The Girls
by Lori Lansens | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 1844083667 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 1844083667 Global Overview for this book
1 journaler for this copy...
Have you ever held a book and wondered where it had been before you came to own it, or where it will end up once you have finished with it? Well, welcome to the world of bookcrossing.
It would make someones day if you add a journal entry to tell those who had the book before you where you found it. You can remain anonymous if you want to, though if you create a screen name you will be able to get notification each time someone else journals this book.
When you have finished please release the book (and make a journal entry stating where you left it) to let it continue on its journey.
Following this book on its travels can be very fun.
It would make someones day if you add a journal entry to tell those who had the book before you where you found it. You can remain anonymous if you want to, though if you create a screen name you will be able to get notification each time someone else journals this book.
When you have finished please release the book (and make a journal entry stating where you left it) to let it continue on its journey.
Following this book on its travels can be very fun.
description from www.amazon.co.uk
"Missing presumed dead, the young Larry Merkel was reportedly the first causality of the giant tornado that touched down one afternoon in the small town of Leaford in Southern Ontario. The citizens also blamed the sudden death of Dr. Ruttle on the storm, the stress from the tornado purportedly inducing his massive heart attack.
Even more bizarre is the precipitous arrival of Ruby and Rose Darlen - the world's longest surviving conjoined craniopagus twins - born on that fateful day in 1974. With their mother allegedly dying alone in Toronto of sepsis eight weeks postpartum, the twins were adopted by a kindly overweight nurse who was present at the birth, and one of the only people who didn't freak out at the sight of them.
Almost at once, Aunt Lovey falls in love with these fragile and delicate young girls and together with her Canadian Slovakian husband, raises them on their bucolic and isolated farm, trying to give them as normal lives as possible. As they grow older, the girls are determined not to let their situation get the better of them, and are reasonably accepted by the townsfolk of Leaford.
Rose and Ruby are taught to be independent and they pour themselves into school and helping out around the farm. As adults, they obtain employment at the local library, shelving books and reading to school groups. Rose discovers she has a talent for writing - a straight A student she embarks on a novel about her life and is told by Aunt Lovey to write her story fearlessly, "not just as a conjoined twin but as a human being and as a woman."
Ruby develops an interest in local Indian archeology, a rather mediocre student she enjoys American sitcoms, but is plagued by chronic gastrointestinal troubles and, at times, severely restricts Rose, especially when she gets sick. The drama unfolds as the two girls race against time to complete their story: Aunt Lovey tells them that in adulthood, the tangled veins in their heads would likely give them trouble. And now at twenty-nine, and constantly plagued by headaches, an aneurysm in Rose's brain is threatening to kill them both.
Rose's intellectual diligence eventually pays off. The book is being written and with the odd passage or two from Rose, the true natures of these amazing girls come to life. It's an existence that is habitually fraught with heartache and longing, and with lives that have been at times isolated and strange, but it's also a life that is full of love, travel, work, and even sex. "
"Missing presumed dead, the young Larry Merkel was reportedly the first causality of the giant tornado that touched down one afternoon in the small town of Leaford in Southern Ontario. The citizens also blamed the sudden death of Dr. Ruttle on the storm, the stress from the tornado purportedly inducing his massive heart attack.
Even more bizarre is the precipitous arrival of Ruby and Rose Darlen - the world's longest surviving conjoined craniopagus twins - born on that fateful day in 1974. With their mother allegedly dying alone in Toronto of sepsis eight weeks postpartum, the twins were adopted by a kindly overweight nurse who was present at the birth, and one of the only people who didn't freak out at the sight of them.
Almost at once, Aunt Lovey falls in love with these fragile and delicate young girls and together with her Canadian Slovakian husband, raises them on their bucolic and isolated farm, trying to give them as normal lives as possible. As they grow older, the girls are determined not to let their situation get the better of them, and are reasonably accepted by the townsfolk of Leaford.
Rose and Ruby are taught to be independent and they pour themselves into school and helping out around the farm. As adults, they obtain employment at the local library, shelving books and reading to school groups. Rose discovers she has a talent for writing - a straight A student she embarks on a novel about her life and is told by Aunt Lovey to write her story fearlessly, "not just as a conjoined twin but as a human being and as a woman."
Ruby develops an interest in local Indian archeology, a rather mediocre student she enjoys American sitcoms, but is plagued by chronic gastrointestinal troubles and, at times, severely restricts Rose, especially when she gets sick. The drama unfolds as the two girls race against time to complete their story: Aunt Lovey tells them that in adulthood, the tangled veins in their heads would likely give them trouble. And now at twenty-nine, and constantly plagued by headaches, an aneurysm in Rose's brain is threatening to kill them both.
Rose's intellectual diligence eventually pays off. The book is being written and with the odd passage or two from Rose, the true natures of these amazing girls come to life. It's an existence that is habitually fraught with heartache and longing, and with lives that have been at times isolated and strange, but it's also a life that is full of love, travel, work, and even sex. "
It is difficult to empathise because the life the girls lead is so beyond the realm of my experience, though this book did make me really think about what it must be like to never have your own space; to have what you want to do be so dependant on the will of another. I think that I would have been more resentful of not being able to do my own thing but then they would not have known any different, though they were portrayed as still maintaining their own identities. It is an amazing yet still believable story.
