Twinship

Whitney Scott

This could be Foes' breakthrough. It has less of the surreal humor that gave Ex Utter (1995) its antic lilt and far more intensity in its dark pathos and suffering. Like Portrait of The Walrus As A Young Artist (1997), in which Foos examined father-daughter relations with a zany, almost manic energy underlaid with despair, it is concerned with deep interpersonal connection. In it Foos focuses on the mysteries and frustrations of the bond some say is never broken, that of mother and daughter. Red-haired Maxi Dublin becomes pregnant to please her smother-mother, red-haired Minnie, whose passion is her lookalike Fergie, the Duchess of York. When the long-awaited moment arrives, Maxi gives birth to a clone of herself, throwing the medical world into a tailspin and the media into a frenzy. Despite round-the-clock hospital security, Minnie kidnaps the clone, which threatens medical reputations and Maxi's sanity as reports of Minnie and the rapidly growing Middle, as she is known, bombard a nation insatiable for details. Desperate more for her mother than for her clone-child, Maxi enlists the help of an impersonator-therapist, who takes on the persona of Fergie. Will the faux Fergie tempt Minnie out of hiding? Will Maxi find Middle? Or herself? Will reporters stop hound her? Most important, can mothers and daughters ever truly separate? Foos' third outing should propel her into the ranks of the literary heavy hitters and swell the audience for her loony imagination and its serious underpinnings.
— Booklist

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As zany and preposterous as fans of Ex Utero and Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist will expect, Foos's new novel is another story of bizarre events related with deadpan humor. It's the lively tale of Maxi Dublin, who literally gives birth to herself--or, at least, to what doctors contend is a clone of herself. Maxi and her mother, Minnie, have been concerned about the ticking biological clock for years, and Minnie finally comes up with a foolproof way for single, 34-year-old Maxi to get pregnant: Maxi must seduce bisexual Jerry, a cat-groomer in her Persian cat breeding business in Winfield, N.Y. The plan goes without a hitch until delivery day, when, instead of producing a normal baby, Maxi births a clone. Doctors clamor to examine the infant, whom Minnie dubs Middle, and the inevitable media swarm occurs. While still in the incubator, Middle is discovered to be growing at a super-accelerated rate: "in a matter of minutes, she'd grown to the size of a six-month-old." Then the more-than-unstable Minnie, deciding that she is the baby's rightful mother, kidnaps Middle from the hospital, and the chase is on. Maxi enlists the help of Cecilia, a therapist who bears a striking resemblance to Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (Minnie is obsessed with the royal family and fancies she looks like the duchess, too), and hits the road in search of Middle (i.e., herself). She intends to use Cecilia, posing as the duchess, as bait to lure her mother. Then, she vows, she'll finally stand up to Minnie, and take back her life. Foos habitually repeats both phrases and ideas, as if she doesn't trust the reader to grasp the subtext, but that detracts only slightly from this endlessly inventive and wackily entertaining tale. Agent, Tony Gardner. Author tour. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Minnie Dublin has an unhealthy hold on her 34-year-old daughter, Maxi; she'd like to have many Maxi's to love and control, but she'll have to wait for the next generation. Unfortunately, Maxi has no partner with whom she can produce a grandchild for Minnie. Then Maxi creates a sensation by producing a clone of herself, as if via a normal pregnancy. In shock, Maxi rejects the baby, whom Minnie kidnaps. When Maxi recovers her equilibrium, the chase is on to find Minnie and the clone. What is a clone, and who does it belong to? Is the new baby Maxi's child or her sister, or another copy of herself? Maxi ponders these questions as she searches for her mother and her self. Foos creates a conundrum regarding attachment and separation, self and other, mother and daughter, and the difficult choices life offers. This wacky, witty, and disturbing story is recommended.--Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Watch Hill Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Another mad fantasy by Foos (Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist, 1997, etc.), who here imagines the complications attending the birth of the first human clone. You might think that the absence of fathers would simplify things considerably down at Family Court. Think again. Maxi Dublin, in her mid-30s, got the idea that she would like to be a mother before it was too late. A cat breeder, Maxi is unmarried and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, but her assistant Jerry is young and virile—if gay—and seems capable of being seduced, so Maxi has him over for dinner one night. Things don't go exactly as planned, but nevertheless Maxi soon discovers that something is growing in her womb, and in due course she delivers a healthy baby girl. Jerry, however, isn't the father. In fact, no one is: the baby is a clone of Maxi, the first successful human clone in history. Suddenly Maxi and her baby Middle are at the center of a media whirlwind, with scientists, philosophers, and politicians from every corner of the globe demanding to know how Maxi did it and whether she should be feted or condemned. Maxi's mother Minnie steps in, too, claiming that the baby is rightfully hers: Since Middle is Maxie's clone (i.e., since she's identical to Maxie), she's actually Minnie's daughter. Got that? The legal claim is pretty thin, but this is a new field, after all. So Minnie takes matters into her own hands and kidnaps the baby. Suddenly the HMOs, eager to learn how to clone people, join the fray: Unless the baby's returned and offered for medical examination, all coverage will be dropped nationwide. Poor Maxi. She just wants her baby/self back, so they can live a normallife together. As if there was ever half a chance in the first place. Funny and sharp, though a bit labored in its own sense of relevance and lacking the light touch of Foos's earlier romps.