What do readers think of A Dual Inheritance by Joanna Hershon? Write your own review.

First impressions are important: A few chapters in to "A Dual Inheritance", and mine was "Ooh, this is good!" Definitely agree that fans of "Rules of Civility" and "The Marriage Plot" will enjoy this novel as well. A plot device that reconnects the main characters seems contrived and improbable at first, but quickly fades away the further you get into the story. Highly recommended.

First I would like to say that this was a good book, and fairly well-written. I always enjoy a book about relationships -- especially when they involve race & class in America. Frankly, I want to blame the author's editor for the books defects because the story was good and she writes with all the elements of a Franzen or Eugenides, but the book needed to be cut in some places and expanded in others. I think she somehow just missed the chance to write a Tom Wolff style classic!

After a slow start introducing the main characters, the story took an interesting turn. The story became more engaging when the threesome visited Helen's family home and Ed's interest in Helen became apparent. I liked the way the author intertwined the lives of the two men even though at times it seemed a bit contrived. I'm a librarian at Polo Public Library in Illinois.

I really liked this book but it was a bit to long. could have cut out a chunk in the middle. I was very interested in Ed, Helen and Shipley but when it got into their kids ... it all seemed a bit contrived. also the Ed saga was a bit too Madoff like. the author tried to cover a few too many issues.

This book traces the lives and families of two extremely different men who become friends as undergraduates. One is born into wealth and establishment - but wants to save third world countries. The other is born poor and Jewish - and wants to make a fortune. The author does an outstanding job of portraying, with great clarity, all aspects and intricacies of these two lives. The observations regarding all aspects of life and human interaction made by the two main characters and their family members seemed not only very accurate, but reflected a deep understanding of two very different lives and places and circumstances in which they found themselves. The two main characters are quite flawed people, but it is those flaws that made them extremely real for me. I felt that generally the first part of the book (which dealt with the parental generation) was better done than the second part (which deal more with the daughters of each of the main characters. However, some of the insights on the part of the daughters were excellent.
I would recommend this book. It is well written, although easy to read, and an excellent study of many aspects of two different lives lived (mostly) in our country over the past fifty years.

How different these lives might have been had they never met! Take a middle class Jew and introduce him to a wealthy WASP and you have " A Dual Inheritance". The book takes these two young men and follows them into their later years. How they separate and come together again. What they do with their ambition and dreams. And of course there is "the woman". You root for one and then the other to succeed.
I enjoyed reading the book and following their very different lives. Thought it was a bit long.

Warning - contains plot spoilers....

I found this book a decent, albeit predictable, read. Nothing terribly exciting or surprising happens and the 2 main characters plod along their unoriginal narratives until the book just ends.

It's a story that's been told many, many times, whether it's 2 brothers, or 2 sisters, or in this case, 2 friends. One friend comes from old-money 'haves' & the other from the wrong side of the tracks with the requisite chip on his shoulder 'have-nots'. Hugh, the 'have' character, disdains the family name, money & inherent priviledges. Ed, the 'have-not' friend (as if just being the poor but brilliant and determined 'have-not' isn't sufficient, he is also Jewish in a setting where that's snobbily derided) dedicates his life to working ridiculously hard and amasssing enough of a fortune that his Jewishness is overlooked in favor of his new-found social standing. Fast forward a few decades, after Hugh realizes that he has spent his life trying to rid himself of what he finally realizes ... is his essential self. He performs the requisite charity work in Africa, marries the WASP-y girl of his dreams, has a family and then, ultimately realizes .... that being from a long line of wealth & priviledge isn't inherently a bad thing, that it's (say it with me now) what you do with said life & wealth & priviledge is what ultimately counts. And of course the same with Ed's journey. He predictably realizes that he was fine as he was made, and that having a goal of making more-than-enough money to buy your way into the snobby country-club life, at the end-of-the-day, leaves one hollow and empty. Thus the 'Dual Inheritence' theory (the title refers to the 2 major factors that contribute to a personality: nature/culture/surroundings nurture/genes/family, etc) leaves the reader to decide: all that Hugh did, everywhere he traveled, he ultimately (and predictably) realized that internally he simply IS from the right-side-of-the- tracks & that's OK. And Ed? Same self-discovery: he made the money, bought the clothes, the homes, all of his focus on the exterior, only to realize that no one sees him any differently b/c he's still the same forthright-to-the-point-of-being obnoxious person on the inside & that's OK. Just like this book itself.......just OK.

I found this book too long and too cerebral for my tastes. Although this book was long, it was somehow comforting and nostalgic. The beginning of the book reminded me of "Rich Boy".
I struggled with the author's writing style - dialogue interrupted with long descriptions of what was in each character's head - making for a long read regarding contrasting personalities and generational continuance.
First half of book held my interest, but I pushed through the second half.