Note: Thank you to NetGalley, She Writes Press, and author Julie Ryan McGue for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

A few weeks back, Bill Bryson, an author I generally like, gave an interview to the New York Times in which he said: “I get sent a lot of self-published books and most of the time it is just some anonymous person’s life and it is of no interest.” I begged to differ with him when I heard that, thinking of my experience reading memoirs by other adoptees that let me know I wasn’t alone in the feelings I had. Back in the 1990s, when I first picked up books by adoptee authors, I finally learned that I wasn’t crazy for the feelings I had and that what I felt was normal for an adopted person. It was a huge relief for me.

Unfortunately, none of that was present in Twice the Family. I realize now that the author dealt with her adoption and search in a previous book. I have added that to my “to be read” list because Julie Ryan McGue is quite a good writer. I was just disappointed that adoption wasn’t central to the story in this book.

Growing up as an adoptee and identical twin, Julie McGue will take you on her journey for identity and individuality, searching for answers through tragedy and adversity.

That was the blurb I read that got me interested in the book, which focuses on the author’s experience growing up in a home with three adopted children and several biological siblings. Their parents had always dreamed of a big, Irish family, but were struggling in the early years of their marriage to make that happen, so they turned to adoption. Julie and her sister, Jenny, were very lucky that Catholic Charities in Chicago had a policy not to separate twins and placed them together. There was also a hint that they tried to place children with a family where there was a similar background, so the children would feel like they fit in rather than standing out.

This became an issue as Julie and Jenny grew up. They embraced the Irish heritage of their family, but were always unsure if they really should call themselves Irish. Since the adoption was closed, they had no knowledge at all of their genetic history. This was in the age before you could spit in a cup and get a report back on your DNA.

Most of the book, though, is just a memoir of her life growing up outside of Chicago in a small town in a loving family. The home they grew up in was a small home that was soon bursting at the seams with the Ryan children. Still, the family managed. It wasn’t a perfect upbringing; their mother had a bit of a temper, and the children were afraid of setting her off, although it wasn’t abusive. Julie admits that being raised in a Catholic home and attending Catholic schools led to a bit of a sheltered life. When she and Jenny went away to college, for the first time, they felt they could really try to figure out who they were. That’s not unusual in any family.

The story was interesting, but not what I expected. It does show the bond between her and her twin that existed throughout their whole lives. There were many times they were on the same wavelength with the decisions they were trying to make and the choices they eventually made. It also details a time that’s pretty much gone. Although her parents were protective, parents nowadays wouldn’t understand letting children ride their bikes in a park without supervision.

There are some tragedies that are highlighted. One was the murder of a neighbor boy whose body was found in one of those places where they rode their bikes. That grabbed my curiosity enough to look up the case, and no one was ever found guilty of the murder (one person was tried and acquitted due to circumstantial evidence). I found that more interesting than a lot of the rest of the book. For Julie, their protective parents restricted them even further at the time. There are also several pregnancies that their mother goes through, which result in new siblings. However, twice things did not go as planned, and the family had to navigate terrible grief.

As a memoir, I think people will generally like Twice the Family as it gives insights into a time that is unfortunately long past. It also gives insight into being a twin, which was something I knew nothing about, and I felt like I came out of it with a better understanding of the connection twins share. It was just lacking for me in any real depth into the questions of identity as it relates to being an adoptee. Perhaps the other book will be better in that regard.