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    Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia
    Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia
    Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia
    Audiobook11 hours

    Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia

    Written by Pamela Spiro Wagner and Carolyn S. Spiro, MD

    Narrated by Kimberly Farr and Amanda Carlin

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    About this audiobook

    Growing up in the fifties, Carolyn Spiro was always in the shadow of her more intellectually dominant and social outgoing twin, Pamela. But as the twins approached adolescence, Pamela began to succumb to schizophrenia, hearing disembodied voices and eventually suffering many breakdowns and hospitalizations.

    Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia, and the other who becomes a psychiatrist, after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister. Told in the alternating voices of the sisters, Divided Minds is a heartbreaking account of the far reaches of madness, as well as the depths of ambivalence and love between twins. It is a true and unusually frank story of identical twins with very different identities and wildly different experiences of the world around them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 20, 2018
    ISBN9781977373700
    Author

    Pamela Spiro Wagner

    PAMELA SPIRO WAGNER is a writer and poet living in Wethersfield, Connecticut. She is the winner of the 1993 Connecticut Mental Health Media Award, Tunxis Poetry Review First Prize for three consecutive years, and the 2002 BBC International Poetry Award. Her work has appeared in The Hartford Courant, Tikkun, Trinity Review, Midwest Poetry Review, and LA Weekly. She is co-author of Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia.

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    Reviews for Divided Minds

    4/5

    56 ratings5 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A riveting read but also painful to read about the things Pam suffered through. I recommend this book highly
    • 5/5
      Great book. Very interesting if you are into psychology and twins!The dialogue can be a little bit confusing at times but it is still understandable.Would definitely recommend this if you like non-fiction.
    • 2/5
      One sister went to Harvard and became a psychiatrist, the other, though also brilliant, was bedeviled by voices and has spent her life in and out of institutions.The part describing their growing up years was interesting as the twins tried to establish their own identities. Each was competitive yet felt bad for trying to get distance.The schizophrenic sister is unable to get her health or life together, but becomes an award-winning poet.Later, the narrative bogs down when it seems clear that the sick sister isn't going to get better, despite different medications and treatments. It's sad and obviously hard for the well sister, but the story pretty much ends here.It's annoyingly written: there's a big drama about whether one of the well sister's psychiatrist friends can or should treat the schizophrenic sister, and finally it's decided that she will. But then two pages later she retires from practice. What was that all about? It ends without much resolution for anybody, with the contrast between the psychiatrist and the bag lady. Pretty much like real life, but not a great story.
    • 4/5
      This book is a really interesting autobiography by Carolyn Spiro, an identical twin with schizophrenia. She and her sister go back and forth describing their childhood and college years, into adulthood. It is really interesting to hear Carolyn's account of what happens, altered by her schizophrenia, and then have the gaps filled in by Pamela. There is some inappropriate language (which makes sense when considering the type of disease). It would be suggested for older students.Reviewed by:Katie DoeringBiology Teacher
    • 5/5
      What a great book! My brother has mental illness so this book really hit home. I also have twin sisters. I am not sure I will be able to look at them in the same way again. I really wish I could talk to Pam and Carolyn personally....I have so many questions for them! It's a book that will "stay with me" for a long time.