First Person Plural

Owen and Porter Jamison are conjoined twins. They have separated heads, hearts, and stomachs, but a shared torso and each control a single set of limbs (much like real-life conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel). Porter is a star athlete, Owen is more interested in poetry and theater, but they both love music and soon form a popular band called, appropriately enough, Janus. The boys try to live as normal a life as possible, but there's a wrinkle: Owen is gay, while Porter is most decidedly not. This causes a whole host of additional unforeseen problems, especially when Porter finds a woman he wants to marry. The whole thing is a little twisted, and I felt kind of voyeuristic reading it. Owen is brutally honest in his narration, show more answering a lot of the awkward questions a polite person would never have the courage to ask. It's a drama unlike any other, I can tell you that, and it fascinated me in ways that made me a little uncomfortable at times. The ending was slightly unsatisfying, but perhaps more convincing than anything tidier would be. I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to, though if you like truly unusual love triangles, you can't get much less usual than this. show less

This book challenges a lot of societal baggage. It's about siamese twin boys. One is straight and one is gay. This book tackles many uncomfortable issues and does so without passing judgment on the characters or their perspective, a very difficult task indeed when you take on such themes as: Christianity and the whacko religious right, homosexuality, heterosexuality, fraternal relationships, human sexuality, psychology, right wing politics, among a few. Somehow each of the brothers unique perspectives are as balanced and I doubt many writers could accomplish this. Even the awful wife, who I hated, I still could understand why she chose to behave the way she did, even if I didn't agree with it. By the books end you have two heroes as far show more on the spectrum as could and you love and honor their unique struggle through life. show less