God's Fool (Vintage Contemporaries)

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: In some ways, I really preferred this book to David Strauss' Chang and Eng. This one, told from Chang's perspective, was much more lyrical and better written. The descriptions of the Mekong Valley, the surreal world of Siam, and the familial love between Chang and Eng and their parents, wives and children were superbly drawn. Don't believe the reviews that say this is some sort of copy of Chang and Eng. It simply isn't true. The subject of 2 conjoined brothers who leave Siam and end up slaveowners, husbands and fathers certainly provides enough material for two novels, and many more than that as well. This book does a good job exploring the ontological aspects of the twins' conjoined state. They had one body, but did they have 2 souls? An interesting novel, well written and full of lucid observations about human nature.

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: In some ways, I really preferred this book to David Strauss' Chang and Eng. This one, told from Chang's perspective, was much more lyrical and better written. The descriptions of the Mekong Valley, the surreal world of Siam, and the familial love between Chang and Eng and their parents, wives and children were superbly drawn. Don't believe the reviews that say this is some sort of copy of Chang and Eng. It simply isn't true. The subject of 2 conjoined brothers who leave Siam and end up slaveowners, husbands and fathers certainly provides enough material for two novels, and many more than that as well. This book does a good job exploring the ontological aspects of the twins' conjoined state. They had one body, but did they have 2 souls? An interesting novel, well written and full of lucid observations about human nature.

Rating:
Summary: A journey of a connected life
Review: Slouka takes the story of siamese twins and paints a beautiful image of their homeland, their life, and the politics of their time. The story starting in Siam and ending up in the American Civil War is engaging and heartfelt throughout. If you try to imagine what life would be like from the character's perspectives it lends a new level of appreciation for Slouka's intimate details of their epic struggles and their hinderances in everyday life. It is impossible not to feel for the characters as they are thrown into a world that views them as a circus act, which seems to corrupt everything from brotherhood to pure love. Of particular interest are the portions of the story where Slouka also relates to the reader how the two help each other out along their journeys, bound by fate for their eternity. It was a rare find on a random purchase that I came about this book, but I highly recommend reading it and passing it onto your friends, if nothing else the sociology of their lives and of the many places they visit is worth the buy.

Rating:
Summary: bah!
Review: The problem with Mark Slouka is that he fancies himself to be (a) a stylist, (b) an intellectual, (c) a creative genius, and, at least in his "critical" writings, (d) a contrarian. Which would have made him a very interesting writer to read indeed if he only knew how to tell the difference between (a) style and clutter, (b) thinking and whining, (c) originality and cliche, and (d) courage and boneheaded idiocy. As for this novel, it kind of reminds me of . . . wait a minute here, wasn't there . . . yes, wasn't there something--a novel, I dare say--on a similar--no, no, on EXACTLY the same theme, published, let's see now, about three years ago? I wonder what Mr. Slouka is working on now. Maybe a novel about a one-legged man in mad pursuit of a whale. Narrated, of course, by a third party. Yes, I quite like this idea. Just call me Slouka.