Book Review: The Girls, By Lori Lansens

The Girls by Lori Lansens caught my eye at my local library because I figured it would be an inspiring story about friends, or sisters. When I opened the book and read a quick description about what I was about to read I was astonished to learn that the book was indeed about friends, and sisters. Not ordinary sisters though, not at all. This book was about conjoined sisters with a condition called craniopagus conjoined twins, which basically means that the girls are attached at the head.

To be honest the curiosity in me was what made me check the book out so quickly. I never really think about conjoined twins, till the Maury or Montel Show brought them out and showered them with gifts. Besides seeing conjoined twins on talk shows, and feeling sorry for them, I never really thought much about them; their struggles, their lives, loves, wants, and needs. Their story.
 
I thought that learning about conjoined twins from their own personal point of view would be quite interesting; Granted the book is Fiction, written by Lori Lansens, it still feels very, very real.
 
The book is pretty much their story Instead of one point of view, we are given two separate points of views from each of the conjoined twin sisters, Rose and Ruby.

We are first introduced to Rose who starts the book, and is excited and in a haste to finish telling her story of her life (we learn later on why she is in such a hurry), her own personal autobiography to share with the world.
 
In the beginning of the book, we learn that Rose and Ruby were abandoned at birth by their young mother, and how a nurse they now refer to as Aunt Lovey adopted them, with her husband who the girls refer to as Uncle Stash.

Rose starts off by telling about her condition, and then tells us about her conjoined sister Ruby, and how much she loves her, but at the same time wishes she weren't attached to her head, that she could live a normal life, and do normal everyday things. She also tells us that she thinks Ruby is much prettier than her. That Ruby's face is flawless, while hers took on a more crooked contorted appearance because of the attachment at the skull.

After a few chapters learning about life as a conjoined twin according to Rose, we are then given a chapter from her sister Ruby's point of view. We learn that Ruby is very much Rose's opposite, and that Rose pretty much begged her to add small chapters in the book here and there, because after all, how can one write an autobiography about 'her' life, when in fact they have their twin attached to them. It is The Girls life.

The back and forth point of views are not only interesting, but you learn that although the girls are connected, they have thoughts of their own, wants of their own, and needs of their own. Sometimes obtaining each want or need is difficult seeing how they are attached.

As the story goes on, we learn that both Rose and Ruby are about to turn 30, which would make them the worlds oldest craniopagus twins. Not only do we learn that the girls have a fatal illness that could kill them at any given moment, but we also learn that Rose has (in her past), given birth to a baby girl, which she called Taylor.

Once we learn about Taylor, you feel extremely sorry for Rose. Not because she is a conjoined twin, but because she didn't get to keep her baby because of her being a conjoined twin. We also learn that Rose would like to meet with her daughter, but does not know where to start, or if she should.

Learning this about Rose was not only sad, but truly heartbreaking to know that she wanted so badly to keep her baby, but couldn't. I was able to get in touch with how awful it must of been to have to give up your child because of the condition.

All in all The Girls was a truly astonishing and powerful book. The author truly described these girls as if they were truly real people, and I had a hard time believing that The Girls was a Fictional tale.
Not only were Rose and Ruby believable while telling their life story, but they were also fun, and were able to poke fun at themselves and everyday life in general. The Girls was truly a beautiful novel, written in a way that felt as if I were peeking into the most exclusive and odd diary one could ever come across.

I truly recommend you read The Girls by Lori Lansens. Read and find out if Rose ever gets to meet her daughter, how Rose got pregnant, by who, and why. Do the girls live past their 30th birthday for just a few days, or do they live on even longer than what doctors predicted?

It's a great story, with a touching ending. A story that I thought would primarily be about conjoined twins being teased day in and day out, turned out to be a very heartwarming story after all.