Book Review: The Girls, by Lori Lansens

We sent a copy of Lori Lansen’s The Girls (published by Random House Canada) to Sarah, urbanmoms.ca member and book review panelist. She shares her thoughts on this interesting and unusal novel for us below:

U: What was your initial impression of this book?

Sarah: My initial impression of the book (before I even started reading it, in fact) was that I expected that it would be quite weird. Conjoined twins (especially being joined at the head) didn’t strike me as something that a reader would get beyond in order to focus on the story… or that any story would be able to compete with the ‘unusualness’ of its characters.  By the second page I realized I was wrong in my assumption. The author has a lovely voice – two lovely voices in fact – and I found myself engaged with the girls immediately.

U: What do you think are the key messages of this book?  Did they resonate with you?

Sarah: I wonder if there were actual ‘messages’. I suppose a glaring one would be "don’t judge a book by its cover".  In fact, I think Don’t Judge was a strong message but delivered in a subtle way. It was very effective.  There was so much more to the characters and the book than it initially appears.
To me, The Girls demonstrates repeated examples of acceptance and how subjective ‘normalcy’ is depending on our situations.

U: What would another mother find most appealing about this book?

Sarah: Ruby and Rose’s relationship, the caring, challenging, tolerant, loving and balancing aspects of the way these two women have lived their lives together speaks to the mother in all of us.  At varying times, each is caretaker to the other – sometimes powerless to do anything but lend loving support.  As mothers (sisters, daughters, friends), as women, our silent loving support may never be tested/pushed to the limits that Ruby and Rose experience. It is a testament to the author that she was able to capture that so fully and present it in two separate voices, from two different vantage points.

U: What stood out about this book?

Sarah: I think the structure of the book was really unique. I enjoy first person narratives and the fact that there were two of them, telling the same story but with very different viewpoints really clarified a lot of the stories.  Ruby provided a lot of gritty detail to some of the stories that Rose told somewhat ambiguously and Rose in turn, was very candid about a number of instances where she had protected Ruby from seeing or experiencing unpleasantness.  By virtue of Rose’s physical dominance, she was (by circumstance or by choice) in a protective role to her sister, Ruby and it was refreshing to be able to read both sides of their experiences.

U: Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why/why not?

Sarah: I have and would recommend this book to a friend because even aside from the story, the concept of the book (a dual autobiography) and the voice(s) of the author make the book a pleasure to read.

U: Please share any other comments about your experience with this book.

Sarah: Well, I miss them.  It feels like I finished the book ages ago and I am still wondering how the girls are now, if their respective romances ever blossomed. I want to know how Christmas and New Year’s turned out and how the crows looked against the snow at the Merkel’s farm.  Like friends out of touch, I want to reconnect and hear what’s happening now.

The ending of the book isn’t sad per se, it’s just the sadness in your relationship with them becoming so distant that has stayed with me. As I said, I miss them.

Sarah is an urbanmoms.ca member and participant in our book review panel. Of her experience reviewing The Girls for us, she says: "I had so much fun and got a lot more out of the book because it forced me to really be present when I was reading…thanks for the opportunity to be involved!" A great big urbanmoms.ca THANK YOU to Sarah for her thoughtful review of this novel. Please share your thoughts on this book, the review and related topics below in comments.