What do you think?
Rate this book
First Person Plural
In this stunning novel, Andrew W.M. Beierle brings to life characters at once unthinkably foreign and utterly real. Frank and fearless, sexy and witty, First Person Plural is a masterfully rendered, powerfully imaginative work, as complex and as extraordinary as the bonds of love. Owen and Porter Jamison are conjoined twins inhabiting one body with two heads, one torso, and two very different hearts. As children, they're seen as a single entity-Owenandporter, or more often, Porterandowen. As they grow to adulthood, their differences become more Porter is outgoing and charismatic while Owen is cerebral and artistic. When Porter becomes a high school jock hero, complete with cheerleader girlfriend, a greater distinction emerges, as Owen gradually comes to realize that he's gay. Owen, a reluctant romantic, is content at first to settle for unrequited crushes. Porter's unease with his brother's sexuality leaves Owen feeling increasingly alienated from his twin, especially when Porter falls in love with Faith, and Owen becomes the unwilling third side of a complicated love triangle. When Owen finally begins to explore his own desires, the rift grows deeper. As Porter and Owen's carefully balanced arrangement of give-and-take, sacrifice and selfishness, is irrevocably shattered, each twin is left fighting for his relationship-and his future-in a battle of wills where winning seems impossible, and losing unthinkable . . . Andrew W. M. Beierle has been a journalist for more than thirty years. He has studied at the Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Napa Valley, and Kenyon Review writers' workshops.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Andrew W.M. Beierle
2 books12 followersAndrew W. M. Beierle was born in New York City and reared in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A graduate of the School of Communications at the Pennsylvania State University, he began his career at the Orlando Sentinel and has been a journalist for more than thirty years. His work as an editor at Brown and Emory universities has been honored repeatedly by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He has studied at the Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Napa Valley, and Kenyon Review writers’ workshops with Alice McDermott, Claire Messud, Randall Kenan, and Christopher Tilghman. His debut novel, The Winter of Our Discotheque, received a 2002 Lambda Literary Award.
A September 2007 Main Selection of the InsightOut Book Club, First Person Plural examines the personal lives of a pair of extremely rare conjoined twins of the type dicephalus (two-headed), one of whom is gay and one straight.
First Person Plural, which has been hailed as “astonishing,” and “one of the year’s best,” is my second novel.
Richard Labonte, co-founder of Books to Watch Out For, called First Person Plural “a wholly original and wildly imaginative achievement” and named it one of the ten best gay novels of the year, along with works by Edmund White, James McCourt, and Thomas Mallon. See: http://www.nyblade.com/2007/12-28/art...
The arts and entertainment web site AfterElton.com named First Person Plural the co-winner of the title Best Men’s Fiction of 2007, with Sarah Schulman’s The Child. See:
http://www.afterelton.com/print/2007/...
A September 2007 Main Selection of the InsightOut Book Club, First Person Plural examines the personal lives of a pair of extremely rare conjoined twins of the type dicephalus (two-headed), one of whom is gay and one straight.
First Person Plural, which has been hailed as “astonishing,” and “one of the year’s best,” is my second novel.
Richard Labonte, co-founder of Books to Watch Out For, called First Person Plural “a wholly original and wildly imaginative achievement” and named it one of the ten best gay novels of the year, along with works by Edmund White, James McCourt, and Thomas Mallon. See: http://www.nyblade.com/2007/12-28/art...
The arts and entertainment web site AfterElton.com named First Person Plural the co-winner of the title Best Men’s Fiction of 2007, with Sarah Schulman’s The Child. See:
http://www.afterelton.com/print/2007/...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 23, 2016
It's weird because I'm normally very stingy with my five stars on Goodreads and I have a number of issues with this book, and yet there is no other choice for me but to give it five stars. This book was so compelling and addicting. If it were my choice, I would have read this in one day, but unfortunately I had uni work to do so ended up reading it in four days. But during those times where I forced myself to work, my mind kept drifting back to this book, and that it is why it gets a five star rating from me.
So this book is about Owen and Porter Jamison, dicephalus conjoined twins which means that, while each twin has their own head and neck, they essentially have one torso between them (though, since I'm doing my undergraduate dissertation on conjoined twins, I'm reluctant to conceptualise them in this way but it makes the most sense for people to picture them.) Essentially, however crude this sounds, they look like one body with two heads (though again, this is not how I would conceptualise them.) This is very similar to the real life case of Abby and Brittany Hensel (and if you want to know more about this kind of conjoinment in a more real-life, realistic scenario, do check them out, they are truly inspirational and wonderful people.) Porter is straight and Owen is gay, and much of this book is to do with the sexual lives and the difficulties they face, especially because they only have one sex organ between them.
Honestly, I hated Owen and Porter's parents. How it is possible for parents to be so one-sided and show so much favouritism towards one of their children is beyond me, and also because Owen's and Porter's lives rely on compromise and sacrifice sometimes, the fact that they always made Owen compensate for Porter, I thought, was highly unfair. The way they treated him when they realised he was gay, caring for Porter and Faith first, I hated. I had so much sympathy for Owen in that respect.
Secondly, I hated Porter too for much of the book (though I also wonder if this was to do with the fact that the book was from Owen's point of view.) Again, their lives is about compromise and the number of times that Porter seemed oblivious to this made me angry. Even though they had this system of 'Owen's days' and 'Porter's days', Porter seemed to have no issue with taking time out of Owen's days for his own ends, always making Owen do what he wanted him to (no porn after Faith, not telling Faith he was gay until after the wedding, hiding his relationship with Chase because of how Faith would react, etc. And when Owen gave up Chase for Porter, the response was "yeah, bro, you're making the right choice cuz I would lose my kids" or something like that, as though Porter's desires were more important than Owen's.), and also being worried about how Owen's sexual orientation would impact him. We did not get to see what happened between Porter and Faith, and Owen and Griffin, but it seemed at the end that Porter had really understood that he had gone too far - finally!
I also hated Faith too. When she told Owen that he should give up a whole year to do what Porter wanted, I wanted to slap her. When she stopped Owen from seeing Chase by threatening to take away Porter's kids, I wanted to punch her. And then when she had an issue with Owen seeing Griffin, I almost lost it. I had thought that she understood what being with Porter (and therefore being around Owen) entailed, but it turns out that she, like everyone else, had viewed them as one entity, and I hated her for it.
Owen, on the other hand, has become one of my all-time favourite characters. The amount he sacrificed for Porter and Faith, and the attention he showed her as his sister-in-law, just to have that thrown back in his face. To be told to keep it a secret that he was gay when that wasn't fair. To have his parents clearly prefer Porter to him. To lose his first true love just because he wanted to do the best thing for his twin. He is an amazing character and I sympathise with him so much.
So, finally, I don't think this book is realistic of being a dicephalus conjoined twin. The only living example we have are Abby and Brittany and they certainly do not act in the way that Porter and Owen do despite also having very different circumstances. I did not like a lot of the terminology surrounding Owen and Porter (but thats simply because I've spent the past few months researching conjoined twins) and I also did not like the impression the author gave of conjoined twins being trapped, because, despite popular opinion, this does not seem to be the case for nearly all cases of adult conjoined twins. This makes this book a useful source of societies attitudes to conjoined twins, which was why I read it in the first place. But it was more than just that. This book sucked me in and didn't want to let me go till the end, despite the issues I had with it, and for that reason, I absolutely loved it.
So this book is about Owen and Porter Jamison, dicephalus conjoined twins which means that, while each twin has their own head and neck, they essentially have one torso between them (though, since I'm doing my undergraduate dissertation on conjoined twins, I'm reluctant to conceptualise them in this way but it makes the most sense for people to picture them.) Essentially, however crude this sounds, they look like one body with two heads (though again, this is not how I would conceptualise them.) This is very similar to the real life case of Abby and Brittany Hensel (and if you want to know more about this kind of conjoinment in a more real-life, realistic scenario, do check them out, they are truly inspirational and wonderful people.) Porter is straight and Owen is gay, and much of this book is to do with the sexual lives and the difficulties they face, especially because they only have one sex organ between them.
Honestly, I hated Owen and Porter's parents. How it is possible for parents to be so one-sided and show so much favouritism towards one of their children is beyond me, and also because Owen's and Porter's lives rely on compromise and sacrifice sometimes, the fact that they always made Owen compensate for Porter, I thought, was highly unfair. The way they treated him when they realised he was gay, caring for Porter and Faith first, I hated. I had so much sympathy for Owen in that respect.
Secondly, I hated Porter too for much of the book (though I also wonder if this was to do with the fact that the book was from Owen's point of view.) Again, their lives is about compromise and the number of times that Porter seemed oblivious to this made me angry. Even though they had this system of 'Owen's days' and 'Porter's days', Porter seemed to have no issue with taking time out of Owen's days for his own ends, always making Owen do what he wanted him to (no porn after Faith, not telling Faith he was gay until after the wedding, hiding his relationship with Chase because of how Faith would react, etc. And when Owen gave up Chase for Porter, the response was "yeah, bro, you're making the right choice cuz I would lose my kids" or something like that, as though Porter's desires were more important than Owen's.), and also being worried about how Owen's sexual orientation would impact him. We did not get to see what happened between Porter and Faith, and Owen and Griffin, but it seemed at the end that Porter had really understood that he had gone too far - finally!
I also hated Faith too. When she told Owen that he should give up a whole year to do what Porter wanted, I wanted to slap her. When she stopped Owen from seeing Chase by threatening to take away Porter's kids, I wanted to punch her. And then when she had an issue with Owen seeing Griffin, I almost lost it. I had thought that she understood what being with Porter (and therefore being around Owen) entailed, but it turns out that she, like everyone else, had viewed them as one entity, and I hated her for it.
Owen, on the other hand, has become one of my all-time favourite characters. The amount he sacrificed for Porter and Faith, and the attention he showed her as his sister-in-law, just to have that thrown back in his face. To be told to keep it a secret that he was gay when that wasn't fair. To have his parents clearly prefer Porter to him. To lose his first true love just because he wanted to do the best thing for his twin. He is an amazing character and I sympathise with him so much.
So, finally, I don't think this book is realistic of being a dicephalus conjoined twin. The only living example we have are Abby and Brittany and they certainly do not act in the way that Porter and Owen do despite also having very different circumstances. I did not like a lot of the terminology surrounding Owen and Porter (but thats simply because I've spent the past few months researching conjoined twins) and I also did not like the impression the author gave of conjoined twins being trapped, because, despite popular opinion, this does not seem to be the case for nearly all cases of adult conjoined twins. This makes this book a useful source of societies attitudes to conjoined twins, which was why I read it in the first place. But it was more than just that. This book sucked me in and didn't want to let me go till the end, despite the issues I had with it, and for that reason, I absolutely loved it.
Read
August 18, 2017BLAH GOD I CAN'T DO IT I can't finish it the writing is just too terrible
November 28, 2008
I ordered this book with low expectations because i feared the cojoined twin premise was too much of a reach, but this book just entranced me with characters so real and a depth of emotion so honest that by the end of the book I felt I knew these people and loved them. Yes, the cojoined twin premise is a vehicle for all of this, and if you examine that too closely I tihnk it doesn't reflect reality, but that's not what the book is about. All at the same time, mixed together, you have in Porter and Ownen's relationship both a fulfillment of community, brotherly love and compassion that I feel many gay men crave, and at the same time the conflict that sexuality introduces into that, and a mirror for the "internalized homophobia" that many gay men feel splits themselves into two people. From another angle, Owen and Porter reflect a bit what it's like for a mature gay relationship, where sex is still a part of it (Owen and Porter by necessity have a sexual relationship with each other), but there's all these brotherly feelings that at the same time make their bond stronger from one side, but push them apart from the other, at the same time bound to each other in the strongest way, but also finding that total intimacy and connectedness repulsive in its own way. This is a book that I both enjoyed reading, and also thought about for weeks after finishing it. After I read the last page, I felt like two new friends had just been torn away from me, which I think is the ultimate invasiveness of an author, where he has cojoined his characters with your heart, and at a complete opposite to a cojoined twin, at the end you're left with just this void where these imaginary souls seemed to have touched your life. I don't know what more you can ask for.
August 31, 2009
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I cannot recommend it enough.
It is the story of conjoined dicephalus (two heads, one body) twins. Porter is outgoing and athletic, Owen is more reserved and studious.
The story, told by Owen, begins when they are in high school, goes through college and into their 20s when they become a popular musical group. Along the way they try to lead separate lives as much as possible, complicated by Owen's coming out as gay, and Porter's romances and eventual marriage.
There is a lot of sex, but none of it is gratuitous, instead it gives the reader insight into how they attempt to lead separate lives.
Not everything goes well, and the book ends on a hopeful note with some major issues unresolved.
It is the story of conjoined dicephalus (two heads, one body) twins. Porter is outgoing and athletic, Owen is more reserved and studious.
The story, told by Owen, begins when they are in high school, goes through college and into their 20s when they become a popular musical group. Along the way they try to lead separate lives as much as possible, complicated by Owen's coming out as gay, and Porter's romances and eventual marriage.
There is a lot of sex, but none of it is gratuitous, instead it gives the reader insight into how they attempt to lead separate lives.
Not everything goes well, and the book ends on a hopeful note with some major issues unresolved.
October 5, 2008
This is a well written book with a bizzare premise -- the protagonist is one of a set of conjoined twins, he is gay and his brother is heterosexual. When I told friends and family about this premise, they were intrigued but insisted I couldn't use this book in my gay/lesbian literature course. Of course, I am using it and can't wait to find out how my students respond to it. I see the conjoined twins as a metaphor for the bisexuality in all of us -- they just fall flatly in the middle of the continuom. The writing is sharp, the humor witty, the plot line intriguing, and the ending, while expected, makes me happy and sad.
December 20, 2007
I loved this book.
it was the most intimate book I have read about the emotions of a man - let alone a conjoined man! I have read a lot of twin and conjoined twin books. I put this in my top two easily. I think its a book I learned a lot from, and a book I will re-read
it was the most intimate book I have read about the emotions of a man - let alone a conjoined man! I have read a lot of twin and conjoined twin books. I put this in my top two easily. I think its a book I learned a lot from, and a book I will re-read
January 17, 2021
Protect Owen at all costs.
My feelings towards Faith (and Porter) the majority of this book:
My feelings towards Faith (and Porter) the majority of this book:
April 30, 2025
Would've been four stars if it hadn't had the classic "I couldn't think of a satisfactory resolution to this conflict so I just left it hanging" ending. Yes, I'm aware you could argue that its resolution wasn't the point of the story - but I still would bet good money that the author just couldn't end it to their own satisfaction so they simply didn't.
November 21, 2023
Wow. This book was amazing and so beautifully written. I cried several times, which I never ever do, but I just couldn’t help it when I was reading Owen’s thoughts.
March 17, 2011
Owen and Porter Jamison are conjoined twins—one body, two heads, two functioning brains, and definitely two very dissimilar hearts. Growing up, they see themselves as a single entity, but as they near adulthood they metamorphose into completely opposite personalities. Porter is pure jock, outgoing, and charismatic. He compensates for his abnormality by being the best red-blooded, all-American football hero in the town. Owen is cerebral, artistic, and a romantic. He compensates by withdrawing into his own world.
As Porter begins dating a high school cheerleader, Owen becomes painfully aware that he has no interest in girls. As Owen explores his feelings, he admits to himself, and then to Porter, that he is gay, which cause a riff between the brothers, but of course, sharing one body, they can’t very well ignore one another. At first Owen is content to settle for unrequited crushes, but soon finds himself exploring his desires with other gay guys. This, naturally, widens the riff between the brothers and expands Porter’s fear that people will assume he is also gay. To survive, they must somehow learn to give and take, to be supportive as well as take what they need. But when it comes to something as personal as sex, can they do that?
I had a love/hate relationship with this book. On the one hand it is exceedingly well written, the characters are deeply drawn and sympathetic, and the situation is fascinating from the first page. I particularly loved the way the ending brought all the issues together without being overly sentimental. This book has all the elements of a really great, highly emotional drama, yet I constantly struggled with my suspension of belief—the idea that a two-headed boy could be the star quarterback at school and date the cheerleader was too much for imagination to overcome. And that is only one example. These characters were constantly getting into situations where the rest of the world didn’t seem to notice they were a two-headed body. Had they been two bodies joined at the hip or chest—like the brothers in the movie Twin Falls Idaho—then I could have more easily been absorbed into the story, but as it was I heard a nagging voice all the way through the story, a voice whining, no way!
As hard as that issue was to swallow, I actually had a bigger issue with this tale. Once Owen determines he is gay, this tale becomes a series of coming out vignettes. First Owen tries to hide it from Porter, and has to come out to him. Then to their parents, then to Porter’s girlfriend, then to the girlfriend’s family, then…on and on it goes. I lost count of all the times the brothers attempted to hide Owen��s sexuality and then had to come clean to whoever is was they were hiding from. It didn’t take long to become tedious, and in some cases boring.
Still, those two issues aside, the last third of the books saves the day and I ended up pulling for both brothers. It is a unique plot that pushes all the right buttons at all the right times. I truly enjoyed this story, and I can highly recommend it. I look forward to reading more from Mr. Beierle, who I consider to be an exceptional talent.
As Porter begins dating a high school cheerleader, Owen becomes painfully aware that he has no interest in girls. As Owen explores his feelings, he admits to himself, and then to Porter, that he is gay, which cause a riff between the brothers, but of course, sharing one body, they can’t very well ignore one another. At first Owen is content to settle for unrequited crushes, but soon finds himself exploring his desires with other gay guys. This, naturally, widens the riff between the brothers and expands Porter’s fear that people will assume he is also gay. To survive, they must somehow learn to give and take, to be supportive as well as take what they need. But when it comes to something as personal as sex, can they do that?
I had a love/hate relationship with this book. On the one hand it is exceedingly well written, the characters are deeply drawn and sympathetic, and the situation is fascinating from the first page. I particularly loved the way the ending brought all the issues together without being overly sentimental. This book has all the elements of a really great, highly emotional drama, yet I constantly struggled with my suspension of belief—the idea that a two-headed boy could be the star quarterback at school and date the cheerleader was too much for imagination to overcome. And that is only one example. These characters were constantly getting into situations where the rest of the world didn’t seem to notice they were a two-headed body. Had they been two bodies joined at the hip or chest—like the brothers in the movie Twin Falls Idaho—then I could have more easily been absorbed into the story, but as it was I heard a nagging voice all the way through the story, a voice whining, no way!
As hard as that issue was to swallow, I actually had a bigger issue with this tale. Once Owen determines he is gay, this tale becomes a series of coming out vignettes. First Owen tries to hide it from Porter, and has to come out to him. Then to their parents, then to Porter’s girlfriend, then to the girlfriend’s family, then…on and on it goes. I lost count of all the times the brothers attempted to hide Owen��s sexuality and then had to come clean to whoever is was they were hiding from. It didn’t take long to become tedious, and in some cases boring.
Still, those two issues aside, the last third of the books saves the day and I ended up pulling for both brothers. It is a unique plot that pushes all the right buttons at all the right times. I truly enjoyed this story, and I can highly recommend it. I look forward to reading more from Mr. Beierle, who I consider to be an exceptional talent.
January 6, 2009
A rather interesting and very engaging read... There's a lot of "premise" to get over in reading this book...(conjoined twins - they're gorgeous-2 beautiful heads on one hot body-one head is straight, one head is gay and they manage to have intimate relationships with people...wow!). The author actually pulls it off, making both personalities very different and well defined, and most importantly allowing one to suspend one's disbelief and really engage in the story - I find that a rather awesome accomplishment! Beirerle uses this rather unusual vehicle to raise all sorts of interesting ideas on the nature of relationship. Not surprisingly, once you accept the "reality" of Porter and Owen's unique physical relationship, the author's exploration of their dance of coexistence and engagement in life is most interesting and raises all sorts of issues about difference, compromise and love. Given my own pathological(?) fascination with, and fantasies about twins, I found the book remarkably satisfying. While Beirerle can sometimes come across as a little preachy or trite, all the issues he raises are worth thinking about and the story serves as an emotionally satisfying vehicle for their exploration. I found the book to be very enjoyable, worthwhile in its ideas, easy to read AND it fully engaged my delight in pathos and the unusual. It's well written and I do recommend it!
April 1, 2012
Owen and Porter Jamison are conjoined twins. They have separated heads, hearts, and stomachs, but a shared torso and each control a single set of limbs (much like real-life conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel). Porter is a star athlete, Owen is more interested in poetry and theater, but they both love music and soon form a popular band called, appropriately enough, Janus. The boys try to live as normal a life as possible, but there's a wrinkle: Owen is gay, while Porter is most decidedly not. This causes a whole host of additional unforeseen problems, especially when Porter finds a woman he wants to marry. The whole thing is a little twisted, and I felt kind of voyeuristic reading it. Owen is brutally honest in his narration, answering a lot of the awkward questions a polite person would never have the courage to ask. It's a drama unlike any other, I can tell you that, and it fascinated me in ways that made me a little uncomfortable at times. The ending was slightly unsatisfying, but perhaps more convincing than anything tidier would be. I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to, though if you like truly unusual love triangles, you can't get much less usual than this.
July 1, 2014
What can I say about this book? It boggled my mind. It was well written and very readable but the story was so over the top. The circumstances of these two young conjoined men seemed really thought out and believable much of the time, but too unforgivably convenient. It didn't help that the entirety of the book surrounded the conjoined twins love life, not my particular cup of tea. It is a romantic novel for fans of Ripley's Believe or Not. I think the author is very talented, but the subject matter is not a good representation of what he's capable of. On the other hand, if this romantic oddity theme is representative of his work then no thank you, I've seen enough. Granted it was very fascinating, for me, in a strictly physiological way. I wanted a broader understanding of how the two men survived day to day with just a chapter or two explaining their love life, not the whole damn book. I wanted all my other questions answered about how they operated, not just the one about their shared junk. I will say, however, that it makes for a great book club discussion. It just seems like such a waste of talent.
June 5, 2008
I enjoyed the concept and execution of the book. It certainly covers some interesting ground. Owen Jamison, the protagonist, faces the same issues a lot of young gay people have to deal with - the acceptance of his family, the fear of rejection, and where to find a suitable partner. But it's more complicated for Owen, being a conjoined twin. The person who's approval he wants (his brother) is connected to him at all times. Rejection stings even harder. To search for a romantic partner, he needs his brother's cooperation. Through this book the brothers struggle between cooperation and competition, and each has to learn the true meaning of selfless love.
Overall, it was a fun read. I'm giving it three stars instead of five beacuse there were aspects of the book I had trouble believing, specifically the level of self involvement of Owen's brother, Porter. I understand that sibling relationships can be complicated, but it is difficult to believe that anybody who is constantly in such close contact with another person could be so unaware.
Overall, it was a fun read. I'm giving it three stars instead of five beacuse there were aspects of the book I had trouble believing, specifically the level of self involvement of Owen's brother, Porter. I understand that sibling relationships can be complicated, but it is difficult to believe that anybody who is constantly in such close contact with another person could be so unaware.
Read
January 11, 2016BASED ON THIS STORY I WILL NOT BE READING THE AUTHOR AGAIN.
found the characters to be one dimensional, disliked the pov storytelling. ending abrupt and the questions to contemplate at the back..... what was the point? this was not a great book to be discussed in bookclub thought that was pretentious of the author.
poor lonely right side Head is relating this book, he's forced to do things his left side Head wanted to do. sports, etc...boo hoo. the heads take turns controlling the one body. and swear to if penis control is mentioned once we read it way to many times it doesn't bear repeating and right but control...yes I wantto read about that. parents raised them as separate twins and the alternate days of controlling the body. woo hoo. straight gay married single budding rock stars. it killed time between tests. when it was published it was given awards....2007. so no other books were written that year I'm guessing if this was one of the best.
found the characters to be one dimensional, disliked the pov storytelling. ending abrupt and the questions to contemplate at the back..... what was the point? this was not a great book to be discussed in bookclub thought that was pretentious of the author.
poor lonely right side Head is relating this book, he's forced to do things his left side Head wanted to do. sports, etc...boo hoo. the heads take turns controlling the one body. and swear to if penis control is mentioned once we read it way to many times it doesn't bear repeating and right but control...yes I wantto read about that. parents raised them as separate twins and the alternate days of controlling the body. woo hoo. straight gay married single budding rock stars. it killed time between tests. when it was published it was given awards....2007. so no other books were written that year I'm guessing if this was one of the best.
December 28, 2008
This book challenges a lot of societal baggage. It's about siamese twin boys. One is straight and one is gay. This book tackles many uncomfortable issues and does so without passing judgment on the characters or their perspective, a very difficult task indeed when you take on such themes as: Christianity and the whacko religious right, homosexuality, heterosexuality, fraternal relationships, human sexuality, psychology, right wing politics, among a few. Somehow each of the brothers unique perspectives are as balanced and I doubt many writers could accomplish this. Even the awful wife, who I hated, I still could understand why she chose to behave the way she did, even if I didn't agree with it. By the books end you have two heroes as far on the spectrum as could and you love and honor their unique struggle through life.
January 22, 2009
So far, this book is awesome. It's about dicephalus twins (two heads on one body) and one is gay and one is straight.
Apparently there is a set of twins in real life that live like this (well, the dicephalus part, I don't know about the gay part) who recently made a documentary. I haven't found a copy of the film yet, but I read some of their story online. They have two hearts and two stomachs and two entirely seperate spinal columns that join at one pelvis. One of them controls both legs, but they each control their half of the upper body. Their upper body is so distinct that they have no tactile sensation on the other's half.
Anyway, they may find the book a bit insulting because it's kind of weird, but it's very fun to read.
Apparently there is a set of twins in real life that live like this (well, the dicephalus part, I don't know about the gay part) who recently made a documentary. I haven't found a copy of the film yet, but I read some of their story online. They have two hearts and two stomachs and two entirely seperate spinal columns that join at one pelvis. One of them controls both legs, but they each control their half of the upper body. Their upper body is so distinct that they have no tactile sensation on the other's half.
Anyway, they may find the book a bit insulting because it's kind of weird, but it's very fun to read.
March 25, 2008
Aside from the fact that I ended up reading this book in a day -- in huge part because my roommate has made so uncomfortable to the point of being too anxious to sleep-- it was a very interesting read. I felt incredibly for Owen, the gay twin, not only becasue he was gay, but becasue of the sacrifices he made to concede to his other half. I think we all feel this way at times, but to have it physically manifested with Owen and Porter's situation, it puts it into some perspective.
It's a pretty quick read, though some spots did seem like reiteration. I'd recommend it to anyone really, as it's prety univerisal.
It's a pretty quick read, though some spots did seem like reiteration. I'd recommend it to anyone really, as it's prety univerisal.
March 17, 2008
This book was so, so amazing. I think on the surface (especially reading the cover flap) it has something of a sensationalistic appeal, but it was so much more.
I loved the insertion of factoids about real cojoined twins, but Owen's thought processes, the way he describes his experiences, and the surprising amount of emotion within the story really made it a solid, satisfying read.
Also, I am VERY glad the author didn't decide to alternate chapters from each twin's point of view. That would be such a teen-book amateur thing to do.
I totally recommend this book.
I loved the insertion of factoids about real cojoined twins, but Owen's thought processes, the way he describes his experiences, and the surprising amount of emotion within the story really made it a solid, satisfying read.
Also, I am VERY glad the author didn't decide to alternate chapters from each twin's point of view. That would be such a teen-book amateur thing to do.
I totally recommend this book.
March 15, 2013
It was interesting. I think the author fulfilled most of the conflicts he set out from the start in the most realistic way possibly, and such premise--conjoined twins with one gay twin--is, by no mean, an easy task to achieve. But Beierle pulled it off for the most part. I think the story, while didn't emotionally engage me, managed to keep me interested in how it was going to unravel. The writing also tend to get a bit information-driven and unconvincing at some points. But overall, it was a decent read.
June 1, 2009
Definitely readable - I found myself wondering what was going to happen and kept turning page after page. Some really interesting questions about identity, the origins of sexuality, and what is considered "normal" surfaced for me while reading this book - although wading through the author's, at times, tedious descriptions are a bit of a challenge.
March 31, 2009
I learned I'm not as much of an imaginative thinker as I thought I was. I just couldn't swallow the idea of conjoined twins and the challenges faced with one being gay. The book was well written. It's just me.
eclectic-trash-book-club
January 21, 2008The group will be discussing this book Thursday February 21st at 6:30 pm.
July 12, 2009
Very, very unique book. Totally absorbing.
May 10, 2011
If you want to understand the concept of multiple personalities this is a first hand account of someone who claims to have approximately 24 personalities...very informative for us psycho junkies
May 21, 2011
This book is really good!! Everyone should read
September 27, 2012
The story of conjoined twins (one straight and one gay) need I say more.... Besides it is a good read.
January 6, 2017
Aren't we all
Seems to me that we are all are of two minds about nearly everything. We consider each event differently depending upon the the situation.
Seems to me that we are all are of two minds about nearly everything. We consider each event differently depending upon the the situation.
May 27, 2018
This book was fascinating. It starts slow with way too much up-front narration that felt like an info dump, but the more I read, the more I understood why that was. Owen's journey is a lonely one and often he is alone in this thoughts and feelings. it would be too easy to call this a story about sex. it is so much more. I highly recommend this book, although I was hoping for more of a resolution at the end.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews