Highest Rated Review by the Community
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Dec 18 '00
Pros: Warm, intelligent, very readable narrative that takes major risks
Cons: Author not quite up to scope of the task undertaken
Summary: What is it with male American Jewish first-time writers and Asian culture? Between Andrew Golden’s masterpiece “Memoirs of a Geisha”, and Darin Stauss’s fascinating but uneven “Chang and Eng”, readers of contemporary popular historical...
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May 03 '01
Pros: Skillful and imaginative use of the English language; excellent characterizations.
Cons: Plot falters at times, lacks suspense
Summary: Chang and Eng Bunker lived most of their lives in the spotlight. In fact, it was these famous conjoined twins who provided the inspiration for the term “Siamese twins.”
The basic facts of their lives are readily available. They were born...
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Feb 03 '01
Pros: Completely unique characters provide material for a completely unique novel
Cons: That fails to deliver due to emotionally-remote characters and unresolved story questions
Summary: In telling the fictionalized life story of the famous Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, author, Darin Strauss risked sliding down the slippery slope from the heights of literature to the gutter of the freak show. For the most part he succeeds. Yet...
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Nov 22 '00
Pros: One of the best books of 2000
Cons: none
Summary: I was feeling bored with my reading; I had read two great books back to back and then I read the new Jane Hamilton novel which was good but not great. I couldn't figure out what to read next, so I decided to go see what Grouch was recommending these...
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Nov 12 '00
Pros: This is one of the most stunning, exciting, breath-taking novels I've read this year
Cons: If you don't like stunning, exciting, breath-taking novels, then this isn't for you
Summary: Think of all the literary characters who burn bright in your brain long after you’ve turned the last page of the novel: Ishmael (as in “Call me…”), the Snopses, Emma Bovary, Garp.
Get ready to add one more name to that list: Eng Bunker.
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Sep 13 '00
Pros: Exceptionally written. Really grabs you in and is a delight the whole way through!
Cons: Don't read this expecting it to be a biography on Chang and Eng. Only few facts known about the twins are true. The rest is a just a story from the author's imagination on how it "may" have been for the twins -written as if it were from Eng's pe
Summary: From the first sentence of this book it had me hooked! First of all, keep in mind that although this book is written about Chang and Eng (the famous conjoined twins that gave it the name "Siamese" twins), it is completely fictional. The story...
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