10 December 2008 update added at the end.Double Helix by Nancy Werlin is young adult mystery which my daughter handed me recently. The main character, Eli Samuels, a recent high school graduate, is at a crossroads in his life in more ways than one. His mother is completely debilitated and dying of Huntington's disease. He can't afford college but his father vehemently opposes a lucrative job offer with prestigious Wyatt Transgenics by its founder, a legendary molecular biologist. And yet Eli's father won't give a reason as to why he shouldn't take the job. Well, of course, Eli takes it and thus we have our mystery.Woven throughout the tightly constructed plot, however, are perceptive questions about life, death, souls, suffering and the modern responses of technology, such as genetic manipulation (transgenics), cloning, and artificial methods of reproduction. As these are questions we're all going to be facing in the years to come, I highly recommend this book despite the implied acceptability of premarital sex by the main character, Eli Samuels, with his long-time girlfriend. Therefore I do advise parental discretion in recommending this book to young people. However, mature young people and most adults should find this book very enlightening in terms of examining and discussing ethics in the field of transgenic biology.Double Helix is the kind of book I wish I could read in/with group because of all the issues it touches on. I also would like to quote several sections which are especially appropriate for moral reflection and/or debate, but I will limit myself to the following selection between Eli and his bioethics professor:'"Many years ago, I was at a national conference on biogenetics. It wasn't purely a scientific conference; it was open to the public. The idea was that people from all walks of life--intelligent, thoughtful people--would discuss our dreams about what this technology might do for us. There were panel discussions on the eradication of MS, and Parkinson's, and Lou Gehrig's disease, and on and on. We'd identify the genetic flaws, and no one would suffer from them ever again...It was electrifying, Mr. Samuels. I was as exhilarated as anyone. But then on the last day of the conference, a young man stood up in the audience. We had been listening to a speech about how prenatal testing was showing promising signs of making it possible to eliminate Down syndrome. And . . . " Dr. Fukuyama leans across the desk her eyes intent on mine. "Mr. Samuels, the young man who stood up in the audience to talk had Down syndrome himself. He was the head of a self-advocacy group of adults with Down syndrome." I nod. "We were all a little taken aback," says Dr. Fukuyama. "But this young man stood up, Mr. Samuels, and he said the following. I have never forgotten it."'I don't understand. We don't make trouble. We don't steal things or kill people. We don't take the good jobs. Why do you want to kill us?'"For a few seconds I cannot breathe. I stare at Dr. Fukuyama. She stares back at me. Then she smiles, a little sadly. "That moment changed everything for me. My excitement disappeared. I got a glimpse of the world we might create, with our high-flying ideas about the eradication of suffering...There's a difference between using our gene therapy for the treatment of existing medical conditions, and using our growing, but far from perfect knowledge of genes--or of humanity--to declare that we absolutely know who has--and hasn't--a right to life at all."' (pp. 244-245)As an interesting personal side note, my oldest daughter was the one who gave me the book. She thought to shock me with me it--that I would dislike it and find it so much worse than Twilight series because the young people actually engaged in premarital sex. So the comparison between the two books provided for some excellent discussion. I was able to show her the redeeming value in this book despite the parts in it which are clearly immoral.Recommended, with reservations.10 December 2008 Update: When I wrote this review a few days ago and included the above example about the dangers facing those with Down syndrome, I was thinking future; I didn't expect to encounter concrete evidence that as a class of people, those with the Down gene are already being targeted for extinction. And with "new, noninvasive genetic screens" that are due to arrive in doctor's offices next year as "pos[ing:] no harm to fetuses or mothers", there is virtually no speed bump on the road from pregnancy test to abortion. Read Mary Carmichael's article "New Era, New Worry," in this week's issue of Newsweek. Interestingly the article has a subhead that says, "New tests for Down syndrome could lead to more abortions and less support for families."
Victor Wright Due date: April 17, 2015 Honors Composition Book Review Double helix Nancy Werlin a mystery filled book with a little bit of sci fi. The book starts of with a boy named Eli who is tall smart and athletic. He decides to get a job at Wyatt’s transgressions but his does not like Dr. Wyatt and Eli does not know this. When he works there he gains a little relationship with him and went over his house one day. While there he meets a girl named Kayla and he stays there a long time. He even forgot that he had a date with his girlfriend named viv. In his life there are a lot of secrets that he does not want people to know. So he makes it a goal to not let people find out about his family because of his mom who has Huntington’s Disease which a hereditary disease marked by degeneration of the brain cells and causing chorea and progressive dementia. But when he makes the mistake of not showing up to the date she finds out everything because she goes to his house and his dad is there and tells her everything about their lives. He starts to flip out and then they broke up because he thought that she betrayed his trust. Then time has passed and his mother dies because of HD and at the funeral viv shows up and so does kayla. Later on we find some things about Dr. Wyatt like he knows Elis mom and that he helped Eli before he was even born to make sure that he wouldn't get HD. He did this by taking Elis moms eggs and finding the eggs with a less chance by looking at their DNA. Earlier in the story Eli finds a secret elevator in Wyatt transgressions and when he goes in it there is an extra button that goes to a lower floor in the building but he couldn't open it . Later on he goes back to the elevator and but kayla was there so they both get on and kayla has a card that will work for the elevator. When they go down there Kayla and Eli both talk about what was happening and tell each other that they are brother and sister. When they walk into the rooms Eli sees something he wishes he didn't want to see it was a room were his other brother and sisters were tested and learned about. When they came back up Dr. Wyatt was waiting for them but he was not mad at them he was more upset because he didn't get to show Eli what was in the basement. There are some things that I like and dislike about this book. There are Three things that i like about the book. The first thing that I like about the book is how the book got gradually more suspenseful and then ended with a big bang. I liked this because it made the book very interesting and entertaining.The second thing I like about this book is the way that it has a very big plot and an amazing story line. The reason I like this is because of how the story roles and doesn't pause to try to emphasize something but it just keep rolling and everything is smooth. The last reason I like this book is because of the way at the end of the book it leaves a cliff hanger.This is because when they do this there is a big space for the next book to have a very surprise. There are 2 things that I don't like about this book. One reason is of how at the beginning it was very dry and not interesting at all. The reason this is a bad thing for me is because there was a point where I didn't even want to keep reading. The second reason I did not like this book is because of the way that the story was too much explaining. The reason I did not like this is because it was too much explaining for it was almost like have book. These are some of the reasons that I liked and disliked the book. Although the book had its bad things I would still recommend the book runner. I would recommend this to you if you like to read action or sympathetic books.The action in The book is when he finds the elevator and the anticipation of trying to find a way to open it. The sympathetic part of the story was when his mom dies and everyone comes to his funeral. The other sympathetic part of the book is when the dad has all Elis moms stuff but doesn't want to get rid of any of it because he cant let go yet. There are a lot of questions that i want to be answered. For example will his dad ever tell him if he is going to get HD? Or where are Elis brothers and sisters at? and will he ever get to see them?
What do You think about Double Helix (2005)?
Werlin's Double Helix begins as the story of Eli Samuels, a young man working (literally) to overcome the tragedy he and his father face after having to hospitalize his mother after her mental state deteriorated due to Huntington's disease. Though academically accomplished in high school, Eli decided to take the year after graduation off to work and is surprised when Dr. Quincy Wyatt, the legendary molecular biologist, offers him a job in the lab at Wyatt Transgenics. Eli's surprised at his father's adamant objection to the idea but decides to take the stimulating and good-paying job in spite of his father's cryptic protest. When Dr. Wyatt introduces Eli to beautiful Kayla Matheson, a model of physical and intellectual perfection, he forgets all about his longtime girlfriend Viv. And then things get really weird! A scientific mystery, Double Helix was an entertaining and thought-provoking read delving into bioethics.
—Luisa
3.5. I think I simultaneously liked this book while feeling some of my typical frustrations with the mystery genre. It bugs me when a book flaunts the fact that it has a big, big secret, but it won't let you know until the very end--made way worse when a character within the narrative is saying exactly that. (Eli's dad, for example, could have made things much clearer by at least revealing the part he knew early on instead of continuously saying, "Don't go work for Wyatt! Just trust me! I know something, but I won't tell you!")How else would one write a mystery, though? Well, I don't know. I prefer more when the suspense is gradually built and when the twist hits you, you had little idea it was coming, but you realize at that moment that you had hints all along. That said, I was pleasantly surprised at a few of the twists (my guesses were off, which is a good thing), and I mostly enjoyed the characterizations, even if Eli drove me crazy sometimes. It was a fast, well-paced read. I think Eli repeated his revelations at the end a few too many times, though. (We read it as he learned it, and then he summarized it all to three other characters!)I definitely recommend this book if you like YA mysteries or Werlin's writing, though.
—L. Petunia
Best Books for Young Adults: Fantasy / Sci FiI enjoyed this book and found it to be quite the page turner (thank you for the recommendation Jessica!)This is a story about a young man named Eli who comes from an unstable home life. He doesn't get along with his father, his mother is suffering from HD and is in a nursing home and on top of it money is a constant battle. Eli is embarrassed of his situation and is very reluctant to share his battles even with his girlfriend. An opportunity comes along to work with Dr. Wyatt and he surprisingly knows quite a bit about Eli. Eli's father is against the work agreement, but is reluctant to share why. However, when Eli meets Kayla he is surprisingly drawn to her and when he notices that she looks a lot like his mother at his age he begins to ask questions. After some investigating Kayla and Eli find out that Eli's mother gave Dr. Wyatt some of eggs in exchange for him helping her to have a healthy baby--one that would not carry the HD disease. It also turns out that Eli and Kayla have other brothers and sisters who have also become victims to Dr. Wyatt's experiments. I think this will appeal to teenagers because Nancy Werlin does a great job at keeping your attention and just gives you enough information to keep you guessing. Some of the developmental issues would be in regards to having to take care of sick parents or facing the fact that life isn't what it seems. I think teens will have a difficult understanding where Eli's mother is coming from with wanting a baby so bad that she was willing to give her eggs as a payment. I believe the character is believable but maybe not relatable. I would try to pull teens in with making them guess about whether or not things are the way they seem. 5Q4PJ, S
—Christine Kloss
