Although I’m decidedly unlettered in this particular genre (Surrealism? Fantasy? SciFi?), Jenny Twist is clearly a mistress of it.

I’ll venture a declaration here and hope it doesn’t sound as foolhardy to you — who may be well - acquainted with the kind of literature of which “The Doppelganger” is a perfect specimen—as it does to me in venturing it. No matter how fantastical or imaginative, a good story remains a good story provided we, as readers, can identify with the characters in it. Bizarre though the plot, setting and characters themselves might be, we, as readers, have to be able to visualize them and the characters’ circumstances in order for the story to succeed.

One of the few SciFi stories I’ve read in my lifetime — and of which I later had the privilege of seeing the cinematic version — is Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer in a Day.” Why, to my way of thinking, did it succeed? Simply because the characters, only one of whom was a true Earthling, were entirely believable — as were the plot and setting, no matter how outlandish. I feel the same could be said of Jenny Twist’s “The Doppelganger.”

I don’t want to reveal any of the twists and turns of this story, but they’re all good. Jenny knows her form (or genre), and I’m simply out of my depth to critique it with any kind of authority. But the story certainly worked for me—and I suspect it will for you, too.

As I mentioned in the concluding paragraph of my review of “Montequero” in connection with Jenny’s craft, she writes her stories in flawless English. I congratulate her once again and encourage you, a potential reader and also possible writer, to take a look to see how it’s done.

RRB
3/2/14
Brooklyn, New York, USA
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