Double Act

This was one of the first books I read after I started primary school - I remember because I bought it from the book club leaflets we used to get round. I loved it, unlike pretty much every other Jacqueline Wilson book I subsequently read (with the exception of The Lottie Project). So when I started buying second-hand books I'd loved as a child, this was pretty far up the list.

It just didn't hold up on a re-read. I was torn between giving it two and three stars and only gave it three because I had loved it, once. This was just... blegh. Both of the twins are annoying (obviously Ruby moreso) and the whole thing is just SO entirely awful and affected and unrealistic and... pretty much everything else that put me off JW's other books when show more I was a kid. I'm not sure WHY I liked this one that much. Perhaps it seemed like a novelty because it was the first one I read? It only took me about half an hour to reread, so I suppose it was brief, at least. I liked the unusual style, I suppose, of having them write it as if it were a diary of sorts, and I liked the idea of buying a bookshop and painting it red, and finding all the stuff in it. I just wish there had been more description, more - oh, I don't know. I'm looking for something that clearly isn't there.

Wilson's books are preachy and boring with no real sparkle or magic. She attempts to get into the heads of children who are going through traumatic events (such as divorce, or death, or many of the other things that happen in lives, both young and old) but it rarely rang true to me as a kid, and it doesn't now. If you're buying for kids, please, PLEASE buy them anything else. Buy something that will fire their imagination. Don't buy this miserable toss. show less

This was one of the first books I read after I started primary school - I remember because I bought it from the book club leaflets we used to get round. I loved it, unlike pretty much every other Jacqueline Wilson book I subsequently read (with the exception of The Lottie Project). So when I started buying second-hand books I'd loved as a child, this was pretty far up the list.

It just didn't hold up on a re-read. I was torn between giving it two and three stars and only gave it three because I had loved it, once. This was just... blegh. Both of the twins are annoying (obviously Ruby moreso) and the whole thing is just SO entirely awful and affected and unrealistic and... pretty much everything else that put me off JW's other books when show more I was a kid. I'm not sure WHY I liked this one that much. Perhaps it seemed like a novelty because it was the first one I read? It only took me about half an hour to reread, so I suppose it was brief, at least. I liked the unusual style, I suppose, of having them write it as if it were a diary of sorts, and I liked the idea of buying a bookshop and painting it red, and finding all the stuff in it. I just wish there had been more description, more - oh, I don't know. I'm looking for something that clearly isn't there.

Wilson's books are preachy and boring with no real sparkle or magic. She attempts to get into the heads of children who are going through traumatic events (such as divorce, or death, or many of the other things that happen in lives, both young and old) but it rarely rang true to me as a kid, and it doesn't now. If you're buying for kids, please, PLEASE buy them anything else. Buy something that will fire their imagination. Don't buy this miserable toss. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1221260.html

Double Act is actually a rather happy story, of twins whose world is turned upside down when their widowed father moves them to the countryside to start a second-hand bookshop with his new girlfriend. One of Wilson's great narrative techniques is to have her first-person characters unwittingly show us what other people think of them; here, she does that as usual but has the extra wrinkle of the twins (Ruby, the bossy one, and Garnet, the quiet one) each telling her slightly different side of the story, and (a lovely touch) with illustrations by two different artists depending on whose voice we are reading.

This was one of the first books I read after I started primary school - I remember because I bought it from the book club leaflets we used to get round. I loved it, unlike pretty much every other Jacqueline Wilson book I subsequently read (with the exception of The Lottie Project). So when I started buying second-hand books I'd loved as a child, this was pretty far up the list.

It just didn't hold up on a re-read. I was torn between giving it two and three stars and only gave it three because I had loved it, once. This was just... blegh. Both of the twins are annoying (obviously Ruby moreso) and the whole thing is just SO entirely awful and affected and unrealistic and... pretty much everything else that put me off JW's other books when show more I was a kid. I'm not sure WHY I liked this one that much. Perhaps it seemed like a novelty because it was the first one I read? It only took me about half an hour to reread, so I suppose it was brief, at least. I liked the unusual style, I suppose, of having them write it as if it were a diary of sorts, and I liked the idea of buying a bookshop and painting it red, and finding all the stuff in it. I just wish there had been more description, more - oh, I don't know. I'm looking for something that clearly isn't there.

Wilson's books are preachy and boring with no real sparkle or magic. She attempts to get into the heads of children who are going through traumatic events (such as divorce, or death, or many of the other things that happen in lives, both young and old) but it rarely rang true to me as a kid, and it doesn't now. If you're buying for kids, please, PLEASE buy them anything else. Buy something that will fire their imagination. Don't buy this miserable toss. show less

Twins Ruby and Garnet are annoyed to find out that not only do they have to move house, and leave their Gran, but that their dad has a new girlfriend - Rose! Ruby is determined to get rid of Rose and even encourages twin Garnet to join in her vendetta. Also with a determination to become famous Ruby follows a TV advert to be part of a TV serial. Garnet wanting to please her sister does everything she can. Can both girls do what they want with their life but still remain on good terms?

This wasn't that good a book. I know I'm not in the intended age group but even my niece, whom I read it too, didn't think it was that good either. The storyline of the story didn't seem to flow that well and overall it was duller than it was show more entertaining.

The characters didn't seem to have their own personality and eventually reading the book started to become more of a chore than something of enjoyment.

Ruby just grated on me her whole personality was irritating. Garnet was far too much of a push over and always eager to please - brown-noser comes to mind.

Overall this book was a bit of a disappointment. It just wasn't something I was expecting from a children's book. show less

Another typical story from Jacqueline Wilson.
Just because I have read a lot doesn't mean I like them, they all get a bit the same after a while. There were a lot on the BBC Top 100 list which is why I read them.

Ruby and Garrnet are ten years old and are identical. Their mum died when they were seven. All though they look like each other they are very different. Ruby,the older twin, is daring,loud and makes you chuckle. Garrnet is timid, quiet and well-behaved. Their differinces often cause trouble. When their dad buys a book-shop in the country with his friend Rose the twins hate it ,expecily the leader of a gang of boys who the girls call Blob. Ruby wants to be a actress so when she sees a advert in the paper for identical twins to star in The Twins at St.Clare's they audition. Although Garrnet is too shy the twins dicide they want to go to boarding school. They write to Marmock Heights,the school the St. Clares is filmed at, to see if their show more are any places. They sit the entrance exam for it. Garrnet passes but Ruby fails. Ruby dicides she doesn't want be identicale so she cuts her hair very short and waits to see what Garrnet puts on so she can put something on completly different on. Ruby makes frinds with Blob although they still call each other Blob and Baldie. When the twins' dad take Garrnet to the train-station for Marmock Heights Ruby relises how much she loves her twin and Garrnet sucks up to Ruby in her letters show less