Synopses & Reviews
In Lori Lansens astonishing second novel, readers come to know and love two of the most remarkable characters in Canadian fiction. Rose and Ruby are twenty-nine-year-old conjoined twins. Born during a tornado to a shocked teenaged mother in the hospital at Leaford, Ontario, they are raised by the nurse who helped usher them into the world. Aunt Lovey and her husband, Uncle Stash, are middle-aged and with no children of their own. They relocate from the town to the drafty old farmhouse in the country that has been in Loveys family for generations.
Joined to Ruby at the head, Roses face is pulled to one side, but she has full use of her limbs. Ruby has a beautiful face, but her body is tiny and she is unable to walk. She rests her legs on her sisters hip, rather like a small child or a doll.
In spite of their situation, the girls lead surprisingly separate lives. Rose is bookish and a baseball fan. Ruby is fond of trash TV and has a passion for local history.
Rose has always wanted to be a writer, and as the novel opens, she begins to pen her autobiography. Here is how she begins:
I have never looked into my sisters eyes. I have never bathed alone. I have never stood in the grass at night and raised my arms to a beguiling moon. Ive never used an airplane bathroom. Or worn a hat. Or been kissed like that. Ive never driven a car. Or slept through the night. Never a private talk. Or solo walk. Ive never climbed a tree. Or faded into a crowd. So many things Ive never done, but oh, how Ive been loved. And, if such things were to be, Id live a thousand lives as me, to be loved so exponentially.
Ruby, with her marvellous characteristic logic, points out that Roses autobiography will have to be Rubys as well — and how can she trust Rose to represent her story accurately? Soon, Ruby decides to chime in with chapters of her own.
The novel begins with Rose, but eventually moves to Rubys point of view and then switches back and forth. Because the girls face in slightly different directions, neither can see what the other is writing, and they dont tell each other either. The reader is treated to sometimes overlapping stories told in two wonderfully distinct styles. Rose is given to introspection and secrecy. Rubys style is "tell-all" — frank and decidedly sweet.
We learn of their early years as the town "freaks" and of Loveys and Stashs determination to give them as normal an upbringing as possible. But when we meet them, both Lovey and Stash are dead, the girls have moved back into town, and theyve received some ominous news. They are on the verge of becoming the oldest surviving craniopagus (joined at the head) twins in history, but the question of whether theyll live to celebrate their thirtieth birthday is suddenly impossible to answer.
In Rose and Ruby, Lori Lansens has created two precious characters, each distinct and loveable in their very different ways, and has given them a world in Leaford that rings absolutely true. The girls are unforgettable. The Girls is nothing short of a tour de force.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Lori Lansens was a successful screenwriter before she
burst onto the literary scene in 2002 with her first novel
Rush Home Road. Translated into eight languages and published in eleven countries,
Rush Home Road received rave reviews around the world, was a national bestseller in Canada and a
Globe 100 Book of the Year. Whoopi Goldbergs production company has optioned the film rights. Born and raised in Chatham, Ontario, where both
Rush Home Road and
The Girls are set, Lori Lansens now makes her home in Toronto.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reading Group Guide
1. Rose begins her autobiography with a list of things she has never experienced. How does she revise this list in the final chapter - and what does the revised passage reveal about how she has evolved over the course of the novel?
2. As a fictionalized autobiography, The Girls offers many insights into the art of the memoir. What challenges does Rose encounter while writing - and how does she deal with them? Consider, for instance, her decision to write the book chronologically.
3. Throughout your reading, did you ever have to remind yourself that The Girls is a novel as opposed to an actual memoir?
4. Ruby innocently reveals information that Rose is either withholding or simply hasnt broached yet. What impact did these revelations have on you? How would you describe the sisters respective writing styles?
5. The novel contains many comic moments. Which scenes stand out for you as most amusing?
6. The Girls has been described as ultimately optimistic. What role does hope play in the story? How do the girls triumph over their situation? What role does Aunt Lovey play in helping them to become strong, both emotionally and physically?
7. "Weve been called many things: freaks, horrors, monsters, devils, witches, retards, wonders, marvels…In small-town Leaford, where we live and work, were just 'The Girls.'" What role does language play in the novel with respect to naming and labeling?
8. 8. Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash are deeply committed to one another and very much in love. How do you understand Uncle Stashs infidelity in this context?
9. The novel is set near the Windsor-Detroit border, where the Ambassador Bridge joins Canada and the U.S. Does the novels setting have metaphorical significance in your view?
10. Rose writes: "There is some alienation, of course, in being so different, but its also been fascinating, and a unique opportunity, I think, to have observed our generation without fully participating in it." Besides Rose and Ruby, who else might be considered an outsider in the novel?
11. The Girls contains numerous parallels and symmetries. For example, both Rose and her daughter will never know their birth mother. What other parallels and symmetries - in terms of plot, character and setting - caught your attention?
12. How did you respond to the scene with Frankie Foyle? Were you curious about the sisters sexuality before you reached this chapter? What other aspects of conjoinment fascinated you or helped you to see the world differently?
13. Discuss the various mother figures that appear in The Girls.
14. How did you feel about the ending - in particular, not knowing precisely what happens to the sisters?
15. Imagine that you were a neighbour or co-worker of Ruby and Rose. Which sister do you think youd get along with better?
Author Q&A
What inspired you to write this particular book? Is there a story about the writing of this novel that begs to be told?Like many people I'm interested in twins. I became fascinated with the subject of conjoined twins when I was doing research for an unrelated writing project (a screenplay) a few years ago. I became even more intrigued when I was following the story of Iranian craniopagus twins, the Bijani girls, who, nearly thirty years old, decided upon risky surgery to separate them. Both women died on the operating table, after expressing how they longed to look into each other's eyes. (They were joined at the side of the head and could only see each other in mirrors.) There's no question that I was inspired reading about real-life conjoined twins but the more personal connection to the story came from an unusual source – my two very young children. There was a time, not so long ago, shortly before and during the writing of Rose and Ruby's story, that I had an intense physical attachment to my children. It seemed as though I had a child attached to my hip, my breast, or my lap at all times. I thought a great deal about the nature of connection and intimacy and the way people share their lives. My deep connection to my children was a jumping off place for the writing of The Girls.
What is it that you're exploring in this book?
The Girls is a story about a most profound kind of intimacy, an exploration of love in all its many forms. It's also an examination of story-telling and narrative perspective.
Any favourite characters?
Naturally Rose and Ruby are my favourite characters but I love Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash too. I wanted to give the girls the best parents possible and I think I found them in Lovey and Stash. Aunt Lovey, in particular, who raises the girls to shun pity in themselves and others, and who wants more for Rose and Ruby than mere survival. There are obvious parallels in the Darlen's marital relationship and the girls’ sibling relationship. Neither pair can live with the other.
What type of research did you do before you started writing?
I did a great deal of research before and while I was writing including research on conjoined twins in history, medical research, details about the Neutral Indians in Southwestern Ontario, sports trivia. The incidence of conjoinment is rarer than most people think. There are very few conjoined twins in history or currently living (together) in the world, so there was little I could read in the way of biography or testimony. I felt a responsibility to stay away from learning too much about any living conjoined twins so there would be no risk of confusing fact with fiction and no fear of exploiting any living person. (That is also why I chose not to contact or interview any conjoined twins.) What I did discover from all I read was that every pair of twins was completely different. The twins were different both as individuals and in their situation of conjoinment, depending on the nature of their anatomies, their particular restrictions, their culture and geography, and even their personalities. Realizing early on in the process that there was no typical experience for any pair of conjoined twins was liberating to me as a writer. I felt confident to approach The Girls as a work of imagination.
Are there any tips you would give a book club to better navigate their discussion of your book?
I think the book is unusual because of the narrative structure and it's been wonderful to hear from readers the many interpretations of Rose and Ruby and the different perspectives on their lives. I think it's interesting to look at their lives in terms of the discrepancies and contradictions in the telling of the their individual stories. Rose and Ruby define themselves by what they've written about themselves and each other. Or, maybe more by what they haven't written.
Do you have a favourite story to tell about being interviewed about your book?
My favourite interview, and I remember each moment of it, was my first interview for the book with Susan G. Cole from NOW magazine. She asked such thoughtful questions, and I loved the way she talked about the characters and the story. It was a pleasure for me to answer questions that were then so fresh and new.
What question have you never been asked in an interview but wish you were?
I can't think of a thing I haven't been asked. But the three questions that are almost always asked in interviews are 1. Have you interviewed any conjoined twins? 2. Are you a twin? 3. Do you have a sister? The answers, in short, are – no and no and no.
What has the response been stateside to your novels? Do you have an interesting story about the difference in reader or media reaction to your work?
As I write, the book has yet to be launched in America. That being said there has already been huge interest and lots of nice advance reviews. The book has been sold to 8 countries outside of North America and I'm pleased to think of people around the world getting to know Rose and Ruby. I think it will be interesting to see how people from different cultures respond to a story about very unusual twins.
How did the experience of writing your second novel differ from your first?
My first novel, Rush Home Road, was finished just days before I gave birth to my first child. I wrote most of it during the pregnancy. I was able to write for very long days and often wrote seven days a week. I had the sense of the story pouring out – that my fingers could barely keep up with the narrator.
The Girls was a greater challenge, practically speaking, because when I began to write it I had an infant and a toddler and a husband frequently working out of town. I approached the writing of the second story more methodically, and in a very workman-like way. Like Rose Darlen, I put aside a number of hours a day to write, then set daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Of course, like any working mom, I struggled with the balance of work and family.
What are you working on now?
I have yet to set pen to paper (or finger to key) but feel a story spinning involving two characters who face an enormous mid-life change. (I'm in the process of relocating my family to the suburbs of Los Angeles after having lived in downtown Toronto for the past 22 years.) I think that this move will be reflected somehow in my next book.
From the Trade Paperback edition.