She & I

by Eileen Lottman

Sandy Lazarus, the narrator of Lottman's ( The Brahmins ) third book, is a Siamese twin. Joined at the hip to her surly, much-disliked sister Sheila (nicknamed "She"), Sandy hones a sharp tongue and a sardonic sense of humor while struggling to forge both a measure of independence and a genuine emotional connection with her closest kin--a struggle that turns dark and finally violent as the twins grow older. She and I begins promisingly: in opening chapters, Lottman makes of Sandy and her sister a pointed, sometimes wrenching metaphor for the often maddening indissolubility of family ties. And she displays a wonderfully warped wit in depicting their daily lives as both flamboyantly bizarre and mundanely inconvenient ("She just pushed off on the skates and of course I had to go along," Sandy tells us). But unfortunately, when Lottman's characters discover their sexuality, the author gets sidetracked by it--and while there is an undeniable fascination in just how Siamese twins might manage sex, Lottman is not nearly so eloquent in describing emotional intimacy. The book itself mirrors Sandy's progression from charmed childhood to difficult adolescence and disappointing adulthood. For both protagonists and novel, a charming childhood leads to a difficult adolescence and a less-than-ideal adulthood. Literary Guild selection.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

aka Harry Barney, Mike Cogan, Jessica Evans, Molly Flute, Samantha Mellors, Maud Willis.

Eileen Lottman spent her adolescence during World War II in Sioux City, Iowa cheering up Army Air Force personnel who were stationed at a base in town. She has written and published 23 novels and has been working on the 24th for the past 18 years.

Reviews

[Alka · Rating 2 out of 5]

About twins who were joined at the hips and forced to live their lives in this fashion. It was a unique premise and I approached with trepidation, fearing weirdness. It was not too different from a typical sisterhood type of book in its styling though with the additional complication. Yes it did turn weird and with very little finesse. The psychological breadth was missing and the story was first person account of one of the sisters so that one hardly reads about what the other feels, or others feel.

[Benita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago and it really stuck with me. It was honest, brutal, and a bit disturbing. I wanted to read it because I thought a story about conjoined twins would be interesting. Well, it was!

[Frank Shedd · Rating 5 out of 5]

great really pulls you in