Sunday, November 3, 2013

Brother, Brother - Clay Carmichael

Title: Brother, Brother
Author: Clay Carmichael
Publisher: Roaring Book Press, 2013 (Hardcover)
Length: 314 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Realistic Fiction
Started: November 1, 2013
Finished: November 1, 2013

Summary: 
From the inside cover:

Seventeen-year-old orphan Brother Grace has always dreamed of the sea-though he's never been there. His chance to see the ocean comes when his charismatic grandmother, Mem, dies and he discovers he has a twin brother-the son of a powerful conservative senator named Gideon Grayson (also known as "God"). Determined to get some answers, Brother takes a trip with his faithful dog, Trooper, to the secluded island off the coast of North Carolina where the senator and his family live. Brother's arrival on the troubled island reveals old resentments and unresolved secrets, and he soon realizes that the pure and simple truth is rarely pure and simple.

Review:
This one just sounded interesting (you don't often actually see the long lost twin cliche), so I picked it up.

This one will be hard to review without giving much away, but basically Billy Grace (nicknamed Brother) finds an image of a twin brother he never knew he had in a newspaper soon after his grandmother's death. With no one to look after him, he sets off to find his twin brother and some answers about his unknown past. After a slow buildup, Brother does find his brother and his family, but they aren't exactly what he thought they'd be. After finding out how his brother Gabe came to live with the senator's family and all the scandal related to it, he finds things even more complicated.

It's interesting how Brother remains the most human through the whole endeavour. He's not exactly innocent per se, but very set in his moral code regardless of what he encounters, which makes him quite the admirable character.

Recommendations:
A slow but intriguing read about families with power and the heartbreak that can come as a result of it.

Thoughts on the cover:
I like the twin images with the matching hoodies.

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