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Fiction. Literature. Meet Rose and Ruby: sisters, best friends, confidantes, and conjoined twins. Since their birth, Rose and Ruby Darlen have been known simply as "the girls." They make friends, fall in love, have jobs, love their parents, and follow their dreams. But the Darlens are special. Now nearing their 30th birthday, they are history's oldest craniopagus twins, joined at the head by as pot the size of a bread plate.When Rose, the bookish sister, sets out to write her autobiography, it inevitably becomes the story of her short but extraordinary life with Ruby, the beautiful one. From their awkward first stepsâ??Ruby's arm curled around Rose's neck, her foreshortened legs wrapped around Rose's hipsâ?? to the friendships they gradually build for themselves in the small town of Leaford, this is the profoundly affecting chronicle of an incomparable life journey.As Rose and Ruby's story builds to an unforgettable conclusion, Lansens aims at the heart of human experienceâ??the hardship of loss and struggles for independence, and the fundamental joy of simply living a life. This is a breath taking novel, one that no reader will soon forget, a heartrending story of love between… (more)
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“I have never looked into my sister’s eyes. I have never bathed alone. I have never
Well? Can you guess? I thought not, but that was the opening paragraph of Lori Lansens book about conjoined twins Ruby and Rose Darlens. You may ask yourself, as I did in the first couple of pages, “Why would I want to read a book about conjoined twins? How can it be anything but exploitative, degrading and heartbreaking?” But something made me keep going. Maybe it was the absolutely gorgeous prose. Or possibly the fact that the author is a terrific storyteller. Certainly, it could have been the love that came shining through this novel in so many ways.
The book is actually a series of entries by both girls that serves as their autobiography. And what a life they’ve led! Abandoned by their teenage mother shortly after their birth, (she gives her name as Elizabeth Taylor) they are adopted by the nurse who was present at their delivery and her Slovak husband, the intractable Aunt Lovey and enigmatic Uncle Satsh, who want them to have a normal upbringing and raise them on a farm in southwestern Ontario.
“On the farm, in our first floor bedroom with the queen-size bed and the entwined-hearts comforter and the shelf for Ruby’s stuffed animals and the rack for my baseball cards and library books, my sister and I were sheltered in the essence of normal. We were not hidden, but unseen. The orange farmhouse was our castle, our kingdom the fields around, and the shallow creek that bisected our property the sea we crossed to find adventure.” (Page 43)
The girls grow up to appreciate their own virtues as well as those of their twin and compromise is a daily necessity because well....they’re joined at the head, craniopagus twins. Rose is the intellectual who started the book and wants to see it through while Ruby is the artist, who goes along with her sister, grudgingly. Her chapters are often humorous and add another dimension to her sister’s narrative as they reveal to the reader things omitted by Rose. But their love for each other is undeniable and love for one another and acceptance of others are the main themes of the book.
Lansens is a new author to me but with this book she had me up late, reading just one more chapter, of this “autobiography” written by these endearing characters. Very highly recommended.
“I thought my story’s path would be a straight one. A simple one. After all, it is the true story of my life, to the point I have already lived it, and for which I know even the most incidental detail. But the story isn’t straight. Or simple. And I see now, as I begin to think of the next chapter, that even the truth can spin out of control. My story. Ruby’s story. The story of Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash. The story of me, and we, and us, and them. The story of then. And the story of now. How can the story of me exist without all of it?”
The Girls is a difficult novel for me to review. I found large chunks of the story simply did not hold my interest. And I disliked that the girls’ “story” was really a long series of random reminiscences – too much randomness, I thought. Still, Lansens is so authentic that I felt surprised when I realized the twins are fictional. And her writing is beautiful – so gifted. The sensory language in this next passage just captivated me.
“I was thinking of when Ruby and I were children, sleeping under the entwined-hearts quilt in the old orange farmhouse on Rural Route One. I was thinking of the soft bed beneath the open window. The lowing of livestock. The stinking sweet air. The mice in the corner under out chair The crows in the field. The kittens wet born. And the world beyond the whispering corn.”
Recommended for the beautiful writing, with the hope that other readers will find the story more gratifying.
"This isn't even technically my book, but if it got turned down because my part is so shittily written, then I would feel really bad."
Rose and Ruby don't write a book about being conjoined twins. Instead, they write about their lives. They help us understand Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash, their adopted parents, and make us love them as much as they do. They create a vivid portrait of their lives in a small town, and help us see them as two distinct sisters, who in the end I came to see less as conjoined twins and more as just "The Girls."
Rose and Ruby have overcome a myriad of physical challenges just to live life day-to-day, and are faced with numerous medical issues. They can only view each other through mirrors. This means that although they have spent every moment of their lives together, their experiences and observations are sometimes vastly different. They have also kept secrets from each other. There is a scene where one twin observes a situation she knows will greatly disturb the other twin (who cannot see the situation herself). This is revealed in the novel but, because the twins do not share their chapters with each other, only the reader knows the full story.
Lori Lansens does a brilliant job of describing the significant challenges faced by conjoined twins, while also portraying the twins as everyday people possessed of typical emotions, ambition, and dreams. I also appreciated Lansens' technique of intertwining the twins' stories, revealing different aspects through each girl and allowing the reader to form the full picture of their lives. All in all, quite a thought-provoking read.
Lansens writing is lyrical and this book grabbed me right away. My favorite thing about it was how the twins’ extraordinary situation made ordinary things seem special and how Lansens’ depiction of the twins made them seem just like everyone else. “The strangest thing about strange things is that they’re only strange when you hear about them or imagine them or think about them later, but never when you’re living them.”
Rose and Ruby are very different people but the fact that they’re conjoined forces them to work together and they generally succeed in living in harmony. Their different personalities reminded me of the yin and yang symbol. Rose often reflects on the flow of life--“We drove the road along the river, the one that curves and loops and seems to flow back into itself, the way I do my sister, and life does death.”
The only thing that didn’t ring true to me was the chapter on the sisters’ trip to Slovakia, the home of their adoptive father. This trip didn’t seem like it would have been physically possible for them and the events that took place there took me out of the story. Otherwise, this was a fantastic read and one I’d highly recommend. I’ll definitely be looking for more of Lori Lansens’ books.
Rose and Ruby Darlen are co-joined twins, fused together by a large network of veins in their heads. They were born in a tiny Canadian town during a tornado. Shortly after arriving in the world, their mother abandons them. They are unconditionally loved and raised by the nurse who helped deliver them and her husband who provide stability and courage that enables them to dare to survive.
As they approach their 30th birthday, thereby making them the oldest living co-joined individuals, Rose and Ruby learn that a brain aneurysm can take their lives at any time. This sad fact is the impetus for Rose to write her autobiography. Ruby adds her story and while the voices are uniquely separate, analogous to the band that holds them physically and emotionally together, their individual perceptions intertwine.
Highly recommended.
Narration of The Girls is shared by conjoined-twin women, who tell the story of their lives from perspectives that only occasionally overlap. Lansens fully develops her two protagonists in a well-researched, moving, and amusing book. I can
Rose was the primary narrator of this story. Her sections of the book focused mostly on the history of her parents, Uncle Stash and Aunt Lovey, and the events of the twins’ childhood and teenage years. Rose was a writer, so her pages read more like a book or a piece of fiction. Ruby would pipe in occasionally with her own chapters, which focused more on the twins’ present lives and their future. Ruby’s sections read more like a diary – much more casual but equally enthralling. The combination of both narrative styles made The Girls a fun but enlightening read.
I was fascinated with Lansens’s depiction of Rose and Ruby. At first, I wondered how hard it would be to share my entire life connected to my sister – with no sense of privacy, the inability to do something without my sister tagging along and the public stigma that they must have endured. However, by the middle of the book, I forgot that the girls were conjoined. They emerged as separate characters to me. In fact, it was only when Lansens mentioned something about their conjoining (such as using mirrors to see each other) that I remembered Ruby and Rose were connected. These characters evolved into their own women – with their own temperaments, dreams, loves and fears – and I loved reading every word of their lives.
The Girls was long-listed for the Orange Prize and an example of excellent contemporary fiction written by a woman. If you love great character-driven fiction, then The Girls is for you.
Ruby and Rose are the oldest surviving craniopagus twins. They were born in Canada in 1974. The story takes place when they are 29. Ruby wants to write her life
There is a sort of chronical order to Ruby's story and Rose adds the missing facts. It isn't until 3/4 of the way through the book that we find out why the girls are writing.
Lansens does a good job of writing with two separate voices. Because I live near the area - I like the fact that Lansens uses sites that I've visited.
Yes, it is a work of fiction, but when you're reading, you believe these women are real. I couldn't put it down.
The two girls are adopted by a nurse and her husband and brought up in a
I was expecting a 'typical' female written novel of medium writing quality and a standard method of telling, and in many ways this is what was delivered. However, the thing that made this enjoyable for me was not the backstory and the events as such, but the interaction between the girls through the telling. Neither knows what the other is writing, and the coincidences and comments the author drops into both make it appear both believable and fascinating.
At times I felt it was real, at others I was aware of the 'story' quality of it and couldn't feel it as a supposed autobiography and yet at the end, it was both heartbreaking and joyful, inspiring and devastating. I wanted more and yet I felt it ended where it should.
It seems much more a 'feminine' book than one that might appeal to all sexes and ages than some do, but it is an enjoyable and well paced read.
In one line: Conjoined twins tell their lives in unique voices and styles, to great effect.
3 1/2 out of 5
In the audiobook, each girl has a different reader and both of them do a marvelous job portraying their characters.
Readers who enjoyed My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult will probably like this as well. Also, anyone who likes stories told in diaries and letters will appreciate how things are revealed through each girl's writings.
It is the moving story of two girls, conjoined at the head, but two very separate personalties. We are told the story of their life thought an autobiography with each girl writing different chapters.
The story is so realistic, you really believe it to be true. Shocking in places, it is not a book to be taken lightly. You really will be inspired by their story, and the awful things that happen to them.
That doesn't mean it is a sad story of 2 people victimized for how they look. On the contrary, the fact they are conjoined doesn't factor into this much at all, it only adds to their own personalities. Instead we see how 2 teenagers face the realities of growing up, only they have other issues to deal with at the same time.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.