Synopses & Reviews
Saul, I write to you because I can't do otherwise. One of my first thoughts when I was told about this was of us starting out together, our bond, and now the fact of an end. I was fearful of telling you, maybe that you would see this as the ultimate rank and be angry. It's really beyond that now...." When Saul Diskin's brother announced that he had leukemia the bond that held them together-as brothers, as twins-was about to break.
Even as The End of the Twins chronicles the slow progress of Marty Diskin's decline and death it also examines the elusive nature of brotherhood and what it means to be a twin, one of two, a "superior freak." Estranged since their early twenties-by temperament, by geography-they are pulled together by Marty's illness, and they experience once again the deep tie that carried them from Brooklyn to California and Mexico, to colleges and careers, wives and families. As Marty's health deteriorates, after twenty years of relative-and miraculous-stability, the bond between the brothers grows stronger, strengthened in the end by Saul's gift of a bone marrow transplant. "Being able to exchange a part of our body is sweetly appropriate," he writes in a letter to Marty. "But that is the mechanical part. The rest of what I give you comes from that secret place we share, from a place deeper than my heart. . . . Feel it in your brain, in your gut. It will draw you. It will pull you, to me, to your family and friends, to your productive life, to health. Think of it dear Marty, when things get bad. Focus on it. Use it. Let it pull you back to us."
The End of the Twins explores what it means to be left behind, the survivor of a unique pair so profoundly connected-sympathetically, spiritually. It its own gift, a moving and ennobling testament to one brother's courage and another brother's love.
Synopsis
When Saul Diskin's twin brother, Marty, announced that he had leukemia, the crisis drew the two together. Saul chronicles the heartfelt struggles that he and his brother shared as Marty fought the disease.
Synopsis
Growing up in New York, the siblings separated after high school, each struggling to establish his personal identity. They both got married and had families--in different parts of the country. But once the leukemia was diagnosed, the two brothers found a special strength between them. Because he was genetically identical to Marty, Saul was able to help his brother by donating bone marrow. Eventually, however, the brothers came to their own separate terms with the inevitability of death. This book chronicles the effect of terminal illness on any close relationship.