February's Reader Response!

Reader Response

25/01/2011                                                                          Tasnim Kazi-8D

            I am responding to THE EVIL TWIN from the Sweet Valley High Series originally created by Francine Pascal. I have read 339 out of 339 pages. This text is fiction.

            The main characters are Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield (twin girls), and Margo. The genre of this text is mystery. The setting is Sweet Valley, California. There are many conflicts in this book, but the major one has to do with Margo, who is planning to murder Elizabeth and overtake her identity. The theme of this book is revenge, because Margo has had enough, and is determined to have the life she deserves. The climax of the story is when Margo almost kills Elizabeth in the pool house, at the New Year’s Eve party. The protagonists are Jessica and Elizabeth. The antagonist is Margo. The author used foreshadowing when she introduced Margo in a different chapter, and hinted that Margo had been tracking and following Elizabeth Wakefield for many months since she moved to Sweet Valley, California.

            Retell

            The text is really about a sixteen year old named Margo who has been through a lot. Abused and abandoned by her biological parents, and constantly abused by foster families, her childhood is not full of happy memories at all. She decided she had had enough, and got back at many of her foster families. One of her foster siblings was a young boy named Georgie, he was annoying but he had a big mouth. He told Margo where the safe was located. She robbed the safe, and took Georgie for a “swim”.  After that, she decided to start her life over. She moved to Sweet Valley, California and “discovered” identical twins, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. Bleaching her hair blonde, buying blue contacts, tracking Elizabeth at school and outside of school, she had learned enough. The time for the New Year’s Eve party came, and Margo was ready to carry out her monstrous plan. Leading Elizabeth in the pool house as Jessica, Margo has trapped Elizabeth and her death approaches. Just at that moment, the real Jessica appeared. While screaming for help, Jessica called the cops, and Margo was arrested. The title of this text says to me that one of the twins tried murdering the other twin. That is what I inferred. Later on, after I finished the book, I thought back to the beginning and thought about my inference. I never really thought about that, so that put a whole twist on it. The setting of this text is important because most murders and crime usually happen in America. I found this book hard to follow when the author changed the perspective of the characters back and forth. It was confusing. The first four pages would be from the perspective of Elizabeth, and then the next two pages would be about Margo or Jessica. This book took me a longer time to finish than usual because of the author’s style of writing. I had to reread MANY times. I have said that I enjoy similes and metaphors in my past reader responses. An example of a great simile in this text would be this: “With the windows glimmering like golden eyes in the night, it looked cozy, safe, and warm – a haven. Yes, the basement window had been a stroke of luck!”

            Relate

            If I could be any character in this book, I would be Margo. Not because she was a murderer, but because she gave up so easily. When things would get tough, I would not give up and throw my life away just like that. I would start my life over, in a good way. For example, go back to school, get a good education, get a job, and start living my life positively. Believing in one’s self is important. As compared to other texts by this author, I think this book was an effective piece of writing. At the end of every chapter, the author would ALWAYS include a cliffhanger. I think that’s one of the best things about Pascal, is that she really does know how to create suspense and really catch her reader’s interest. I think that adding cliffhangers in any text increases the interest of the reader, therefore leading the reader to continue.

            Reflect

            Although this was definitely one of the best books I have ever read this year, I still question the accuracy of Margo’s plan. I think that Pascal got a little carried away. With Margo moving to Sweet Valley, California and “discovering” the twins, following one of them, and apparently trying to get rid of one of them? It does seem a little unrealistic. Then again, it’s just my opinion, and other people may disagree. This following phrase is an example of good writing because it contains a lot of feeling, voice, and rich descriptive language. When I read this phrase, I made a connection to real life. In language, we are currently focusing on voice, opinion, and feelings of the author that write the text.

            “All at once, Margo’s face darkened; Elizabeth cowered, her eyes on the knife. “You don’t even know how lucky you are,” Margo snarled. “You don’t know what it’s like to be abandoned, unloved, passed from one foster family to another, yelled at, starved, and beaten. I’ve had nothing.” Her voice rose to a shout. “NOTHING! I’ve been treated like garbage for sixteen years.”

                        ( Above phrase taken from page 316, paragraph No. 5)