Blueprint - Hardcover

Kerner, Charlotte

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0822500809 ISBN 13: 9780822500803

Publisher: Lerner Pub Group, 2000

Synopsis

Siri Sellin, one of the first human clones, writes a bitter memoir of her childhood as the daughter of a famous and self-absorbed composer.

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up-Set in the near future when human cloning has become a reality, this emotionless, convoluted story is about Siri Sellin, the "daughter-sister" of Iris Sellin, a renowned composer/pianist who had herself cloned after the onset of multiple sclerosis. Angry at the recently deceased Iris, 22-year-old Siri reflects on their relationship in an attempt to create a unique identity of her own, separate from that of her "mother-twin." Despite the interesting premise, the book is not compelling largely because both characters are cold and self-absorbed, the emotionally laden dialogue has no real impact, and Siri's childhood and teenage memories are essentially glossed over. Her flashbacks skip arbitrarily between the present and past and between both her and Iris's memories. Although Siri finds peace and inner acceptance at the book's end, she is so clinical, so detached, and without sympathy that those readers who make it to the end will feel only relief that the book is over. Kerner's acknowledgments and afterword show the impressive amount of research she did on cloning as well as her interest in the subject. Libraries in search of irresistible teen fiction on the hot topic of human cloning should recommend Marilyn Kaye's outstanding "Replica" series (Bantam), in which the female protagonist is a teenage clone in search of details about her past.
Leah J. Sparks, Bowie Public Library, MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lerner Pub Group
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0822500809
• ISBN 13: 9780822500803
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 189