Book: One
Author: Sarah Crossan
Pages: 426
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Read On: Paperback
How Long it Took Me To Read: 1 day
Plot Summary: Grace and Tippi. Tippi and Grace. Two sisters. Two hearts. Two dreams. Two lives. But one body.
Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist, defying the odds of survival for sixteen years. They share everything, and they are everything to each other. They would never imagine being apart. For them, that would be the real tragedy.
But something is happening to them. Something they hoped would never happen. And Grace doesn’t want to admit it. Not even to Tippi.
How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives?
General Thoughts: This book has been on my wish-list and radar since it first came out back in 2015..or so. But I couldn't get my hands on it. Then later, I realised that it's sort of written in prose and I don't really read books written in that style. But when I spotted this book on Book Chor for quite cheap, I decided to get it and I read it in one sitting!
Things I Liked:
1. The style I will admit is not one I usually favour. I like my stories told simply and in regular sentence. Verse is not my go to story telling style. But this book and Sarah Crossan's writing was a delight to read. Beautiful, lyrical and amply easy to follow and it makes for a super quick read.
2. The premise was very unique, I mean, how many books have you read about conjoined twins? It was fascinating to see the world from this very unique perspective. To see these twins navigate life and simply live life made for a interesting read.
3. The book is told from Grace's viewpoint and therefore we get to know her and her thoughts, wants, desires and how she views being a conjoined twin. We see her family struggling, disintegrating, trying to cope with unemployment, the expenses surrounding her and Tippi's on-going physical and mental well being. It's a lovely point-of-view and it gives us readers a very 'real' sense of what it is like to walk in Grace and Tippi's shoes.
4. I also liked reading about Grace and Tippi's everyday life- their adjustment process in their new, private school, their new friends, the way strangers stared at them, their therapy sessions, their lives together as a sibling unit. All of this is so nicely done, especially, with such few words.
5. As mentioned earlier, Grace and Tippi's family is falling apart through the course of this book. Their father has been laid off and spends most of his time getting drunk, their mother is struggling to hold on to her job and sanity and their little sister- Dragon- has gone all her life trying not to attract any attention- good or bad- or cause any trouble. It was heartbreaking to read about this family's struggles and how indecently high medical bills can drive a family to breaking point.
6. Ultimately, I think the book makes a very interesting point about this need that everyone has to separate conjoined twins. Grace and Tippi shared a leg and other internal organs and between the two of them they were able to walk on their own and got around quite independently. A surgery to separate them, if successful, would, basically, leave them wheelchair bound for life- something which the twins were not particularly keen on. Conjoined twins, sometimes, need to be separated for medical reasons, but not always. The book makes a good point about letting them be if their quality of life is not impacted by their condition.
Rating: 4.5/5
This is a wonderful little book! Highly recommend!
No comments:
Post a Comment