Sixteen-year-old overachiever Lucille Harper agrees to be a beta tester for a secretive human cloning program, hoping her clone will meet her academic and family responsibilities and leave her free to figure out who she really is.
Read More
Sixteen-year-old overachiever Lucille Harper agrees to be a beta tester for a secretive human cloning program, hoping her clone will meet her academic and family responsibilities and leave her free to figure out who she really is.
Read Less
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $9.50, very good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $11.49, good condition, Sold by St. Vinnie's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published:
2020
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
17656842191
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.83
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Hardcover This item shows wear from consistent use but remains in good readable condition. It may have marks on or in it, and may show other signs of previous use or shelf wear. May have minor creases or signs of wear on dust jacket. Packed with care, shipped promptly.
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $14.50, like new condition, Sold by Dan Pope Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from WEST Hartford, CT, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published:
2020
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
18111663764
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.83
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine in Fine jacket. First edition. First printing. Hardbound. Fine in a fine jacket. A clean tight copy with a remainder mark. Publisher's price intact on front jacket flap.
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $36.99, good condition, Sold by Friends Tucson rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tucson, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published:
2020
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
18716619835
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.83
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Library binding. NOT Ex-library. This item is in good condition. May show moderate signs of use. Until further notice, USPS Priority Mail only reliable option for Hawaii. Proceeds benefit the Pima County Public Library system, which serves Tucson and southern Arizona.
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $36.99, fair condition, Sold by Friends Tucson rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tucson, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published:
2020
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
18716619834
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.83
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Library binding. NOT Ex-library. Acceptable/fair. HARD bumping to hardcover corners. Clean pages and tight binding. Until further notice, USPS Priority Mail only reliable option for Hawaii. Proceeds benefit the Pima County Public Library system, which serves Tucson and southern Arizona.
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $10.89, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published:
2020
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
18866449951
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.83
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $34.10, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $56.38, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Add this copy of Half Life to cart. $88.29, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Knopf Books for Young Readers.
I'm excited to be a part of the HALF LIFE blog tour with The Fantastic Flying Book Club from June 9th - June 15th, 2020!
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, Knopf Books for Young Readers, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.
All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.
"Happy parents, thriving daughter. We see what we want to see. It makes me wonder if anyone really knows anyone. Do I even know myself?"
From the first page of this story, there is the feeling of "impending doom." Main character Lucille tries so hard in life, but never feels like she measures up. Half Life is really quite sad. The main character undergoes so much turmoil in life--much of which she puts herself through because of perfectionism. When her parents decide to divorce, any semblance of "normal" is shattered and forces Lucille even further down a destructive path. Unable to confide in her best friend Cass, Lucille ends up distancing herself from everyone that she cares about.
At the end of her rope, Lucille decides to open up a "spammy" email that she continually had been receiving from a company called Life2. Taking a risk, she decides to enroll in an experimental project that will result in a "clone" or extension of herself. Allowing her to have more time to achieve in life, she believes that ultimately, it will be a good thing to try. Once the copy is made, she will have a four-week trial run, then the copy will be returned and decommissioned.
Lucille, with all of her flaws, is incredibly relatable. Doubting that she is good enough, or ever will be, is a feeling that all teens experience at some point or another. Her internalizations make her a very real and complex character.
"But I can't remember a single time in my life where I wasn't stuck inside my own head. Where I wasn't thinking about how what I said or did looked from the outside, if it fits into how I wanted people to see me, to think of me. If it fit inside whatever shape I thought I was supposed to take. Smart, pretty, fun, interesting, thoughtful, easygoing, determined, cool. All of it, all at once. Rounding out the edges of the Perfect Girl."
It isn't exactly a shock that Lucille's clone, "Lucy" also has similar internalizations. Designed to help out another, and never thought of as her own being, Lucy gets the brunt end of the deal. Struggling to find her place in a world where she shouldn't exist, Lucy undergoes a lot of turmoil.
"Am I an abomination? Am I even human? Do I have a soul?"
While the two girls initially work together to tackle Lucille's lengthy list of goals and expectations, it's easy to see early on that things will soon go awry.
Marco who likes me, who wants me, even though when I think of myself, it's with a prevailing sense of fear.
Fear of inadequacy, of looking foolish, of being too much or too little. Fear of not doing something, anything, everything right.
"I resent it. That omnipresent sense of judgment. Feeling like I could do it all "right" yet still be wrong. Be ambitious, but don't try too hard. Be capable, but not intimidating. Be attentive, but not clingy. Be aloof, but not unattainable. Be feminine, but not too girly. Be "one of the boys," but not better. Fast, but not faster. Smart, but not smarter. Funny, but not funniest. Be cute. Be sexy. Be fun. Be likeable."
Despite everything that will clearly go wrong, the reader can easily empathize and understand why Lucille made the decisions that she did. The fact that she used a fake ID to enter into the Life2 program certainly wasn't a good choice--she also had no idea what she was really getting into. Her desperation made her act out in ways that truly needed intervention. Lucille's story is a prime example of how dangerous self-isolation can be. Having people in one's life to check in when life gets tough is what helps us through the darkest parts of life.
"I've slipped through a crack and suddenly, all the time I spent thinking I was getting to be more like myself feels like fiction, and instead I'm less. Still left out and separate, just telling myself a different lie."
Half Life is a well-developed story, down to the scientific details and dispiriting thoughts and philosophy, which puts its characters through imaginative, but realistic situations that effectively pairs reality with science fiction.
Vulgarity: Moderate.
Sexual content: Moderate.
Violence: Minimal.
