Book: The Girls

It is not often that I’ll put a book back on the shelf without finishing it. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I did it – although I do remember putting “Cold Mountain” back on the shelf because it was so utterly boring. Anyway, when bookshelving does occur, it occurs quickly. So it was in the case of “The Girls”, a book which I abhored from almost page one. I did get to about page 70, though, at which point I took out my bookmark and put the book back on the shelf. Ugh.

From Publisher’s Weekly:

Conjoined twins Rose and Ruby Darlen are linked at the side of the head, with separate brains and bodies. Born in a small town outside Toronto in the midst of a tornado and abandoned by their unwed teenage mother two weeks later, the girls are cared for by Aunt Lovey, a nurse who refuses to see them as deformed or even disabled. She raises them in Leaford, Ontario, where, at age 29, Rose, the more verbal and bookish twin, begins writing their story—i.e., this novel, which begins, “I have never looked into my sister’s eyes.”

I don’t know what it was about this book, but I could NOT get into it, despite generally good reviews at Amazon. I didn’t buy this book – this was a book club offering (the women bring books they’ve finished and you are free to take from the stack). I have NO QUALMS about taking it back to book club in October and leaving it on that table.

If you’ve read the book, let me know your thoughts on it. I certainly won’t finish it, but I’m curious to hear from people who DID read it.