Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins. Their upper bodies remain separate, but their lower bodies begin to merge at the intestines so they share a pair of legs between them. This makes things which most of us find simple – walking, playing sports – a real challenge. I imagine it as being a little like doing a three legged race with a friend, except not for a few minutes but for life. Just think - eating together, sitting on the same chair and being constantly by their side. To say the least it would be tiring and difficult and frustrating. But to Grace and Tippi, it’s all they’ve ever known and they’ve adjusted to it. But now, they are growing up and they are developing different opinions and don’t always agree.
This novel is written from Grace’s point of view, which is effective as we learn to see the world from her eyes. We feel her resentment when Tippi eats more and more and Grace finds herself getting chubbier when it’s not her fault. And when Tippi wants to drink and smoke Grace finds herself longing to have complete control of her own body and not have to share it. Some times their personalities clash but they can’t stay annoyed with each other for long as each relies on the other to help them walk, sit down, and lots of other things. When Grace has the flu, Tippi is confined to bed beside her even though she is perfectly healthy. Little details like this make the reader realise how hard life must be for Grace and Tippi.
However, I don’t think the purpose of the book is to evoke pity from the reader. I think the book shows is how conjoined twins are separate people, we shouldn’t just think of them as one. In Grace and Tippi’s case, they have different thoughts, different dreams, different aspirations and this makes them two separate girls. In fact, they hate being pitied and dislike being asked lots of questions about how they manage. When they can no longer afford to be homeschooled, they have to go to school for the first time, aged sixteen. They are cruelly judged – they are feared, pitied, whispered about and openly stared at because people don’t get to know them and treat them like they would treat other people. I found this really sad, and it really touched me how brave Grace and Tippi were. They held their heads high and this was something I really admired.
This book really made me see things in a different way. The writing style is different to what you might expect – it is written almost poetically and in paragraphs and sentences of very different lengths. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the style because the chapters were very short and I have the annoying habit of involuntarily skipping over the chapter name without reading it – and I very quickly realised I had to read it in order for the chapter to make sense! I soon adjusted to the style and got into the book, and from then on I loved it and was fully captivated by the story and the style didn’t bother me at all. Perhaps this style would make the book more readable for people who don’t read very much as the chapters are short, but I read a lot and still greatly enjoyed the book.
Overall, I think this is a great read and I think Sarah Crossan is very talented as she has really effectively written from the viewpoint of a conjoined twin.
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