Twin, by Allen Shawn

This "twin" to Shawn's earlier memoir I wish I could be there, centers around his relationship with Mary, his twin sister who was institutionalized at age eight. Diagnosed over the years variously as autistic, retarded, or as having "schizo-affective disorder" (one can only think as the popularity of these terms waxed and waned), Mary was sent to a summer camp for children with similar problems and basically never came home when the camp was expanded to a year-round program. There are annual visits to see her, but otherwise she disappears from the family group with very little explanation to her siblings. As documented in his earlier memoir, Shawn's famous father, William, the long-time editor of the New Yorker, was full of phobias, quirks, and secrets -- including an unknown "second" family which he established with a coworker shortly after the twins' births. The author is himself so agoraphobic that he has missed many important events in his life through his inability to overcome his fears of travel, groups, and change. How many of Mary's problems are similar to those of other family members? How did the loss of his sister's companionship at a formative age cause his own difficulties in coping with life? What is the nature of twinship? As the sister to brother/sister twins, these questions were of particular interest to me. An affecting joint autobiography. 222 pp.