I’m going to admit to a certain fascination with twins, and this has resulted in multiple viewings of films such as Cheech and Chong’s The Corsican Brothers, Bette Davis in A Stolen Life and Dead Ringer, and how can I forget one of my all-time favourites, the very creepy David Cronenberg film Dead Ringers. Dead Ringers is based on the true story of twin brothers Stewart and Cyril Marcus, and in the film version, the twins, extremely successful gynecologists both become involved with the same woman. And this leads me to The Investigation of Ariel Warning by Robert Kalich–a book written by an identical twin about identical twins who fall for the same femme fatale.
Adam and his identical twin brother, David Remler place an ad in The New York Times, and the plan is that they will share the services of an experienced screenplay writer–David needs an assistant and Adam hopes for a film treatment of his novel Confessions. This is all established on page one–along with the very confident applicant who begins, via e-mail, by describing her “thick, corn-colored hair” and her “exceptionally long legs.” That would be a deal breaker for me, but Adam and David plunge ahead and foolishly invite the applicant, Ariel Warning, into their lives initially for an interview. Of course, their collective decision to interview Ariel–along with an admission that they’re “intrigued” by her may have a great deal to do with the fact that they are both lonely, single vulnerable men. Adam, wallowing in self-pity, is still trying to get over the break-up of his long-term relationship, and David’s wife was killed a few years previously in a horse riding accident.
From the moment Ariel arrives for the interview, she is in control of the situation. There’s really no question of her being an ‘applicant’–instead it’s as though she’s establishing the perimeters of this three-cornered relationship, and this initial foray sets the stage for the dynamics of the relationship between Ariel, Adam, and David. She claims to be an expert on twins–the Remlers in particular:
“When I was at Kansas, I even did a term paper on you and Adam. comparing your novels. my professor balked. She said you two weren’t in the literary canon as of yet. But I insisted. I think what hit home was when I told her you were the only twins in literary history that are published novelists. That piqued my professor’s interest. Mine too.” Ariel said, smiling. “And I did another paper comparing your twin relationship with other identicals. I brought both papers with me,” she said, reaching for her shoulder bag. “They’re here somewhere,” and before a millisecond had passed, she was rummaging through her bag, expounding on the papers. “The truth is, I didn’t want to write a treatise dealing with how identicals share the same unconscious. That they know everything about each other from the time of their birth. Even before. But I believe it is like that. It is with you two, isn’t it? I mean the two of you know things about the other half that no one else could possibly know. Yet, still, for your entire lives both of you have felt incomplete. That’s true, isn’t it?” she asked, peering intently at us.
After this bizarre interview, Ariel gets the job. I was a bit surprised by this development as it seemed quite clear that Ariel was trouble–at best a twin groupie/fetishist with a penchant for BS–at worst a total psycho. I suppose the fact that she got the job–no questions asked–gave me the warning that she was being hired for her physical attributes rather than a proven, traceable resume. So with that in mind, it came as no surprise to find Ariel very quickly established as David’s girlfriend.
Adam, the book’s narrator, soon has cause to question the identity of Ariel Warning. A quick background check reveals that no such person exists. By this point, she’s elbowed her way into David and Adam’s lives, burrows in deep, and then she’s not so easy to get rid of. But when Ariel begins exhibiting some bizarre, violent behaviour, and makes some strange demands, bad things start happening to the people in the twins’ lives. Adam is forced to investigate even at the cost of losing his relationship with his brother.
The Investigation of Ariel Warning, an entertaining literary Chinese puzzle, is full of twists and turns, allusions to Shakespeare and replete with facts about twins. Primarily a mystery, the book also explores the emotional connections between twins and doesn’t quite fit neatly into any genre. The book also includes echoes of the highly controversial Peter Greenaway film A Zed and Two Noughts primarily through the Siamese twins, Bart and Albert Parker, former admirers of Ariel who now share a prostitute, so fans of Greenaway (me) should appreciate the nuances of this unusual, complex plot. While I struggled somewhat with Adam and David’s gullibility and periodic passivity when faced with Ariel’s atrocious behaviour, I throughly enjoyed the character of Margot Korman–a “creepy” woman according to David, but his track record when it comes to trusting people isn’t exactly reliable. Margot, who insists on sharing the salacious details of her sex life at the most inappropriate moment, joins forces with Adam to discover the truth about Ariel.
Review copy.
This sounds like a really good book Guy.
The subject of identical twins seems to be the object of many books and films. Greek and Roman mythology even had a few sets of twins, Romulus and Remus come to mind. I guess the idea of people who are genetically identical is uncommon enough to be intriguing.
I think it must feel strange to have an identical, and then there are those studies that show that even separated by circumstance, identical twins have a way of establishing very similar lives.
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A Zed and Two Naughts was once one of my favourite movies. Greenaway was my favourite film maker. I haven’t wqtched him in a long time, not sure I would still like him as much.
Sounds like a book I might like as well.
I find these studies about the similarities in the lives of twins who have been separated quite creepy.
I should have known you were a fan of A Zed and Two Noughts. My favs: Drowning with Numbers, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, Her Lover.
I found the book to be an unusual read–probably because the emphasis is on twins and the woman who comes between them. It’s an unusual topic.
Ariel Warning is such an unlikely name I’d have thought it would be obvious that it was fake. To be honest, the whole setup sounds stretched – that she gets the job, that the name doesn’t ring alarm bells, all of it. It sounds a bit too unlikely for a book that isn’t leaving realism entirely behind. Probably one I’ll pass on.
In fairness to the author, I should add that one of the brothers, Adam the narrator, does pick up on the name.
Usually I don’t like stories with a ménage à trois.
And when I see Ariel, I think Disney, it doesn’t warm be toward the book. That’s unfair to the book, I know, that’s what happens when you have children…
So Princess Jasmine is out then?
You’re allowed to laugh at me, I know it’s stupid but I can’t help it.
I’m just pulling your leg.
I saw a bit of a programme about capital punishment last week, and it seems the phrase “I’m pulling your leg” originated in the gruesome public hangings of 18th/19th century England. Relatives of the condemned would attend and, if they could, would literally pull the legs of the dangling miscreant to speed up what could otherwise be a lingering death.
Then that’s a ghoulish application of a phrase to something that wasn’t originally very funny. Makes me of the children’s nursery rhyme “ring o’ roses.” I grew up and was told that was a reference to the plague but I read elsewhere that that is not true.
I don’t know if “fascinated” is the right word, but I have twins and they certainly occupy a disproportionate amount of my attention. Even at a young age (they’re 2 and a half) it’s obvious the relationship they have with each other is different from those with they have with the rest of us in the family. Plus they egg each other on: the stuff they get up to sometimes beggars belief. Of course mine are fraternal, not identical.
It’s a dynamic that you could imagine would be catnip to writers, and there are plenty of examples you’ve mentioned. Also interested to read about your “deal breaker” Guy??
I was hoping that someone who was a twin or had twins would join in. I think it would be very odd to have another me–liked I was cloned or something. Do you read twin studies?
By deal breaker, I meant that if I was reading a job application (in the case of a book, it’s an e-mail response) and the person started talking about their legs or their hair, it would be a spot-the-looney moment, and that is as far as the job process would go. I was asked recently by someone ‘how can a person who applies for a job appear normal and then within a few weeks it’s clear (after they’ve got the job and you’re working with them) that they are a total nutjob?
Probably lots of answers to that one…people on their best behaviour, people who are capable of being normal/sane/whatever for a short period of time (on their best behaviour), manipulation, etc. But if they give you a clue upfront before the relationship turns, well then….This is the hardest part I had with the book–the fact that the brothers walked right into it.
I thought you meant something else by deal-breaker, I get what you mean now. You’re right, that does seem like a flashing warning sign. Maybe the reader is meant to draw some conclusions about the twins based on them missing or ignoring it.
One twin falls for Ariel and then the other is left with the dilemma of just how much he can warn his brother. Of course he’s not far behind in the infatuation department either.
Yes, when we found out twins were on the way a large amount of twin literature accumulated in the house, and I had several written tests on the material.
Actually, we participated in a study at the hospital we attended, which was about rates of development of fraternals in the womb. They were pretty much the same weight at birth, which is unusual for twins (one tends to dominate even before birth).
Rather then the clone thing, what gets me is that they’ve never really been apart, ever. Sure, for hours at a stretch, and more so now they’re older, but they’ve always had the other right there as a reference point. When they are apart, they don’t get upset, but they constantly ask / talk about the other.
By contrast our eldest kid (who is five-and-a-bit) was used to being the sole possessor of our attention, the undisputed champ, the centre of attention. Then the other two jokers showed up and sucked up all the oxygen. It’s gone the other way there, blissful solitude has given way to a constant scrum for notice etc.
I hadn’t given much thought to that scenario… the one who isn’t a twin and who gets left out a bit. Are the twins the same sex?
No, boy / girl. Identicals are always same sex, fraternals can be same sex or boy / girl.
Well I suppose with one of each, you avoid the same clothes. I read somewhere that it’s not a good idea to dress twins alike.
You see that all the time though. I can’t see how it reflects anything other then a certain perversity in the parents.
I had a boss years ago who had identical teenage twin girls, he told me they used to do the whole dress-alike thing. Then the girls hit 16, one painted her room pink and went the bubblegum-boy band route; the other painted her room black and went into goth overload.
I went to school with a couple of twins called Peter and Paul. They always were dressed identically. Lost track of them later so I hope they developed their own identity.