SECRET(克隆人的秘密)

Can a clone contain a new human soul or just a photocopy? Hoffman brilliantly meditates on this mystery in her auspicious fiction debut as she examines the bond between Iris and Elizabeth Surrey, which gives new meaning to the well-worn term "my mother myself." Iris's search for identity begins when the teen discovers her birth in 2005 was achieved via cloning. Iris's single mom, Elizabeth, fled Manhattan to the Midwest to rear Iris after becoming estranged from her parents and sister. They live a quiet, symbiotic life until Iris turns 12 and her mother falls in love with Steven, a professor, who becomes disturbed by the unnatural closeness of the two and leaves. It's not long before Iris, in a tailspin of heart-wrenching confusion, flees home to see if she is more than just an extension of someone who is "not quite a mother and more than one: home, sibling, the larger part of myself, as much me as my limbs or bloodstream." Unraveling the secret of self takes her on a quest not easily ended. The relentless first-person viewpoint showcases the emotional and spiritual ramifications of being a cloned child: "I was her, I was her, I was her... Then who was I, who was she, what had she done? Did she steal my soul, my very self, or did she give me her own, by an unspeakable act of black magic?" Some SF readers may find the philosophical musings old hat, but wiser ones won't.
　　Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
A haunting debut novel from the acclaimed author of Shtetl, Lost in Translation, and Exit into History.

Iris Surrey seems to have a perfectly normal childhood. She lives with her mother in a rambling wooden house, in a small college town not far from Chicago. But something isn't quite right in her perfect, bell-jar world. There may be something wrong with her mother. Or with her. Or with her mother and her. Small disturbances lead Iris to suspect a deeper peculiarity in the very fabric of her life. Something not quite...natural. Or authentic. But what does that mean? You are what you think you are, aren't you? Who is to judge the nature of your nature, your character, your reality, except you, the subject yourself? Unless you aren't real enough to know in the first place.

In this gripping debut novel, writer Eva Hoffman uses the near future to reflect on the fast-moving present and to explore various kinds of secrets: intimate secrets and family secrets, the kinds of secrets that can be decoded from clues, and the kind that only lead to more tantalizing questions about the nature of consciousness and self-knowledge. This is a philosophical fable about an uncannily powerful mother-daughter bond and a young woman's quest for identity. The Secret explores ancient conundrums of selfhood and the profound challenges posed by contemporary science to our most cherished notions of individuality.

From Publishers Weekly
Can a clone contain a new human soul or just a photocopy? Hoffman brilliantly meditates on this mystery in her auspicious fiction debut as she examines the bond between Iris and Elizabeth Surrey, which gives new meaning to the well-worn term "my mother myself." Iris's search for identity begins when the teen discovers her birth in 2005 was achieved via cloning. Iris's single mom, Elizabeth, fled Manhattan to the Midwest to rear Iris after becoming estranged from her parents and sister. They live a quiet, symbiotic life until Iris turns 12 and her mother falls in love with Steven, a professor, who becomes disturbed by the unnatural closeness of the two and leaves. It's not long before Iris, in a tailspin of heart-wrenching confusion, flees home to see if she is more than just an extension of someone who is "not quite a mother and more than one: home, sibling, the larger part of myself, as much me as my limbs or bloodstream." Unraveling the secret of self takes her on a quest not easily ended. The relentless first-person viewpoint showcases the emotional and spiritual ramifications of being a cloned child: "I was her, I was her, I was her... Then who was I, who was she, what had she done? Did she steal my soul, my very self, or did she give me her own, by an unspeakable act of black magic?" Some SF readers may find the philosophical musings old hat, but wiser ones won't.

From Booklist
Iris lives comfortably in a small Midwest town circa 2020 with her beautiful, loving mother, but as she enters adolescence, she wonders why her mother refuses to talk about her father at all. And that's not all that's distressing: there's also the eerie resemblance between mother and daughter and their almost paranormal connection, which they call the "Weirdness." The reader figures out that Iris is a clone long before first-time novelist Hoffman's troubled narrator does, but Hoffman, author of Shtetl (1997), is right to proceed slowly because her purpose in this elegant, smart, and unsettling tale is to imagine as acutely as possible what life would be like for a simulacrum, a "hand-made creature," a monster. These are terms Iris lashes herself with once she discovers the truth and leaves home to find her estranged parents/grandparents and to see if other "non-selfers" exist. Hoffman succeeds brilliantly in creating a provocative, cautionary coming-of-age story set in a technologically ruled near-future when "human design" threatens to undermine every cherished idea about what it means to be a human being.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Donna Seaman

From Library Journal
The time is 2022, the place is Chicago, and Iris Surrey has an unusually close relationship with her chilly mother, Elizabeth. At 17, Iris is wearying of the odd stares she triggers in others, especially when her look-alike mother is with her. Iris wants to learn the identity of her father, which, alas, is not possible; the reader will figure out before Iris does that she is the product of genetic engineering. When Iris uncovers the truth, she goes on an emotional rampage, intent on tracking down any blood relatives in the hope that they will make her feel more authentic. The results are painful, for Iris's kin are unable to embrace what they see as an uncanny freak of science. It is only through a relationship with a sympathetic young man that Iris finds respite. Those who shrug off today's headlines regarding imminent human cloning would be wise to read this thoughtful, philosophical treatment of the devastating effects a wholly fatherless state can trigger. An uneasy look at the potential fallout from biological tampering, this first novel by nonfiction author Hoffman (Shtetl) is ripe for lively book discussion. One minor quibble: British spellings abound, which can be disconcerting, given the setting. Still, very much recommended.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Beth E. Andersen, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

About Author
Eva Hoffman was born in Cracow, Poland, and emigrated to the United States at the age of thirteen. She is the author of three highly acclaimed works of nonfiction, Lost in Translation, Exit into History, and Shtetl. She splits her time between London and Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is a visiting professor at MIT.

Book Dimension:
length: (cm)22.1 　　　 　　　　　 　 width:(cm)15.1