Synopses & Reviews
In this stunning novel,
Darin Strauss combines fiction with astonishing fact to tell the story of history’s most famous twins. Born in Siam in 1811—on a squalid houseboat on the Mekong River—Chang and Eng Bunker were international celebrities before the age of twenty. Touring the world’s stages as a circus act, they settled in the American South just prior to the Civil War. They eventually married two sisters from North Carolina, fathering twenty-one children between them, and lived for more than six decades never more than seven inches apart, attached at the chest by a small band of skin and cartilage.
Woven from the fabric of fact, myth, and imagination, Strauss’s narrative gives poignant, articulate voice to these legendary brothers, and humanizes the freakish legend that grew up around them. Sweeping from the Far East and the court of the King of Siam to the shared intimacy of their lives in America, Chang and Eng rescues one of the nineteenth century’s most fabled human oddities from the sideshow of history, drawing from their extraordinary lives a novel of exceptional power and beauty.
Review
"Astonishing...dazzling...Strauss proves himself to a be a writer of great imaginative gifts...a risky, ambitious and beautifully realized novel." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Review
"Humor...humanity...aching sadness...a story of heroic longing." The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Strauss elevates Chang and Eng's story far beyond the sideshow...a haunting and thoroughly entertaining parable of loyalty and love." The Los Angeles Times
Review
"An ambitious, assured first novel...Strauss imagines these men in full. They are given voice, their fears, hopes, and dreams made vital...memorable." The Boston Globe
Review
"A nuanced...affecting portrait....Evident is the author's sympathy for his characters and his ability to convey the brothers' enduring love for each other." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Review
"As lyrical as it is daring." The New Yorker
Review
“Stunning.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Richly imagined...a haunting and thoroughly entertaining parable of loyalty and love.” Los Angeles Times
“Chang and Eng rocks with twisted passion, wickedly astute ruminations and a sly and powerful wit.” James Ellroy, author of The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential
Synopsis
In this stunning novel, Darin Strauss combines fiction with astonishing fact to tell the story of history's most famous twins. Born in Siam in 1811 — on a squalid houseboat on the Mekong River — Chang and Eng Bunker were international celebrities before the age of twenty. Touring the world's stages as a circus act, they settled in the American South just prior to the Civil War. They eventually married two sisters from North Carolina, fathering twenty-one children between them, and lived for more than six decades never more than seven inches apart, attached at the chest by a small band of skin and cartilage.
Woven from the fabric of fact, myth, and imagination, Strauss's narrative gives poignant, articulate voice to these legendary brothers, and humanizes the freakish legend that grew up around them. Sweeping from the Far East and the court of the King of Siam to the shared intimacy of their lives in America, Chang and Eng rescues one of the nineteenth century's most fabled human oddities from the sideshow of history, drawing from their extraordinary lives a novel of exceptional power and beauty.
About the Author
Darin Strauss is the award-winning author of the national and international bestseller Chang and Eng, as well as its screenplay for Disney Films and director Julie Taymor. His work has been translated into 14 languages and he teaches at New York University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.