Chang and Eng

by Darin Strauss

In this stunning novel, Darin Strauss combines fiction with astonishing fact to tell the story of history’s most famous twins. Born in Siam in 1811—on a squalid houseboat on the Mekong River—Chang and Eng Bunker were international celebrities before the age of twenty. Touring the world’s stages as a circus act, they settled in the American South just prior to the Civil War. They eventually married two sisters from North Carolina, fathering twenty-one children between them, and lived for more than six decades never more than seven inches apart, attached at the chest by a small band of skin and cartilage.
Woven from the fabric of fact, myth, and imagination, Strauss’s narrative gives poignant, articulate voice to these legendary brothers, and humanizes the freakish legend that grew up around them. Sweeping from the Far East and the court of the King of Siam to the shared intimacy of their lives in America, Chang and Eng rescues one of the nineteenth century’s most fabled human oddities from the sideshow of history, drawing from their extraordinary lives a novel of exceptional power and beauty.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Historical, China, Novels, Literary Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and a winner of the American Library Association's Alix Award and The National Book Critics Circle Award, the internationally-bestselling writer Darin Strauss is the author of the novels Chang & Eng, The Real McCoy, and More Than It Hurts You, and the NBCC-winning memoir Half a Life. These have been New York Times Notable Books, Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Amazon, Chicago Tribune, and NPR Best Books of the Year, among others. Darin has been translated into fourteen languages and published in nineteen countries, and he is a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU's creative writing program.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited and intrigued by the premise of this book, but I was disappointed. The story could have been great if Chang, Eng, or any of the characters had been even remotely sympathetic. The writing was decent, but the story itself was not at all compelling. I felt it lacked dimension and vibrancy and the bleakness made it a chore to read. Told from the Eng’s perspective, all he does is gripe and moan about his situation, regardless of their prosperity or hardship. He is constantly at odds with his brother, his wife, and his vocation and though it’s a first person narrative, he seems so distant. Strauss’s attempt to get inside Eng’s head and relate the mechanics of their existence comes off as tedious. The chapters alternate between the twin’s post- and pre-marriage lives, but neither narrative kept my interest. While they lived very fascinating lives, Strauss dwells on the domestic and mundane aspects instead of their more exotic and exciting adventures. You can get just as much out of Chang and Eng’s Wikipedia entry without having to trudge through 300+ pages.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

One evening while I was reading--and complaining about--Chang and Eng, my husband asked, "How can you write a bad book about conjoined twins who fathered 21 children between them?" It's a miracle, but Darin Strauss did it. The book was pretty boring due to Strauss's odd structural and stylistic choices. Why go back and forth between the twins' childhood and thier married life? Sometimes shifts like that add intreague to a book, but here it was pointless. Midway through the book I fixed this problem for myself by skipping chapters and going back to them in order to put the story in chronological order for myself. And why tell it all from Eng's point of view? One of the most interesting things about the story was imagining what it would be like to live permanently attached to another person. Would you like it? Would you not? Would you crave or fear separation? Maybe the two of you, although conjoined, do not share the same opinion. Eng says this is the case for him and his brother, but if Strauss felt compelled to go back and forth chapter to chapter, switching narrators so we could hear Chang's voice, too, could have been more effective than the time shifting. In spite of my complaints, I'm glad to have learned about Chang and Eng, North Carolina residents whom I hadn't heard about before, and it made for a fun book club discussion!

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is beautiful. The phrases and descriptions so evocative: "While the world is not a place of widespread kindness, a few oysters thrive in a sea of clams. Occasional grace exists. Mother, knowing my brother and me for more than one child, kept her calm." See what I mean?

But the subject matter here is disturbing. (Chang and Eng were the "original" Siamese twins and became world-wide celebrities.) The book is narrated by Eng, and we see envy, pettiness, lust, sloth, and a deep unhappiness - always a desire to be apart and yet a great loneliness.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Darin Strauss' writing and a friend lent me Chang and Eng shortly after I raved about Strauss's latest, his memoir called Half A Life, also superb.

This may be my favorite reading experience of this year, and quite different from all the War or the Roses-Tudor-French Revolution historical novels I tend to gravitate toward. In this almost unbelievable yet remarkable story, our improbable characters gently teach lessons of resiliency, love and loss wrapped inside a background of pathos, but not misery.

Chang and Eng also presents a fascinating picture of America in the first half of the 19th century through the eyes of two foreigners who reveal timeless lessons about ambition, greed, temptation and the human longing to belong.

Kept me enthralled all the way through; I am enamored with Strauss' writing and can't believe I just found him. Find him!

[Sezin Koehler · Rating 1 out of 5]

UGH.

I have no problem with people writing stories outside their own race and culture, but only if they do it properly, with compassion and understanding. This is not that book, and instead becomes a tedious exercise in what the worst of cultural appropriation looks like. It might not have been so bad if the author decided to write in third person narrative instead of first, but because he chose the latter, the writing and the voice is all wrong. I got through two chapters before wanting to throw the book (or burn it) and I had to put it down. I don't have time for this kind of bullshit writing. Nobody does.

[Dorottya · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I have to admit that I'm interested in the thoughts and life story of anyone who is out of ordinary. Serial killers, lunatics and so on, and so forth. So, when I saw this book, I knew I would be interested in it.

It was a bit different than what I expected, but still, I could not put it down. I was always intrigued about how Siamese twins could live together, how they decide on things... and I realised that I was right when I thought it was a really hard thing. Because these twins are just like any other pair of brothers all over the world, having different identities and personalities, and how they struggled with their condition. I was shocked by how hard their life was at some points, because of not agreeing on something (whether to go on more tours to get money, or no - it seems an easy debate for us, but for them, it means that one has to succumb to the other's wishes, as they can't go anywhere without the other... and that is one of the lightest debates they had... it was heart-breaking to see how they turned against each other and how they, for some years, did not care about the feelings of the other one - like how Eng was having a kind of relationship with Chang's wife, in exchange for which Chang became an alcoholic which was having an effect on Eng, too ).

The book tells us a lot about general nature of people, too. Not just these two men, but others. How being different is laughed at, how the most intellectual man could fall for a girl who is nothing else but pretty and deviant, how calculating and cold some women can be, how people deceive kids because they think kids are stupid and how some people use others in the cruelest ways for fame, success or money.

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished the book this morning and was very saddened by the lives of Chang and Eng. I went online and looked at a couple of websites with more factual information and found that the book followed their lives closely, although adding bits of what could have or might have happened to the storyline. In the end, Eng and Chang had a complicated relationship and wanted to be separated on the one hand, and on the other, they didn't. They needed to tour the world as a freak show in order to make money, and they hated the humiliation that came with posing in front of a crowd of people who stood gawking in the best of cases, and throwing things at them in the worst. They wanted to love women, have a home, bring up children, but the very idea of how to go about having any intimacy - both physical and emotional - with a woman was nearly impossible. They both knew that when one of the twins died, the other would follow within hours, and this is exactly how the book begins - with the death of Chang, and Eng going over the details of their lives while he waits for certain death. The author did a wonderful job of bringing life into these two distinct men, joined for life.

There are still many conjoined twins out there and my heart goes out to them and the parents who have to make the awful decision of whether to separate them or not.

[J.T. Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

If ever a book was crying out for a dual narrative structure it's this one. Yet it's told solely from the point of view of Eng. Can Darin Strauss really have omitted details from Chang and Eng's remarkable lives and glided over others in order to make up a squalid narrative about unfulfilled longing for one's brother's wife? So it seems.

[Alyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fictionalized account of the lives of the original "Siamese Twins" is an entertaining beach read. Strangely, I heard an author on NPR yesterday arguing against the influence of genetic determinants of behavior by citing fictionalized parts of the story as fact....

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a long time and finally got a chance to. This is all due to my inexhaustible fascination with all things circus and sideshow related. I mean, you can’t get more famous in that world than Chang and Eng, the extraordinary Siamese twins. It isn’t just that their cojoined lives produced a famous act, it’s that their lives were so freaking extraordinary by any measure. Granted, this is a fictionalized account, but it is fact based and the facts are fascinating. Two impoverish brothers whose lives take them from the shores of Mekong to the estate in North Carolina. The twins who met royalty, traveled Europe and eventually settled down in the prewar South, married and had 21 kids between them. It’s a storybook of a life, but a sad story in its way. For all of their accomplishments, the challenges of their togetherness were manifold and, in the end, unsurmountable. When one twin died, the other shortly followed. But before that…all the things they’ve done. The way they structured their act, refusing Barnum’s offers, accumulating their own wealth. Establishing themselves in the ever so racist South, marrying white women and surviving a war. Producing 21 kids. That in itself is stunning, especially considering that a lot of these kids were had late in life, well into their 40s, and this was before modern day celebrities redefined acceptable childbearing age. And yes, the Bunker (how Americanized is that alone) twins did have slaves, they lived in the mid 1800s in the South, after all. You can’t just ignore the ugly aspects of history because you’re woke. In fact, one of the most interesting things about the Bunkers in North Carolina was how they integrated into the local life and, in fact, just how Southern they became. Apparently (or at least fictionally) they disliked the North and considered them to be racist. The race thing itself…theirs was very much a singular situation, they weren’t white, but they were free, had money and married white women. Eventually it seems they came to be accepted on a one (well, two) off sort of basis. The outcome of the war and the subsequent emancipation nearly destroyed them financially. And yet touring always managed to help out. Eventually, they came to live in the famous 3 days on 3 days of arrangement splitting their time between two households and two families. So much of their lives was normal by then standards and yet so much was different. Were they happy? That seems to be the question. Did all the possessions and children and accomplishments make them happy? Ever made up for the extraordinary quotidian difficulties of everyday cojoined life? This is where the creative license comes in. And so the story is told from Eng’s perspective, the quiet bookish introvert to his brother’s outgoing jokester. Eng dreams of separation. Dreams of Siam. Dreams of his brother’s wife. Eng’s a dreamer, but his balloon is firmly tethered (literally so) to reality with his brother and can never take flight. Seems like Eng is destined for sadness, the way most dreamers and intellectuals are. Chang’s life seems simpler, more based in small immediate joys, but in the very end his own darkness is revealed. It’s difficult to say what their lives might have been had they been born regular separate twins, certainly smaller, possibly happier, definitely less book worthy. But it is their extraordinary togetherness that makes their story such a compelling and interesting read. This is first and foremost such a well written book. It’s easy to forget this is a fictionalized account, it seems so real, so vivid. The descriptions, the narration…it draws you in completely. A thoroughly immersive reading experience. The chapters alternate between their past and present and I must say the past made for more exciting reading, some of the present with its unrequited longing and the family dramas just didn’t have the same dynamic. But overall, it was a very enjoyable read. Peculiarly slow somehow, it took me much longer to get through than a book of that length normally would, but absolutely worth the time. Recommended.

[vadim · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars - so incredibly depressing. what a life of misery. i’m glad this is mostly fiction

“But ultimately your desire is inseparable from your destiny, and it becomes nearly impossible to muffle the passion in your eyes by lowering your lids or smiling politely.”

[Wanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the fictionalized story of the two famous conjoined twins, Chang and Eng. It is narrated by Eng, who both loves and despises his brother. I kept going between giving this one or two stars, and decided that it was not as bad as some that I've read and given one star to, so two it was.
What did I like about this book? Frankly not much. I found not one single character to like or admire. Perhaps I did empathize with Eng at some point early on, but as the novel wore on, he became less and less likeable. He falls in love with Chang's wife and pines away for her for about 2/3 or more of the book, obsessing over "Did she touch me on purpose or accidentally?" He's obsessed with her even though she is unattractive, with a despicable personality, treating Chang with less regard than a beast of burden; indeed being often emotionally abusive and cruel to him. In fact both of the sisters are that way. Perhaps the only admiration I could muster is that anyone could stay with these witches for all the years that they did. On the other hand, this is a fictionalized account. Isn't it?
Unlike other reviews I did not find this to be particularly well written. The places and characters -- with the exception perhaps of the twins and to some degree the wives -- were shallowly rendered. The civil war was -- well -- there and fleeting and having little impact on this family. Much could have been made of the parallels and ironies of the twins having slaves, but Strauss missed that opportunity. Oh yes -- and as for historical accuracy. Was their really electricity on the streets of New York in th 1820s? I think not -- at least 60 or so years later I would say.
If I had to describe this book in one word it would be depressing. Gray lives and quiet (to not so quiet) desperation. Even the arrival of children was not sufficient to either liven this existence, or alleviate the atmosphere of almost unrelenting depression that permeates this book. I expected some ugliness, given people's prejudices and cultural acceptance of bigotry and tolerance of treating the unfortunate vagaries of nature as though they were not human. But surely, surely there must have been some glimmer of happiness at some time for these twins. Apparently Strauss doesn't think so.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a voyeuristic interest in reading this book, and was surprised that in reading it, I learned something about myself, or about people in general. Our privacy is precious. To not have it for a lifetime would be tragic. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was how each brother allowed the other to remain an individual. For example, though Eng was vehemently against alcohol and even physically affected by Chang’s drinking, he didn’t put a stop to it though he was the bigger and stronger of the two. Chang was described as endearing, funny, and likeable, though he undoubtedly suffered inwardly, thus his drinking. He was a man who tried to see the cup as half full; Eng, the more serious and pessimistic of the two, saw it as half empty. It was hard for me to understand Eng’s attraction to Adelaide given her treatment of Chang. She seemed like a harsh and manipulative woman. I am curious to see pix of the wives and children. Also, why did the sisters marry them? Was is just because of Sarah’s dark past or were they attracted to their fame and money? The mother was obviously the instigator behind the unions—how strange.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS BOOK FROM BEGINNING TO END. I was a little disappointed after reading it to find out it was a fictional account of their life, but still an interesting read!

I find siamese twins and other medical mysteries completely fascinating and I loved the way the author imagines how life might have been for these two. This was a very easy read for me and hard for me to put the book down.

The VERY first paragraphs sucked me in from the start and wouldn't break me away:

"This is the end I have feared since we were a child.
Eng wakes to find Chang cold against him. The smell conjures the muddy stink of the Mekong in this double-wide bed half a world from Siam. Chang, the left is dead. Eng is the right.
Then I too am done, Eng thinks, and his heart twists like a cluster of wild vines."

How AWESOME is that beginning?

[Sterlingcindysu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cautionary note--I read this while selling a place, renovating another place and having out of town guests stay, so I didn't really "get into it". OTOH, I don't know if anyone could really get into it. At the end, Strauss stresses that this is just a story based on the Siamese twins. Given that she had free literary reign, he could have been more creative--perhaps explained what Sarah's dark secret was, go into more depth from the children's viewpoints and even more basics of maneuvering life attached to another person.

I did look online to see photos of the wives and children, and obviously with 21 children between them (haha) there's a ton of descendants.

So I'd say the history and research are great, the story not so much so. More photos (including Siam at that time) would have been helpful.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful and frequently moving book about Chang and Eng, the 19th-century conjoined twins who lived in North Carolina for much of their lives, married two sisters, and fathered roughly 20 children. Although the historical record is scant, Darin Strauss has imagined his characters well; they are very different in temperament and do not get along well at all. Chang is the more outgoing, less thoughtful brother, while Eng (the narrator) is an introvert who longs to be separated from his gregarious twin. I can't imagine being physically anchored to another person for my entire life, but Mr. Strauss goes a long way toward suggesting how difficult, impossible, and yet rewarding it can be.

[Erin Lindsay McCabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book and these characters-- the premise is fascinating and the story is obviously well-researched, but I never *felt* anything. I wanted to come to some understanding of how these two men and their wives lived their lives, but although I got detail I never got insight. One notable exception: when we learn the true cause of the brothers' house fire, the moment really resonates. Perhaps part of the problem is that there is just so much going on, so much in these men's lives, that it couldn't possibly all be dealt with in a 300 pg. novel (the Civil war is glossed over, the deaths of children are told in summary, etc.).

[Marisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate giving up on a book, but after I got close to hitting the 30% mark, I couldn't find it in me to keep plodding along. I wasn't enjoying it, and I knew I'd set it to the side and force myself to pick it up every other day or so just to make the point that I could finish it, but life is too short to waste on books that can't hold my interest.

I don't know what it is about this book exactly that I didn't like. The writing was just ok--nothing particularly special but nothing particularly atrocious. The characters weren't likable and not even that good kind of unlikable where you know they're technically not great people but you still root for them anyway. I didn't care about Eng or Chang or anything they experienced, and I was just flat out bored during the 27% I managed to force myself to suffer through. What makes it even more unfortunate is that the museum that features an exhibit on Chang & Eng is only about two hours away from my house, and I've actually been there several times and have seen the original artifacts that actually belonged to the twins. I was really excited to jump into this novel and see how it tackled the real life story that I was already a bit familiar with, but I was so damn bored.

To sum it all up, this is the first book in close to 100 books I've decided to ditch, and I'm sad about it. Whether my boredom surrounding the book in its entirety (or at least the entirety of the 27% I completed) says more about me or more about the book, I don't know, but I hope the real life story of the twins will interest people and even encourage them to venture down to North Carolina to check out their exhibit!

[Schwarzer_Elch · Rating 2 out of 5]

El contexto de lo que narra es muy interesante (no solo por la vida de los siameses, sino también por todo lo que sucede, a nivel histórico y social, alrededor de ellos); sin embargo, el estilo narrativo del autor me pareció denso y repetitivo. Terminé leyéndolo en vertical y entendí todo.

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strauss takes the scanty bare bones true personal history of the Siamese Twins and lets his imagination fly.

[Susan Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

the Siamese twins are the perfect literary conceit for battling oneself. . . if you hate this book you might want to get a little therapy.

[Empress5150 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I was the one who suggested this book for my book club, I REALLY wanted to like it. Also, ever since I was a child, I have had an odd fascination with "freaks". Yes, I was drawn to the freak shows at state fairs (never did see anything overly freaky, or legitimately freaky, anyway). Finally, my step mom's book club read this and, according to her, it generated a goodly degree of interest, debate and discussion.

I must say, I was disappointed in how Strauss tackled this fictionalized accounting of the twins. It fell flat. No one in the book was likable in the least, including Eng, the twin whom Strauss picked to narrate the story because he felt Eng "might offer a more interesting perspective of their twinship". Well, he didn't. Frankly, Strauss would have been better off letting Chang take the helm. He was at least slightly more likable than Eng (even if it was only because I felt sorry for him).

In our discussion last night, we decided that, instead of (needlessly) going back and forth between the twins earlier life and the "current day" in North Carolina, Strauss should have alternated the telling of the story between Chang and Eng.

Still, with Strauss's fairly piss poor writing, choice of direction and skimpy character development, it probably wouldn't have mattered overly much WHO narrated the story.

I give the book a 2, mostly because of Strauss. Ok, all because of Strauss. I still would give Chang and Eng themselves a much higher rating. I'm going to continue to give them the benefit of the doubt for having been decent people!

In researching a bit about the book for the meeting, I discovered that Gary Oldman is working with Strauss to make a film based on the book. This could either be really interesting good/or a complete flop. Also, Mark Twain wrote a small, extremely amusing tongue in cheek piece on the twins back in the late 1800s. And, someone in Durham made a documentary about Chang and Eng (we watched parts of it last night); some of it was informative, a lot of it was just plain weird.

In any event, the book DID fulfill one of my wishes. It generated quite a bit of discussion last night, including speculation on who they'll get to portray the twins in Oldman's movie!

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The brothers were born on 11 May, 1811 in Siam (now Thailand), in the province of Samutsongkram, to a Chinese fisherman (Ti-eye)[1] and a half-Chinese/half-Malay mother (Nok).[2] They were joined at the sternum by a small piece of cartilage. Their livers were fused but independently complete. Although 19th century medicine did not have the means to do so, modern surgical techniques would have easily allowed them to be separated today. In 1829, they were discovered in Siam by British merchant Robert Hunter and exhibited as a curiosity during a world tour. Upon termination of their contract with their discoverer, they successfully went into business for themselves. In 1839, while visiting Wilkesboro, North Carolina with P.T. Barnum, the twins were attracted to the town and settled there, becoming naturalized United States citizens.

The twins in their later years.Determined to start living a normal life as much as possible, the brothers settled on a plantation, bought slaves, and adopted the name "Bunker". They were accepted as respected members of the community. On April 13, 1843, they married two sisters: Chang to Adelaide Yates and Eng to Sarah Anne Yates. Chang and his wife had ten children; Eng and his wife had twelve. In time, the wives squabbled and eventually two separate households were set up just west of Mount Airy, North Carolina in the community of White Plains – the twins would alternate spending three days at each home. During the American Civil War Chang's son Christopher and Eng's son Stephen both fought for the Confederacy. Many of their descendants still live in the Mount Airy area. The twins died on the same day in 1874. Chang, who had been in declining health for several years after a stroke died first, of pnuemonia; Eng died several hours later.

The fused liver of the Bunker brothers was preserved and is currently on display at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Chang's widow died on April 29, 1892 and Eng's widow died on May 21, 1917.
White is the colour of mourning in Thailand

[Susan Chow-Dukhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical fiction about the lives of Chang and Eng Bunker, the conjoined Siamese twins who were born in 1811 and died in 1874. They married two sisters from North Carolina and fathered 21 children. The novel follows two major time in alternating chapters, their childhood and the progression of their career as performers, and their lives once they met Adelaide and Sarah Yates The first half of the book keeps the readers' attention, through vivid descriptions of the cities and impressions of the people the young twins comes into contact with. The second half of the book slows down a bit, as it concentrates more on the relationship of the twin's marriage.
While imagined conversations, feeling and events are expected in historical fiction, we usually expect that the major historical information is maintained. The author has portrayed Chang and Eng as 31 year old virgins, having never touched a woman since adulthood, marrying two spinster sisters several weeks after meeting them, then living on a 63 acre farm, bought with their savings. Historical records show that the twins were relatively wealthy and owned a 150 acre farm three years before they were married. The Yates sisters were 10 years younger than the twins. By 1845, the Bunkers owned 650 acres of farmland and were considered to be the third wealthiest family in the community. The facts would have made the fictionalized relationship between the spouses more interesting.
If the author wishes to write a fiction novel instead of historical fiction, rename and change the characters, change some of the dates and locales. Don't capitalize on the fame of Chang and Eng Bunker, to sell the book.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm going to echo what several other reviewers have said about this book: somehow Darin Strauss managed to take a fascinating story and make it boring as hell. Not only that, but the structure is terrible. The telling from Eng's point of view just didn't work. It wasn't believable at all. So much potential wasted here. I've been obsessed with vintage circuses and freakshows for forever, and I can read and enjoy almost anything on those subjects, so for me to give up on this....well, that's testament to how terrible it is.

Sorry, Chang and Eng. Maybe there's another book out there that does your fascinating lives justice.

[Emily Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating story. I've heard a bit about the co-joined twins, Chang and Eng, but didn't know much. Darin Strauss did a good job getting me interested in them! However, much as I liked the story itself, I didn't like the writing. I honestly thought it might have been translated from another language it was written so strange. It also jumped around in time frames which made the story a little hard to follow along with, and it would have been better to be told straight all the way through. Much as I didn't like the writing, I did like the story, and I do recommend it to others if they're interested in learning more about the twins!

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chang and Eng is an interesting attempt to fictionalize the lives of the original 'Siamese' Twins. Following two prevailing storylines - the twins birth to stardom, and the twins marriage to death - Strauss attempts to create a real story packed with the same drama of a fiction novel.

While props must be given for the originality of the idea, I felt that beyond the interesting premise there was little to keep me hooked. The scenes of early life and emigration were important, but not tense. The tales of matrimony were awkward in the extreme had held some drama, but ultimately joint the rest of the book in seeming to be a factual recounting rather than a fun ride.

[Margie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Consider the possibilities: Siamese twins! Taken as small children to be presented to the king of Siam, presumably before being killed as a bad omen! Traveling the world and being presented to royalty in Europe as sideshow freaks! Slave owners in the antebellum American South! Married to sisters and fathering 21 children!

This book should have been an exciting, if not illuminating, read. Instead it was fairly boring. The author managed to drain all the life and interest out of the story.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book appealed to a really weird part of me that wonders what it would be like to live within inches of someone my entire life. I don't think I could've handled it half as well as those brothers did.

The best part of the book was when Eng thought he was getting away with his antics with Adelaide when Chang was asleep, but really Chang knew.

This was mostly a disturbing book but good and interesting at the same time.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet and sad book abou a very strange historical circumstance. Change and Eng were real Siamese twins who were brought to America, married two sisters, had lots of kids, and died after six decades. This imaginative recreation of their lives mkes for good reading and pondering about life in 19th century America, how we amused ourselves and how pwople lived/