by Darin Strauss
Deborah J. Waldman
Attached at the torso, conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker were 7 years old when they were taken from their parents' boat on the Mekong River in 1819 and sent to live with the King of Siam. At 14 they were shipped to America, put on display, exploited and humiliated. At 31 they moved to North Carolina, married two sisters and fathered 21 children. It's a great story, but Strauss carries it further in this haunting fictionalized account of the brothers from whom the now debased term Siamese twins derives. The first-time novelist gives us the inner life of this remarkably incompatible duo. Chang, always eager to perform, is the charmer; Eng, who narrates their unremittingly sad tale and wants the impossible—a separate life—is dour and angry. Of course, it's hard to be agreeable when you're a teetotaler and the man whose stomach you share is an alcoholic. Chang and Eng provided amusement to multitudes but never found happiness for themselves. (Dutton $23.93) Bottom Line: Read it and weep
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