A review by jessferg
Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss
2.0
I bought this in 2002, started reading it in 2009 and then stopped 100 pages before the end and forgot about. Guess it didn't make that big an impression. Luckily I was able to pick up where I'd left off and finally finish it (4 years later and 11 years after buying!)I'm no quitter!
Using the real Chang and Eng as inspiration for this novel seems like a mistake to me. This is a novel - not even a historical novel, per se, although the war does factor in to some extent - but it is very difficult for the reader (this one, anyway) to overcome the facts (conjoined twins, married sisters, fathered many children) and remember the characters' actions and deeds are complete fiction.
While most of the story about the brothers' stage life seems accurate and is interesting, the imagined interactions between Chang and Eng and their wives is just creepy. The lack of emotional intimacy followed by 20+ children doesn't seem to make sense and the obsession Strauss imagines Eng had for his brother's wife is just over the top in terms of impossible betrayals. While I generally enjoy split narrative (probably not exactly the right term - chapters alternate between "the past" and "the present") as this is, I found the technique useless here. The climax is actually anti-climactic. The "big reveal" is less than incendiary and is motivated by actions in "the present" so all the work to try and get the reader to see how things merge together in the end is lost and the flashbacks do nothing to fan the flames of explanation. (See what I did there?)
I suppose I wish Strauss had made his characters more generic and ended with a note that he used the brothers for inspiration. He does quite a disservice to Chang and Eng in allowing the reader to develop an opinion of them that is false (and largely uncomplimentary).
Using the real Chang and Eng as inspiration for this novel seems like a mistake to me. This is a novel - not even a historical novel, per se, although the war does factor in to some extent - but it is very difficult for the reader (this one, anyway) to overcome the facts (conjoined twins, married sisters, fathered many children) and remember the characters' actions and deeds are complete fiction.
While most of the story about the brothers' stage life seems accurate and is interesting, the imagined interactions between Chang and Eng and their wives is just creepy. The lack of emotional intimacy followed by 20+ children doesn't seem to make sense and the obsession Strauss imagines Eng had for his brother's wife is just over the top in terms of impossible betrayals. While I generally enjoy split narrative (probably not exactly the right term - chapters alternate between "the past" and "the present") as this is, I found the technique useless here. The climax is actually anti-climactic. The "big reveal" is less than incendiary and is motivated by actions in "the present" so all the work to try and get the reader to see how things merge together in the end is lost and the flashbacks do nothing to fan the flames of explanation. (See what I did there?)
I suppose I wish Strauss had made his characters more generic and ended with a note that he used the brothers for inspiration. He does quite a disservice to Chang and Eng in allowing the reader to develop an opinion of them that is false (and largely uncomplimentary).