HALF LIFE

A stressed-out high school student finds herself living the plot of a science-fiction thriller with her self-possessed clone.

Sixteen-year-old Lucille Harper feels like she’s just another “privileged, straight white girl with a four-point-oh from a Mountain State.” Her sardonic inner thoughts reveal her ever present fear that she’s not good enough for anybody—not the Ivy Leagues, not the boy she likes, and not her best friend, Cass, a popular beauty (cued as black) who’s been spending her time with her new boyfriend. Plus, Lucille’s parents are getting divorced. It’s the perfect time for a shadowy corporation to offer her a clone of herself. Lucille, finally feeling good enough for somebody, figures she’ll get a much-needed assistant; meanwhile, Dr. Thompson, another ambitious white woman, needs a working prototype. It takes the snarky defiance of clone Lucy to show Lucille that the consequences of her rashness could hurt a lot more people than her original self. Jumpy at first, the dual narration picks up speed when corporate human rights violations add deadly urgency to more garden-variety teen drama. Occasionally, long-winded dialogue and ’90s references make the characters seem more like adult millennials than contemporary teens, but the casual use of “allo” restores a modern sensibility.

A hopeful, sensational take on the clone morality tale told in an adept, amusing voice.