Half Life

Okay, so this won the Tiptree award, which is usually a good indicator of something interesting.

And it is an interesting idea: that there are a lot more conjoined twins in the world (because of radioactivity or something), so they've become a vocal minority like gay people.

Except that this is pretty much the ONLY idea in the book, and sure it's fun to imagine all the many, many different aspects of gay culture that could apply to conjoined twins, but you can't write a symphony using just one note.

Also, she seems to be a victim of Look-At-Me-I'm-A-Writer! syndrome. For example:

"Once, I plunged my right hand wrist-deep in a red ant den. Blanche did not move or cry, though a sun boiled at the end of that arm. I was the one who yanked out show more the swollen pentapod, brushed off the myrmidons sleeving our forearm in fire."

Jeez, lady. Calm down. show less

This book was a gift and as far as a book selection for me it was right on. I really enjoy reading experimental and surreal fiction. However, enjoying the genre and enjoying the individual work can be two different things. The book was interesting but not terribly good. I realized about half-way through that if I were to write a book it would probably be somewhat similar. I can write about a chapter worth of interesting material and I can write many vignettes that revolve around the same theme, idea or characters but I can never seem to get them to evolve into something coherent with a plot. This realization was nice for me because maybe there is a chance to be published someday but the final product is not necessarily so nice for the show more reader. I also agree with another reviewer that there was too much bodily functions related language and sometimes the book seemed to be offensive just for fun. That said; I don’t regret reading it. If you are a fan of experimental or surreal fiction, give it a go but if not, pass it right by. show less

This is the co-winner of the Tiptree this year, so I expected a lot more from it. The book is set in a world very similar to our own, except with more nuclear explosions and a population of conjoined twins large enough to have their own lobby groups. Nora is uncomfortable sharing her body with her conjoined (but perpetually unconscious) twin, Blanche, so she resolves to get Blanche surgically removed. I really love the idea of having two brains and thus, two personalities and two sexualities to a body, but the book doesn’t explore this. Instead, it focuses on Nora’s childhood in the desert, where she had quirky, twisted adventures in the radioactive dunes. By the end, Nora and the novel have lost all touch with reality—which is show more fun except for the fact that it’s completely unreadable. This book is the written equivalent of the last twenty minutes of “2001”—I’m sure *something* “deep” is going on, but I’m not sure what and mostly I just feel bored and nauseated.
I actually feel insulted that Jackson expected readers to slog through hundreds of pages of self-congratulatory cleverness, with no discernable plot and unlikeable, unrealistic characters. show less

I found this book unusual and intriguing until the ending. I enjoy a good surreal mind bender. And this book certainly came through. The plot was non-linear and the readers was forced to extract reality from hallucination in an alternate reality setting. I really liked the reality of the conjoined twin world from their status as a minority group to the social, political, and economic ramifications of such a group. From two hooded hoodies to the argument of plane fare and the impact on the criminal justice system. Even romantic relationships take on a very complex structure.

That said, she makes the moral of the story a little too plain and ties up the book in a neat little package of metaphors at the end. As if I couldn't figure out on show more my own that the battle between two drastically different conjoined twins is actually a metaphor for the battle of one's own dark and light sides.

Overall I liked the book. I just tend to get put off when an author begins to preach to me. show less

I really should have known better than to pick up a book by an author whose last major work was “published in tattoos on the skin of nearly three thousand volunteers.” But I was intrigued by the premise. In an alternate timeline, apparently, to our own, the aftermath of nuclear testing has led to the birth of large numbers of “twofers”—conjoined twins with only one body, but two heads on top of its shoulders. Nora, one such person, hears rumors of a doctor who is willing to surgically remove one of the heads, and wants to remove Blanche, who has been asleep for fifteen years.
Sound interesting? It only sounds that way. The book is surreal to the point of incoherence. In between what else happens, we’re subjected to show more recollections of their rather disgusting childhood (on the whole, there’s too much off-putting body-related language in the book), and Nora seems to be having hallucinations. Finally, she shuts up her head in a dollhouse that belongs to the family and has been featuring prominently in the story.
I don’t mean to be a lazy reader who can’t tolerate any ambiguity or odd moments. But I feel that those pages should be a minority in a good book. Storytelling should come first. I am much more willing to wrestle with a difficult bit if I have something to work with. show less

The premise was interesting--the twofer population, what happens when your sister is rightthere. Some of the stories of their childhood were repulsive--I was actually nauseated and would have to put the book down. Towards the end, the main character, Nora, seems to be going through some kind of mental breakdown and frankly, I felt like I was having one too, and I do not read to feel insane. It hurt my brain a little.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/half-life-shelley-jackson-end-of-the-world-blues...

I really enjoyed this, and am somewhat stunned to find a host of much more negative online reviews. I’m used to not liking things that everyone else likes (for an example, see below), but it’s unusual for me to like something that a lot of people don’t. It’s a story about a conjoined twin in a world which is like ours except that, due to more nuclear testing, there are a lot more conjoined twins, giving rise to a whole subculture and liberation movement, and it gives Jackson the excuse to explore the politics of selfhood and medical intervention in a firm but ludic way. The sort of book that the Tiptree/Otherwise Award should be honouring.