The End of the Twins: A Memoir of Losing a Brother [Hardcover]

Saul Diskin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There has been no dearth of well-wrought books tracing the years and days leading to the inevitable death of a loved one. Diskin enters the field with a memoir of his brother's two-decade battle with leukemia that's both stylistically solid and, on occasion, emotionally gripping. There's also a twist: the brother whose passing inspired this story, Martin, is Saul's identical twin. Woven through the account of the one's decline and death is the other's attempt to grapple with the looming loss of half his being an intellectual and spiritual exercise that feeds into society's fascination with the mystery of what it means to be a body double, a "superior freak." The book's first third covers the boys' ragamuffin upbringing in Jewish-immigrant Brooklyn before, during and after the Second World War; their precocious early years as voracious readers; the determined (and sometimes ferocious) development of distinct personalities; and their eventual estrangement as they enter adulthood and move into marriage, parenthood and quite separate careers (Martin as a leftist specialist in Latin American studies, Saul as a businessman with moderate to conservative politics). But when "Marty" reveals his illness to "Sauly" in 1971, the near-mystical bond of their boyhood years is renewed even more so by the early 1990s, when it becomes obvious that the one brother's best hope for survival is through receiving the freely given bone marrow of the other, a harrowingly painful procedure for both men that gives one just a couple more years of life.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

When Saul Diskin's twin brother, Marty, announced that he had leukemia, the crisis drew the two together. Saul chronicles the heartfelt struggles that he and his brother shared as Marty fought the disease. Growing up in New York, the siblings separated after high school, each struggling to establish his personal identity. They both got married and had families--in different parts of the country. But once the leukemia was diagnosed, the two brothers found a special strength between them. Because he was genetically identical to Marty, Saul was able to help his brother by donating bone marrow. Eventually, however, the brothers came to their own separate terms with the inevitability of death. This book is primarily concerned with the effect of illness and death on the unique relationship between twins, but in more general and overarching terms, it chronicles the effect of terminal illness on any close relationship. Eric Robbins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (May 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585671630
• ISBN-13: 978-1585671632
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,619,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the end of the twins, June 9, 2001

By 

alan goldman (phoenix az) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The End of the Twins: A Memoir of Losing a Brother (Hardcover)

I was browsing in my neighborhood bookstore. As is always the case, my eyes quickly past over the section designated " Death and Dying,but a cover caught my eye. It was " The End of the Twins, by Saul Diskin. I pulled out the book and began thumbing through the pages with the kind of experienced movement that a shopper uses when going through a rack of clothes. I expected nothing and was truly surprised when I saw good writing on the page. Although I am not a twin and death and dying are things I have gone to great lenghths to avoid, I was hooked. The book puts into words the thoughts and feelings that we are afraid to face about our families and ourselves. Don't be an ostrich. Read it!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful, Moving Meditation on Life, Love, and Death, July 2, 2001

By 

leah alpert (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of the Twins: A Memoir of Losing a Brother (Hardcover)

This marvelous book takes the reader deep into the intimate world of twins while pondering the sibling experience, the meaning of identity, and the terrors of loss. It is a sensitive, generous tale, both harrowing and comforting. In a word, wonderful

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU WILL DISCOVER THE AUTHOR'S LOSS IS THE READERS GAIN, February 9, 2003

By 

Brady L. Buchanan (Henderson, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of the Twins: A Memoir of Losing a Brother (Hardcover)

Placing the words in the right order and injecting personal feelings to a story results in a successful read that will stay with you for a long time. This is such a book. You learn of the special relationship that twins enjoy (and infrequently "not enjoy")and the rest of us mortals can only read about. You learn of their life while a youth in the beginning, but the majority of the story concerns the illness of Marty. You learn a lot about bone marrow transplant and it is interesting. Marty is ill over a long period of time and the many procedures and decisions that have to be made are sometimes overwhelming. This story will keep you interested from beginning to end.