A review by nferre
Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss

4.0

I just finished the book this morning and was very saddened by the lives of Chang and Eng. I went online and looked at a couple of websites with more factual information and found that the book followed their lives closely, although adding bits of what could have or might have happened to the storyline. In the end, Eng and Chang had a complicated relationship and wanted to be separated on the one hand, and on the other, they didn't. They needed to tour the world as a freak show in order to make money, and they hated the humiliation that came with posing in front of a crowd of people who stood gawking in the best of cases, and throwing things at them in the worst. They wanted to love women, have a home, bring up children, but the very idea of how to go about having any intimacy - both physical and emotional - with a woman was nearly impossible. They both knew that when one of the twins died, the other would follow within hours, and this is exactly how the book begins - with the death of Chang, and Eng going over the details of their lives while he waits for certain death. The author did a wonderful job of bringing life into these two distinct men, joined for life.

There are still many conjoined twins out there and my heart goes out to them and the parents who have to make the awful decision of whether to separate them or not.