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The Girls by Lori Lansens
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The Girls (original 2005; edition 2007)

by Lori Lansens

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,3571396,487 (3.89)253
Fiction. Literature. Meet Rose and Ruby: sisters, best friends, confidantes, and conjoined twins. Since their birth, Rose and Ruby Darlen have been known simply as "the girls." They make friends, fall in love, have jobs, love their parents, and follow their dreams. But the Darlens are special. Now nearing their 30th birthday, they are history's oldest craniopagus twins, joined at the head by as pot the size of a bread plate.When Rose, the bookish sister, sets out to write her autobiography, it inevitably becomes the story of her short but extraordinary life with Ruby, the beautiful one. From their awkward first stepsâ??Ruby's arm curled around Rose's neck, her foreshortened legs wrapped around Rose's hipsâ?? to the friendships they gradually build for themselves in the small town of Leaford, this is the profoundly affecting chronicle of an incomparable life journey.As Rose and Ruby's story builds to an unforgettable conclusion, Lansens aims at the heart of human experienceâ??the hardship of loss and struggles for independence, and the fundamental joy of simply living a life. This is a breath taking novel, one that no reader will soon forget, a heartrending story of love between… (more)
Member:nanan
Title:The Girls
Authors:Lori Lansens
Info:Virago Press Ltd (2007), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 352 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***
Tags:fiction

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The Girls by Lori Lansens (2005)

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» See also 253 mentions

English (134)  Dutch (3)  French (1)  Japanese (1)  All languages (139)
Showing 1-5 of 134 (next | show all)
First book by author. Started slow but built into a wonderful story of conjoined twins. The story is written as a autobiography. A rich story.
  bentstoker | Jan 26, 2024 |
I just finished listening to "The Girls" in the car and I loved it. I had no idea about Lori Lansens, originally from just down the road, nor about this book. The writing was exquisite at times and plain when it needed to be. I fell in love with the twins and their messy, real, fascinating lives. The Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash "you" expression of love was just heartbreaking. If you have ever felt that everyone was staring at you, because you were missing a tooth, had a limp or just had crazy hair you'll love this story of two girls who overcame adversity to live full lives. ( )
  FurbyKirby | Jan 5, 2021 |
One of my favorite books I've read so far in 2020. Come to think of it, the other book I loved this much in 2020 was also about twin girls -- The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine. ( )
  HeatherMoss | Jul 1, 2020 |
Rose and Ruby Darlen have grown up in the small town of Leaford in Baldoon County, Ontario. Despite being twins, they’ve always striven to be different, refusing to wear the same clothes and cultivating different hobbies. Rose loves books, writing, and watching sports. Ruby is the pretty one, interested in magazines and TV, but also obsessed with the history and artefacts of the Neutral Nation peoples who once lived in their area. The girls’ lives have been simple: they grew up with their Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash in a big old farmhouse on the outskirts of town and now share a bungalow in Leaford itself. In many ways they are perfectly ordinary. And yet, in one of the most significant ways, they are utterly extraordinary. For Rose and Ruby are craniopagus conjoined twins, joined at the skull. And as the book begins, they are twenty-nine: if they can only reach thirty, they will be the oldest living pair of craniopagus twins (not actually true: see penultimate paragraph). Taking it in turns, they embark on a joint memoir (Ruby being somewhat coerced into it) and Lansens’s absorbing, beautifully-crafted novel draws us into their remarkable lives...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/01/31/the-girls-lori-lansens/ ( )
  TheIdleWoman | Feb 14, 2020 |
This is a fictional memoir of conjoined twins, sad and sweet. It is also the love story of their adoptive parents. Each twin writes her own part and part of the fascination is how two people joined at the head can still see events so differently. ( )
  cindywho | May 27, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 134 (next | show all)
“The Girls” glides by like a watercolor dream, finding its poetry in dailiness and the universalities of human desire and connection...
 
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For my mother and father
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I have never looked into my sister's eyes.
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Fiction. Literature. Meet Rose and Ruby: sisters, best friends, confidantes, and conjoined twins. Since their birth, Rose and Ruby Darlen have been known simply as "the girls." They make friends, fall in love, have jobs, love their parents, and follow their dreams. But the Darlens are special. Now nearing their 30th birthday, they are history's oldest craniopagus twins, joined at the head by as pot the size of a bread plate.When Rose, the bookish sister, sets out to write her autobiography, it inevitably becomes the story of her short but extraordinary life with Ruby, the beautiful one. From their awkward first stepsâ??Ruby's arm curled around Rose's neck, her foreshortened legs wrapped around Rose's hipsâ?? to the friendships they gradually build for themselves in the small town of Leaford, this is the profoundly affecting chronicle of an incomparable life journey.As Rose and Ruby's story builds to an unforgettable conclusion, Lansens aims at the heart of human experienceâ??the hardship of loss and struggles for independence, and the fundamental joy of simply living a life. This is a breath taking novel, one that no reader will soon forget, a heartrending story of love between

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Meet Rose and Ruby: sisters, best friends, confidantes, and conjoined twins. Since their birth, Rose and Ruby Darlen have been known simply as “the girls.” They make friends, fall in love, have jobs, love their parents, and follow their dreams. But the Darlens are special. Now nearing their 30th birthday, they are history’s oldest craniopagus twins, joined at the head by as pot the size of a bread plate.

When Rose, the bookish sister, sets out to write her autobiography, it inevitably becomes the story of her short but extraordinary life with Ruby, the beautiful one. From their awkward first steps — Ruby’s arm curled around Rose’s neck, her foreshortened legs wrapped around Rose’s hips — to the friendships they gradually build for themselves in the small town of Leaford, this is the profoundly affecting chronicle of an incomparable life journey.

As Rose and Ruby’s story builds to an unforgettable conclusion, Lansens aims at the heart of human experience — the hardship of loss and struggles for independence, and the fundamental joy of simply living a life. This is a breathtaking novel, one that no reader will soon forget, a heartrending story of love between sisters.
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