BB FANS

I loved this. Though not challenging to read, it did challenge my perceptions of physical deformities in this beauty perfection-seeking society of ours.

It tells the story of two sisters, Rose and Ruby who are conjoined twins, joined at the side of their heads. Their bodies function internally separate from each other, but they can not be separated by surgery as they share a major blood vessel leading to both their brains. Their life together in a small town in mid America is obviously full of difficulties and challenges, and the book is interesting in how both of them tackle these challenges. Even though they are joined together for life, they manage to both lead individual lives (as far as is possible) and are very different in their characters and interests. The book is painful at times, especially when the girls are going through puberty and having all the associated issues with that and none of the benefits. It is told as an autobiography with Rose and Ruby taking turns in telling their own individual stories. A thoroughly good read, and I'll quote a line from it here, which hooked me in from the first page

'So many things I've never done, but oh, how I've been loved. And if such things were to be, I'd live a thousand lives as me, to be loved so exponentially'.

I would suggest it is also a good book for teenage girls to read, not only so that they may think about the quest for the kind of unnatural airbrushed beauty portrayed in the media, but also maybe so they may count their blessings, even if, like true teens they forget it within a nanosecond of finishing the book.