Synopsis
"Grace and Tippi are
twins - conjoined twins. And their lives are about to change. No longer
able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world - a world
of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school?
Can they find real friends? And what about love? But what neither Grace
or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead. A
decision that could tear them apart. One that will change their lives
even more than they ever imagined..." (Goodreads)
A Novel in Verse
This is the first novel I've read that was written completely in verse. A verse novel is essentially written like poetry. There are line breaks and separations between words that you would normally only see in pieces of poetry. Writing/Reading in verse definitely has a way of affecting your connection to the story and the characters. I looked up a bunch of articles (this was particularly helpful) to try and make sense of it, or to see if there was a certain way I should be reading it. Ultimately, I just made the choice to read it as I normally would.
UK v. US
If I were to pop into Barnes & Noble or log onto my Amazon account, I would've been purchasing this edition of the book. Because I follow people from all over the world on Instagram, I kept seeing this bright, gorgeous paperback version. When I saw that it was the UK edition, I decided to hop on to The Book Depository and purchase that one (One hehe)! I've done this once before and it worked out really well. In this case, though, I had a shock when I saw that the characters were meant to be in NYC. I couldn't envision this because the book was written in British English, referencing paracetamol instead of Tylenol and Tipp-Ex instead of Wite-Out. None of this bothered me (I thought it was accurate, obviously) until the setting became known as NYC. I felt that the writing was definitely not considered in making it American. AND THEN I REMEMBERED I HAD THE UK EDITION (duh). I double-checked my book against a sample of the American edition and there were definite changes. To be honest, I'm a little bummed. I've heard that this is done on occasion (specifically with the Harry Potter books), but I feel like it could've been the same book whether in the US or the UK...but especially if you wanted to keep the story authentic to the US. Much like watching shows from other countries, you learn the slang and the culture and it actually adds to the fun (in my opinion). I'm bummed that they made changes, especially given the setting, but that didn't ruin the book for me.
Something New
I don't know about y'all, but conjoined twins don't usually make appearances in my books/TV shows/movies. That's not to say I choose that life purposely, but rather there isn't much out there that focuses on it. The idea of sharing a body is so intimate, so intense, and it makes sense that the twins would feel a simultaneous need for the each other while also wishing to be their own person. I found that so beautiful and sad. Especially since the book is told from only one of the twins' perspectives (Grace), and we can see how she longs to be her own person (because she is, just connected to someone else). This book doesn't get into the nitty-gritty of where they connect or what that means for their bodily functions, and I greatly appreciated that because that's not the point. And because it's told in verse, a lot of the story focuses on emotion and communication as opposed to action, and I feel that helped get the message across more than narration fluffed with medical jargon would.
Overall
4/5 stars and I would definitely recommend this. It's a quick read, but it's also packed with emotion. The language is beautiful (can't say enough good things about the verse structure) and the concept is something we rarely get to read about in fiction. Check it out!
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