I received Lori Lansens' The Girls as a birthday gift last year and just now got around to reading it. One of the hardest gifts to give is a book--you have to really know the person to be able to pick something out that they will like and enjoy reading. Unless you know for sure that they want the book it's pretty much like trying to pick out clothing. You have to know the size they wear and the styles they like.
I liken the art of giving a book as a gift to the art of recommending a book to someone; it is pretty much the same thing because in all essence, you are trying to find something that you think the other person will enjoy reading. I have a poor track record when it comes to recommending books. Becky is of course my victim and I admit to sending her down the Prep road when I knew full well how bad it was. I think I was testing her though--she claimed to be a big reader, a sensible reader and Prep was her hazing. And perhaps I wanted someone else to endure the torture of reading that slop so that we could pick it apart. Curtis Sittenfeld, Booknymphs has no respect for you!
That said, as a gift, The Girls entertained. I was resistant to liking this book because frankly, I have not had a book picked out for me that I actually enjoyed in a long while. But Lansens is an excellent writer. The characters were real to me and I liked reading about the conjoined twins Ruby and Rose. And while I admit that it was the shock factor that drew me in, the reason I stayed in it was for Lansens' portrayal of sisterhood. Rose and Ruby may be conjoined, but they are first and foremost sisters, the girls of their family. And from someone who is apart of her own girls subset, that is a very powerful, distinct thing. Lansens captures it well.
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