elderwoodreads's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Incredibly informative, it has been many years since I have read this but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Conjoined twins are not often spoken about and this book gives a great deep dive into the history and stories of conjoined twins. This book challenged and changed my previously conceived notion that being a conjoined twin is something to be corrected.
finesilkflower's review against another edition
4.0
I read this shortly after [b:Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity|13547504|Far from the Tree Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity|Andrew Solomon|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363008433s/13547504.jpg|19112644], and it makes an excellent companion piece: both deal with conditions, often congenital, which fundamentally change a person's experience of life and make it different from their families of origin, and which raise questions like: under what circumstances should and shouldn't parents choose surgical options that "correct" the child's condition? To what extent is such correction actually helpful, and to what extent does it simply make the family/others more comfortable, as the person with the condition fits more simply into the idea of normal constructed by society? Dreger points out that most conjoined twins overwhelming choose not to be separated. She presents a mixture of scientific study, personal anecdote, journalism, and analysis.
bookishuniverse's review against another edition
3.0
Took me literally 5 years to finish this book, which was loaned to me by a colleague. Reading it off and on actually was fine because the book is naturally full of anecdotes and interesting history. The author does have some contradictory perspectives about how society should treat people with "socially problematic bodies" (their words), and this weakens and muddles the messaging.
msteinhaus's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating and well-argued, this book documents the current medical practices surrounding separation of conjoined twins. Reviewing medical history, specific case studies, and interviews with living conjoined twins, Dreger constructs a counter-narrative to the predominate view that conjoined twins face a biomedical problem that is best addressed through corrective surgery.
Made me feel like disability rights are the next frontier for human rights advocacy and change in the modern world.
Made me feel like disability rights are the next frontier for human rights advocacy and change in the modern world.
hannahsatreat's review against another edition
4.0
This novel does well in educating readers in issues on what most of us think of as normal or abnormal. Too often we think of only one type of body as being fully functioning and acceptable. I like the awareness it raises that people born with conjoined siblings or intersex conditions, for that matter, can be perfectly happy with their bodies since they were born that way. Surgery is often seen as the only solution even when a fulfilling and "normal" life is possible without it. Dreger has a clear writing style and gives many stories about different twins throughout the years. A quick and educational read I would recommend to anyone.
jennybento's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book, but I felt there were two issues. Though I agree with her that we should respect people with unusual anatomies to make their own decisions, I felt like I was being hit over the head with the message. Okay! I GET IT! Enough already!
Secondarily, her specialty is in intersex medical history, and that's interesting, but I didn't choose to read those books. Yet it comes up over and over again. Again, I get the similarities, but it's kind of like "this one time a band camp...."
Secondarily, her specialty is in intersex medical history, and that's interesting, but I didn't choose to read those books. Yet it comes up over and over again. Again, I get the similarities, but it's kind of like "this one time a band camp...."
ireadinbed's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a challenging read for me. Not because it was difficult to parse or uninteresting, but because it literally challenged my mindset, and in many ways the information and insight I gained has changed my perspective on unusual anatomies and where and how they belong in human rights discussions.
Before I would have been much quicker to say how fundamentally unbearable conjoinedness sounds to me. But the first hand accounts concerning conjoined person's made me seriously think about how different it would be if that person had always been there. The familiarity breeds it's own culture and brings the relativity of individuality into stark relief.
That said. . .I was so infuriated by the blatant glossing over of what is to me the most analogous condition to conjoinedness: pregnancy. Specifically late term pregnancy and particularly on the topic of scrifice surgeries.
The entire chapter on sacrifice surgery left an ugly taste in my mouth because yes there are people who have grown to love people they are physically attached to and still sacrifice their remaining life for the chance to continue living. Those people are expecting parents.
The opinion expressed in the book is that you can't narrowly restrict the circumstances under which you can sacrifice a human being for another to physical parasitism without creating a special class only populated by the conjoined.
I would counter that it would also be populated by the pregnant, and that the situation is needfully more complicated than it has been presented in this book because any precedent concerning the elimination of necessarily joined bodies to save lives is going to affect the perceived autonomy of pregnant person's everywhere.
I'm not sure I can get into it more without quoting and I'm still having a lot of feelings so I will just say this, I liked this book. It's important. It will make you see parts of the world you ignore. . . but it is for sure not perfect.
Before I would have been much quicker to say how fundamentally unbearable conjoinedness sounds to me. But the first hand accounts concerning conjoined person's made me seriously think about how different it would be if that person had always been there. The familiarity breeds it's own culture and brings the relativity of individuality into stark relief.
That said. . .I was so infuriated by the blatant glossing over of what is to me the most analogous condition to conjoinedness: pregnancy. Specifically late term pregnancy and particularly on the topic of scrifice surgeries.
The entire chapter on sacrifice surgery left an ugly taste in my mouth because yes there are people who have grown to love people they are physically attached to and still sacrifice their remaining life for the chance to continue living. Those people are expecting parents.
The opinion expressed in the book is that you can't narrowly restrict the circumstances under which you can sacrifice a human being for another to physical parasitism without creating a special class only populated by the conjoined.
I would counter that it would also be populated by the pregnant, and that the situation is needfully more complicated than it has been presented in this book because any precedent concerning the elimination of necessarily joined bodies to save lives is going to affect the perceived autonomy of pregnant person's everywhere.
I'm not sure I can get into it more without quoting and I'm still having a lot of feelings so I will just say this, I liked this book. It's important. It will make you see parts of the world you ignore. . . but it is for sure not perfect.
beergeekgirl's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating.
Dreger provides a really interesting perspective on unusual anatomies and whether they really need to be "fixed," since the bodies aren't broken, just different.
The book is a little clinical at times. I would have liked some more personal stories from the families about whom she writes, especially the Schapell twins. But it definitely makes you think and challenges traditional narratives.
I'd kind of like to see an updated version of the book (since it's now 10 years old and things have changed for the Shapells).
This was one of John Green's 18 books that you haven't read but you should, or something like that. And it sounded intriguing, so I ordered it through ILL. Glad I did.
Dreger provides a really interesting perspective on unusual anatomies and whether they really need to be "fixed," since the bodies aren't broken, just different.
The book is a little clinical at times. I would have liked some more personal stories from the families about whom she writes, especially the Schapell twins. But it definitely makes you think and challenges traditional narratives.
I'd kind of like to see an updated version of the book (since it's now 10 years old and things have changed for the Shapells).
This was one of John Green's 18 books that you haven't read but you should, or something like that. And it sounded intriguing, so I ordered it through ILL. Glad I did.