Shelley Jackson
Half Life (2006)
Author: Shelley Jackson
Genre: Science Fiction (Philosophical/Alternate History)
Plot Summary:
In 1951 the United States began to detonate nuclear bombs on its own soil as a form of national penance for the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The radioactive fallout resulted in an increase in conjoined twin birth rates. By the 1980s, conjoined twins represent a vociferous minority group in this alternate history of America. Nora, one half of a Siamese twin, and her sister Blanche, who has been asleep for 15 years, live in San Francisco, surrounded by the politically correct twofer (Siamese) subculture. Fed up with sharing her body with her comatose sister, Nora decides to reach out to an underground London clinic, the Unity Foundation, to have Blanche’s head removed. SPOILER: From San Francisco to London to Too Bad, Nevada, we follow Nora on her bizarre journey, freckled with hilariously caustic, crabby, and satirical commentary on the annoying twofer subculture. Along the way, Blanche gradually awakens from her long sleep. As Blanche subtly asserts herself and begins to communicate with Nora through dreams, memory association, and physical clues, Nora’s murderous conviction begins to falter. After many twists and turns, unexpected revelations, and detours through dark and warped childhood memories, Nora finds herself confronting the meaning of shared identity.
Geographical Setting: America (San Francisco, Nevada desert), London
Time Period: Post-atomic bombing of Japan, 1950s-1980s
Appeal Characteristics:
Author Shelley Jackson weaves a rich and multi-layered philosophical story about Nora, a 28 year old conjoined twin who wants to rid herself of her other half. Although Half Life is told from Nora’s perspective, dreams and memories intrude to form a parallel narrative, that of Nora’s sister, Blanche. Meanwhile, Jackson successfully incorporates colorful, eccentric, and often obscene characters into her plot, ranging from Nora’s oddball roommates, to the numerous twofer patients of the Unity Foundation, to Nora’s wacky stalker. Most importantly, Jackson depicts in detail a twisted alternate version of America, where the Siamese twin subculture has come to dominate the environment. She interlaces and enriches Nora’s story with excerpts from The Siamese Twin Reference Manual, passages from Nora’s clippings, poetry and journal, and the politically correct lingo of the Siamese twin culture. Stylistically, Jackson’s choice of metaphors is humorously dark and unconventional. Her prose turns from brisk to hallucinatory to dazzlingly dense. As a result, Jackson’s artistically ambitious prose requires an attention to detail and slows the pace to a crawl of labored love. Although Half Life leaves the reader with a sense of temporary resolution to Nora’s identity struggles, ultimately the questions to life’s more profound philosophical dilemmas remain unanswered.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoy novels about conjoined twins and the particular challenges they face may find Lori Lansens’ The Girls to be a good match. The novel also shares the autobiographical narrative style of Jackson’s Half Life, as well as allowing the reader into the thoughts and minds of each twin. For more bizarre tales written in similarly dark, dense and humorous prose, try Kelly Link’s collection of short stories in Stranger Things Happen. Link’s ambiguous endings and search for meaning and truth amidst an incomprehensible world may appeal to Jackson readers. Another novel combining inventive language with dark humor, Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange will attract readers with an interest in alternate realities and political satires. Burgess depicts a world turned upside down, where the solution to crime and despair is a sterile, sexless, emotionally bereft reality. Readers who are squeamish about explicit sexual violence should be wary of this title. Clown Girl by Monica Drake will interest readers who enjoy unconventional storylines and a bizarre cast of characters. Drake adeptly contrasts comedy and despair, the absurd and the grim in a world where clowns, prostitution and corporate corruption coexist. Readers with a taste for the utterly outlandish will enjoy Katernine Dunn’s portrayal of a circus freak show family in Geek Love. Told from the first person, Dunn explores the meaning of normalcy, the intersection of past and present realities, and the yearning for connection in a disturbingly disconnected world.
Red Flags: Explicit and unconventional depictions of sex and violence. GLBT themes.
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