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sasscasspdx's review
2.0
fairly good, but the narrative was confusing at times, and not in a good, mysterious way. more a i'm so smart and clever smug sort of way. overall the story was interesting but i didn't feel super connected to the the narrator. her journey felt false, as did the strange characters that crossed her path - they felt exaggerated for the sake of shock value, but they fell somewhat short.
worth a try, but i didn't feel satisfied when i completed the novel and i wouldn't be interested in revisiting it later.
worth a try, but i didn't feel satisfied when i completed the novel and i wouldn't be interested in revisiting it later.
parisqueen13's review
4.0
Overall I thought this book had a amazing concept. I loved the character developed and the flash back showing how the twins grew up. I only complaints I have are about the end of the book. I grew very confused about what was reality and what was Blanche's dream world, or if Nora was just crazy. I would have liked a solid ending to this book. Did Blanche take over? Did she die? What about Mooncow, was he returned to Audrey? Like I said the book had an overall amazing concept and writing style.
wealhtheow's review
1.0
This is the co-winner of the Tiptree this year, so I expected a lot more from it. The book is set in a world very similar to our own, except with more nuclear explosions and a population of conjoined twins large enough to have their own lobby groups. Nora is uncomfortable sharing her body with her conjoined (but perpetually unconscious) twin, Blanche, so she resolves to get Blanche surgically removed. I really love the idea of having two brains and thus, two personalities and two sexualities to a body, but the book doesn’t explore this. Instead, it focuses on Nora’s childhood in the desert, where she had quirky, twisted adventures in the radioactive dunes. By the end, Nora and the novel have lost all touch with reality—which is fun except for the fact that it’s completely unreadable. This book is the written equivalent of the last twenty minutes of “2001”—I’m sure *something* “deep” is going on, but I’m not sure what and mostly I just feel bored and nauseated.
I actually feel insulted that Jackson expected readers to slog through hundreds of pages of self-congratulatory cleverness, with no discernable plot and unlikeable, unrealistic characters.
I actually feel insulted that Jackson expected readers to slog through hundreds of pages of self-congratulatory cleverness, with no discernable plot and unlikeable, unrealistic characters.
witchywilk's review
1.0
I really enjoyed this book when I first started reading it, but by the time I was near the end nothing made any sense to me. Maybe I'm just not intelligent enough to pick up on what she was doing aside from showing Nora losing grip on reality, but it was just way to jumbled. And definitely in the last few chapters I was simply rushing to finish because it just all felt like someone's bad trip. Aside from those feelings I really did enjoy it up until shit got real weird, and if you read this you know exactly where that happens.
coralrose's review
3.0
I'm not entirely sure what I thought of this book. A book about a Siamese twin (nuclear fallout, naturally) who wants to murder her twin, whom she hates. I enjoyed the beginning, was puzzled in the middle and was thoroughly confused/disturbed by the solution. This is a book about identity and it has a well-crafted unreliable narrator, unfortunately, the whole narration is fragmented and crazy. I found it hard to follow, and while I understand that was a part of the construction of the character, I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have if I had been able to follow the story better.
lightlyliterary's review
3.0
I read this for a special topics class during my undergrad, and it was, well, a bit indescribable. It's confusing, funny, incredibly clever, and read fairly quickly. After awhile, though, the last section of the book just turned into nonsense. Maybe that was the point? I haven't really figured out what to do with it, but I still remember it two years later and don't dislike it, but I'm don't particularly like it, either. It's not really a like it sort of book, more of an appreciate the skill and cleverness in the text and its occasional satirical moments that are carried off very well. Don't read it if you don't want something to mess with your head. That much I can tell you.
jessica503's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a struggle for me, both to read and to put down. The story of a Siamese twin, Nora, who may or may not be pursuing the decapitation of her sister, Blanche. Noir/Blanc--get it? The whole book is self-consciously clever like that, but so different in its plotting and structure that all is forgiven.
jenne's review against another edition
Okay, so this won the Tiptree award, which is usually a good indicator of something interesting.
And it is an interesting idea: that there are a lot more conjoined twins in the world (because of radioactivity or something), so they've become a vocal minority like gay people.
Except that this is pretty much the ONLY idea in the book, and sure it's fun to imagine all the many, many different aspects of gay culture that could apply to conjoined twins, but you can't write a symphony using just one note.
Also, she seems to be a victim of Look-At-Me-I'm-A-Writer! syndrome. For example:
"Once, I plunged my right hand wrist-deep in a red ant den. Blanche did not move or cry, though a sun boiled at the end of that arm. I was the one who yanked out the swollen pentapod, brushed off the myrmidons sleeving our forearm in fire."
Jeez, lady. Calm down.
And it is an interesting idea: that there are a lot more conjoined twins in the world (because of radioactivity or something), so they've become a vocal minority like gay people.
Except that this is pretty much the ONLY idea in the book, and sure it's fun to imagine all the many, many different aspects of gay culture that could apply to conjoined twins, but you can't write a symphony using just one note.
Also, she seems to be a victim of Look-At-Me-I'm-A-Writer! syndrome. For example:
"Once, I plunged my right hand wrist-deep in a red ant den. Blanche did not move or cry, though a sun boiled at the end of that arm. I was the one who yanked out the swollen pentapod, brushed off the myrmidons sleeving our forearm in fire."
Jeez, lady. Calm down.
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