Christa Parravani

This raw memoir, a love letter to the author's twin, broke my heart. It took me much longer than usual to finish this book because the story drained me emotionally.

After the death of a twin, the surviving sibling's chance of long term survival decreases dramatically. Christa Parravani was on the path to become another statistic after her twin, Cara, died of a drug overdose in her bathroom, but pulled herself out of the spiral of self-destructive behavior and found redemption through the writing process.

Any writer can understand how putting pen to paper has the power to heal. This book made my heart ache but also renewed my faith in the power of words.… (altro)

Christa writes about growing up as an identical twin, and her special bond to her twin sister. But then, also, about her sister's rape, and descent into drug abuse and death. As she struggles to come to terms with Cara's death, she finds herself lost in a desire to become her deceased sister, and struggles with her own demons and drug use. It is easy, perhaps for the reader to ask, why does she do this?, or why is she making these mistakes? But perhaps we can never know what it is like unless we are a twin, or lose a sibling, especially an identical twin. Christa does eventually come out on the other side, but the story of her journey is a compelling one.… (altro)