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What’s Left of Me | January 30, 2013

by Kat Zhang (HarperCollins, Sept. 2012)

What does it mean to exist? And how far would you go to stay alive?

These are the questions posed by Kat Zhang’s What’s Left of Me, the intricate story of Eva and Addie, two souls woven together in one body. This condition — known as hybrid — is not uncommon, and children are allowed to persist in this state, knowing that the stronger, dominant soul will inevitably win out and smother the weaker soul. As a little girl, Eva and Addie take turns controlling their body, but as they grow older and neither one of them seems to be fading, everyone grows nervous. Everyone knows that adult hybrids are dangerous and illegal. The government captures hybrids and “cures” them by destroying the recessive soul.  Fortunately, all the worry seems to be for nothing as, to the appearance of all medical tests, Eva fades away just like she’s supposed to.

The only problem is Eva never really disappears. She remains trapped in the body, a secret only Addie knows. It seems Eva is destined to live this way forever, a spectator to someone else’s life, until one day the girls are presented with a way for Eva to move again.  At the risk of being exposed as a hybrid, how far will the sisters go for Eva’s existence?

Zhang shifts seamlessly from 1^st person singular to plural depending on who Addie & Eva are speaking with and their own inner dialogue keeps the story moving swiftly to the very last page.

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