[Book Review] Two Sisters As ONE

Growing up, sibling often have love-hate relationship. You know you’ll always love them no matter what, but sometimes you hate them and can’t stand being around them. Things are a little different with Grace and Tippi. They have to be together at all times, even when they want to be alone from each other. Because Grace and Tippi are two different person, but they share one body.

Grace and Tippi. Tippi and Grace. Two sisters. Two hearts. Two dreams. Two lives. But one body.

Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist, defying the odds of survival for sixteen years. They share everything, and they are everything to each other. They would never imagine being apart. For them, that would be the real tragedy.

But something is happening to them. Something they hoped would never happen. And Grace doesn’t want to admit it. Not even to Tippi.

How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives?

The book itself…

This book is about two girls, sisters, Grace and Tippi. They are just two ordinary teenagers, or at least that’s what they wished for. Because they live in an extraordinary circumstances.

Joined at the waist, Grace and Tippi had to deal with being different all their lives. When others go to school everyday, they study at home. When others can run freely here and there, they had to walk slowly and even had to use crutches.

But the hardest part of being different came when they are forced to enter the world, a place full of ‘normal’ people. That place is called a private school. They had to live in the middle of watchful, curious glare of other teenagers. They’re lucky enough to find a friend in Yasmeen and Jon who treated them like they’re ordinary.

Then a huge storm of life hit them hard. Grace and Tippi had to face the reality that they thought they’ve escaped from at birth. With the family’s financial condition deteriorating and the strained relationship between their parents on top of everything, how will they cope with everything? What will happened to them?

What I think of it…

I read this book months ago. At first I was intrigued by the writing style. Sarah Crossan wrote it as a poem. Each and every chapter was told in short sentences, short paragraphs, but surprisingly spot on.

As I read further into the story, I realized that One is a deeper story than I thought it was. There are plenty heartfelt lines that really touched me. Grace and Tippi love each other fiercely. The fact that they are conjoined twins make their bond even stronger.

I like the detail about conjoined twins and the circumstances they have to face, both socially and medically. The writer really put a lot of effort into researching about conjoined twins.

If you are a girl, a woman, and you have a sister, you need to read this. In my opinion, this book showed us a thing or two about relationship between sisters. How sometimes you hate them, but you’ll never stop loving them.

At the last few pages, I literally cried! That’s how amazing this book is. Because I never cried reading a book before. This book makes me ride the emotional roller coaster. Grabbed me by the collar and threw me to the middle of the story. It’s as if I was a witness of Grace and Tippi’s lives, standing right there in every page.

I give this book five stars! Yes, five stars. I highly recommend it. Read it for yourself and ride your own emotional roller coaster.

[Book Review] Reminiscing Teenage Years Through The Eyes of Jenny Han: A Short Review of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

For most people, teenage years are the best few years of their lives. In our teenage years, we were so carefree, so unaware of the turmoils of the world, so busy in our own little world. It almost feels like our teenage years were spent in a separate world, different than the rest. Once it has past, we can only reminisce it fondly.

That’s what I did the first time I read Jenny Han’s novel, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. For me, Jenny Han successfully depicts the teenage world that has long gone from my life. The simple way she creates the characters, the complicated but not-so-complicated story line, everything is just picture perfect of a teenage world. Her novel reminds me of those little boy crushes I’ve ever been through, those little conflicts with friends over boys, and all of the ups and downs of being a teenager.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before tells the story of Lara Jean Song Covey, a sixteen years old teenager who loves writing letters to the boys she’s had a crush on as a kind of closure. She wrote it to express herself one last time before closing that chapter of her life. But the letter was never meant to be seen by the said boys. Until her sister, Kitty, send all of five letters and all hell break loose. Because Lara Jean had a crush on Josh, her best friend plus her older sister Margot’s boyfriend, and now that Josh read her letter and found out about her feelings, she must make a move to avoid injuring her relationship with them. A desperate measure must be made. And that’s when Peter Kavinsky, her friend since childhood, come into the picture. 

I’m not gonna reveal more, since, as predictable as the story is, the novel is highly enjoyable and worth reading in my spare time. Thus make revealing too much of it kind of destroying a little bit of that enjoyment.

For Korean drama fans, the story line is familiar. And, later, I found out that Jenny Han did wrote this with several famous Korean drama in mind. And just like Korean drama, this novel simple, predictable, but very sweet and nostalgic.

This novel is so good that they said it’s going to be made into a movie! Oh, wow, imagine, the characters and stories you’ve recreate in your mind come to life in the silver screen. Awesome!

Beside reading it, translating this novel into bahasa Indonesia for one of the local publishers has been fun for me. One of the most enjoyable translating projects I’ve ever done. Therefore, I can’t wait to review the sequel, P.S. I Still Love You, out just earlier this week. What’s next for Lara Jean Song Covey?