asked the girl out on a date for the next weekened, and still go to my grandmother's house. As much as I think this book was good, the ending wasn't what I expected. The ending was the same as so many other stories that I have read that have clones. I was hoping for something different and unique. Besides that, it was a great book. The beginning and the middle of the story were most entrancing. I would really recommend this book for someone who wants to expand their mind and ideas. David goes to school like any other person would go through as a teen, in fact his main friends are so caught up in love that they don't even help David out with the problems he has. The thing I loved the most in the story were David's parents. They are totally different than I would normally imagine from my parents. I think you should read this great book. Enjoy!