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Summary
A brilliant, disquieting first novel about a pair of conjoined twins who are deeply unhappy in each other's company. Nora, the dominant twin, is strong, funny, and deeply independent, thirsting for love and adventure. Blanche, by contrast, has been sleeping for nearly twenty years. Finally sick of carrying her sister's dead weight, Nora decides she wants her other half gone for good, so she leaves San Francisco for London in search of the mysterious Unity Foundation, which promises to make two one. And that one, of course, will be Nora -- Blanche will be mourned, but not missed.But once Nora arrives in London, her past begins to surface in surprising and disturbing ways, forcing her into a most reluctant voyage into memory. Something seems to be drawing Nora's thoughts back to the site of her rather unusual conception, birth, and childhood -- the reconstructed ghost town of Too Bad, Nevada, where lizards skitter across the playa and "Shootout at Noon" comes every day. Searching for meaning and understanding in both her own and Blanche's past, Nora pushes herself to the brink of insanity -- and begins to question her own, and Blanche's, grip on the truth. Grotesque, funny, intricately wrought, verbally and conceptually dazzling, Shelley Jackson's first novel is an imaginative and touching portrait of two lives in a cleft world yearning for wholeness -- a world not unlike our own.
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From the publisher
From the rear cover
Nora and Blanche are conjoined twins. Nora is strong, funny, and deeply independent, thirsting for love and adventure. Blanche, by contrast, has been asleep for twenty years. Sick of carrying her sister's dead weight, Nora wants her other half gone for good--a desire that takes her from San Francisco to London in search of the Unity Foundation, a mysterious organization that promises to make two one. But once in England, Nora's past begins to surface in surprising and disturbing ways, pushing her to the brink of insanity and forcing her to question her own--and Blanche's--grip on the truth.
Details
- Title Half Life
- Author Shelley Jackson
- Binding Paperback
- Edition First Thus
- Pages 448
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Harper Perennial, New York, New York
- Publication date 2007-07-03
- Features Price on Product - Canadian
- ISBN 9780060882365 / 0060882360
- Weight 0.7 lbs (0.32 kg)
- Dimensions 8.02 x 5.34 x 1.05 in (20.37 x 13.56 x 2.67 cm)
-
Themes
- Demographic Orientation: Urban
- Sex & Gender: Feminine
- Sex & Gender: Gay
- Sex & Gender: Lesbian
- Topical: Coming of Age
- Topical: Family
- Topical: Lgbt
- Topical: Physically Challenged
- Category Fiction - General
- Library of Congress subjects London (England), Psychological fiction
- Dewey Decimal Code FIC
Media reviews
Citations
- New York Times Book Review, 08/26/2007, Page 24
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