Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Wednesday 3 April 2002

"Chang and Eng" by Darin Strauss (Allison & Busby Limited, 2001)

Based on a true story about Siamese twins, told in the first person. The recreated thoughts aren't always very convincing - I doubt whether they're meant to be. Not content with giving thoughts to the twins, the author tells us that the "Blue Ridge Mountains .. looked down .. with an air of disappointment". The narrator (one of the twins) comes out with phrases like "signaled a rude bon voyage".

The novel is framed by the death-bed scene. The chapters alternate between 2 storylines: 1811-1842, and 1842-1874, 1842 being the year they met their wives.

In the final note the authors writes "most of its people and situations result straight from the imagination".

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