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lanikei's review
4.0
One of my last AABB book swap finds, I took forever to decide to read it because it has a musty, falling-apart book jacket that I thought I would lose if I carried it around much. I was right, but it's not in terrible condition...
I've always been kind of fascinated by conjoined twins, so reading about the original Siamese Twins was pretty interesting. The story encompasses a lot of topics actually - not just conjoined twins but also Siam/Thailand in the 19th century, the vaudeville circuit, and a bit about the Civil War.
I found the book to be a little slow at times, particularly in its coverage of the melodrama of the Twins early management and the later melodrama of the marital situation, but it was all worth reading. The minutia of life as a conjoined twin was covered a bit less than I expected, mostly because the Twins lived in a time when tell-all stories weren't really as... graphic as they would be now. Still, it seemed that the brothers were quite willing to share their lives with the audience - at least when they were younger - and their openness is pretty impressive when you consider the attitudes many people have about "freaks". I found their later life to be amazing - though it made for somewhat boring reading - simply because of the acceptance of their unusual family in a small Southern community.
The book wasn't can't-put-it-down engrossing, but it got a 4th star for being about an unusual subject and covering so much detail. Kind of a weird read, but unique enough to be entirely worth the experience.
I've always been kind of fascinated by conjoined twins, so reading about the original Siamese Twins was pretty interesting. The story encompasses a lot of topics actually - not just conjoined twins but also Siam/Thailand in the 19th century, the vaudeville circuit, and a bit about the Civil War.
I found the book to be a little slow at times, particularly in its coverage of the melodrama of the Twins early management and the later melodrama of the marital situation, but it was all worth reading. The minutia of life as a conjoined twin was covered a bit less than I expected, mostly because the Twins lived in a time when tell-all stories weren't really as... graphic as they would be now. Still, it seemed that the brothers were quite willing to share their lives with the audience - at least when they were younger - and their openness is pretty impressive when you consider the attitudes many people have about "freaks". I found their later life to be amazing - though it made for somewhat boring reading - simply because of the acceptance of their unusual family in a small Southern community.
The book wasn't can't-put-it-down engrossing, but it got a 4th star for being about an unusual subject and covering so much detail. Kind of a weird read, but unique enough to be entirely worth the experience.
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