THE GIRLS, by LORI LANSENS

Published: 2005, Knopf Canada

Lori Lansens has written an incredibly beautiful story about conjoined twins Rose and Ruby Darlen, two very separate women who have spent their entire conjoined lives establishing their individual selves while respecting the rights of the twin they carry. Lansen tells this story with authoritative compassion and in doing so allows the reader to often forget that what they are reading is in fact, a solid work of fiction. Whether by accident or intent, the individual literary voices of Rose and Ruby Darlen is established very early on in The Girls, as they, with the driven encouragement of one and the co-operative indulgence of the other, begin to write their autobiography (or autobiographies as Ruby often points out). Poignant and honest the story reads like an “anyone’s” diary while captivating you with its surprisingly poetic dual perspectives. For every story Rose tells or thought she shares, Ruby will follow with an equally candid and slightly different point of view. By the end of the book you are entirely aware of the fact that, whether conjoined or fully separated, we all play very real roles in each other’s stories and as an individual you are never truly living alone.

Favourite lines from the book…

What is it about sadness that can be fulfilling? (Page 38)

The villainous sun stole into September and drained the world of its colour, the way it bleached the orange shag carpet in a square on the floor in the den. (pg 437)

“People don’t finish, Rose. People stop. To finish is to say okay, now its right, never I’m going to change it. To stop is to say okay, it’s not perfect, but I have to go to something else.” (page 455)