The phenomenal new novel from Carnegie-shortlisted author Sarah Crossan; incredibly moving and extraordinarily crafted, it explores the unbreakable bond and love between sisters.
Grace and Tippi are twins - conjoined twins.
And their lives are about to change.
No longer able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world - a world of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school? Can they find real friends? And what about love?
But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead. A decision that could tear them apart. One that will change their lives even more than they ever imagined.
From Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this moving and beautifully crafted novel about identity, sisterhood and love ultimately asks one question: what does it mean to want and have a soulmate?
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I've just finished my first Sarah Crossan novel, and it's fair to say I'm hooked. Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending the surprise review copies in the mail, they've proven a real delight and I'm glad I've got another one to continue with right away!
Written in verse form, I'm still not convinced that this was the best format for a young adult novel. I felt like it did make the novel feel less substantial despite its almost 500 page length. The utter uniqueness of the storyline is what saved this from being something that could have potentially been really, really cheesy if mishandled.
Tippi and Grace are two people who happen to share a lower half. This is demonstrated constantly throughout the book, yet almost all of the people they come in to contact with who aren't family or doctors treat them as if they are a single person, it must be incredibly frustrating to have your own brain but be treated as if you don't exist apart from the other person who happens to share your legs.
There are a number of instances in One where outside characters make reference to how much they wouldn't want to be Tippi and Grace, I wouldn't either, not for lack of privacy or needing my alone time, or having to share genitals or see your own sister's boobs constantly; but for the sheer lack of compassion from every non-family human. The reason I wouldn't want their life is because I would be much less graceful at dealing with gawking, slack-jawed onlookers who think that because someone looks different that they have the right to photograph you to show their friends later.
For me, this excellent novel was about togetherness vs solidarity. In more forms than just being a conjoined twin, this was also a book about the togetherness of family, through good times and bad. It was about the solidarity of sisterhood, not just between Tippi and Grace but between them and Dragon as well.
Told from Grace's point of view, it was an interesting way to follow the lives of the girls. This would have been a completely different book if we had seen it all from Tippi's perspective. Even written from Dragon's view, this would have been an amazing book.
Perhaps my dislike of the format stems from a lack of reading it before, I'll endeavour to read more of it and hope my opinion changes, because despite my novel loving brain's weirdness about it, it did make the reading experience incredibly easy and may perhaps be a good way of getting reluctant readers into longer books...
Thanks for this beautifully heartbreaking novel Sarah Crossan, you have a new fan here. - Samantha (QBD)
Guest, 15/03/2017
