Book Review,  Fiction

BLOG TOUR: Maggie’s Ruse by Anne Leigh Parrish @AnneLParrish @TLCBookTours #maggiesruse #literaryfiction

November 11, 2019 /

Maggie’s Ruse by Anne Leigh Parrish focuses on a pair of beautiful, creative and often turbulent twins living in New York City and learning to appreciate their differences, embrace their twin-ness, and grow up.

A quick and compulsive read, this is one I don’t think I’d normally gravitate to but the way it was written really pulled me in!

About the Book

Maggie and Marta Dugan are identical twins. Their relationship has the usual sisterly strains, until home alone one afternoon, Maggie masquerades as Marta when a friend of hers drops by. The ruse is quickly discovered, a rift between the sisters ensues, and they go their separate ways. But living apart is hard; real independence harder still. Will they come back together? How long until each realizes she needs the other to feel whole?

Reflection

Picture-perfect identical twins Maggie and Marta Dugan are the epitome of the millennial stereotype. Born into privilege, the twins are supported financially by their father as they live in New York City and pursue their own creative pathways. Maggie considers herself a creator of the visual arts, while Marta is an aspiring actress. At the age of 27 (which as many of us know is the cut-off by which creative genius usually shows an accomplishment), neither twin has achieved success in their field.

Though this is the only book I read by this author, I noticed that this family is actually featured in another book she wrote. That book seems quite different to me from this one, though it centers on the family and namely, the parents of the twins. In an interesting change, I found that this book was kind of hard to put down, though I didn’t particularly like either twin. That’s a credit to the writing for sure. I actually don’t feel the need to like the characters in order to like a book.

Though Maggie and Marta have many differences, the twins are both impulsive and act a bit selfishly. They haven’t really learned yet how to be the grown up versions of themselves as the book opens. When Marta’s friend and colleague (I say that lightly, he is an aspiring playright and she’s an aspiring actress) Josh comes by one day, Maggie pretends to be Marta and kisses Josh. This event sparks conflict between the sisters and their connections to Josh.

I enjoyed seeing the sisters learn to figure out who they are and what they are doing. I’d imagine being a twin is difficult, because how do you form identity when your life and even your appearance is so tied to another. How do you deal with pitfalls when your counterpart is successful? How do you differentiate yourself?

The book itself doesn’t sound like it would be humorous, but it is. The twins are a real piece of work, and their privilege makes it hard for them to grow up. They take jobs and leave them on a whim, they seem to be unaware of how poorly they treat others, and they also don’t seem to totally grasp how absurd their lifestyle is.

Now that I’ve made the twins sound horrible, I want to scale it back. I actually didn’t find them to be bad people at all, though their moral compass doesn’t exactly point due north. Mostly I found them to be on a journey, albeit choppy, to understand who they are as sisters and as individuals.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for my copy. Opinions are my own.

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