Customer Reviews

First Person Plural

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A friend of mine gave me this book wondering what I would make of it. I hadn't really liked the author's previous book, THE WINTER OF OUR DISCOTHEQUE, though it is an undeniably clever and fast moving read. FIRST PERSON PLURAL is like a quantum leap forward in terms of human emotion and sheer imagination. Porter and Owen aren't just allegorical tropes for straight and gay, they seem like real people whose sexual preferences are just seasoning to their personalities.

The Southern setting is nicely done, and Beierle has staged the central conflict of his book with great care. When Porter finally falls in love, it comes as a pleasant surprise, for the woman he marries, Faith, isn't some freak with a fetish for two headed guys, she's a fully realized character, so that only when the book is over does the reader sit back and say to himself, "Naw, that wouldn't happen like that."

I did start to worry when Faith showed up with an Adonis of a brother, Chase, said to wait tables in P-Town, for what would happen, I wondered, if Christian Faith found out that Owen, the odd man out, was gay and after her own bro? Well, even if Porter shut his eyes when Owen and Chase made out (or even flirted), she was bound to find out somehow from the first time Owen got hard while obsessing over Chase's kiwi complexion, for mating rights belonged to Faith as long as Owen and Porter shared a body (from the neck down, though in practice each controls his own side of the body and work in unison to get anything done). As usual, the sex organs have their own mind and destroy the tiny happiness OwenandPorter share. I salute Andrew Beierle for doing something very few gay writers would have dared, creating repeated scenes of male-female sex, for a large part of his readership will find these scenes, as Owen does, "noxious." (When he has to go down on Faith because Porter wants to, he only gets through it by placing a drop of "Aqua de Gio" inside each nostril!)

An ambitious, stylish offering to the shrine of Janus, FIRST PERSON PLURAL is one of the more interesting novels of the year. It will take you to places you never thought you'd land in, and it does so with great assurance and an ear and eye for language high and low.

I waited a long time for this one. Mr. Beierle's first novel, "The Winter Of Our Discotheque" has long been one of my favorite reads. His new novel, about conjoined twins, one straight and one gay, was an incredibly thought provoking piece. Many times throughout the read, I would find myself putting the book down just to savor what I had just read. I have never known anyone who is a conjoined twin, but have often wondered about what that must be like and the challenges it presents. The author of this novel has gone beyond the challenges of that distinction and created Porter and Owen who not only have to deal with their human anatomy but their sexual differences as well. Beierle has done a masterful job in the writing of this novel, it is a courageous and insightful effort. I enjoyed it tremendously. My hope is that it appeals to those who are not necessarily readers of gay fiction but to a broader audience as well, as this book has so much to say on so many levels. Mr. Beierle you are the best! Please don't make us wait so long for the next one!

First Person Plural has a premise that sounds almost ridiculous. It tells the story of conjoined twins who have two heads, two hearts, two sexual orientations--and one set of sex organs. From the perspective of the narrator--Owen, the gay twin--the reader travels on a very strange, but surprisingly believable, journey as each twin comes to terms with their shared condition and they negotiate the numerous difficulties that they face.

For the first 75 pages or so of the book, I found myself flipping to the author photo in the back, wondering if he was hiding a second head somewhere in the shadows. The story felt that real! The book does require a certain suspension of disbelief, though; the straight twin, Porter, plays quarterback for the high school football team and dates a cheerleader. The pair become semicelebrities, forming a rock band and touring the country. They encounter people fascinated by their condition and surprisingly few who find them out-and-out revolting. They each explore their sexuality--the one who's trying to check out of the action mentally often wears headphones.

All of that is compelling, and indeed when I turned the last page I found myself wondering how things would work out for Porter and Owen. But toward the end of the novel one of the characters goes from heart warmer to harridan in a quick turn of events that threatens the pair's carefully organized life. Obviously a plot needs some sort of conflict to carry on, but this particular upset, and the consequences it has for all of the characters, seemed to come a bit late in the game.

Nevertheless, First Person Plural is easily one of the most thought-provoking books I've read in a long time; the oddity of having two heads creates a sort of hyper-reality through which Owen views life's ups and downs more clearly and philosophically than the typical one-headed person. A quick and engrossing read, and definitely worth checking out.

This is an impeccably written book that is both a page turner and a perplexing character study. The plotline creates great dilemma for the main characters, Owen and Porter, as they are caught up in dilemmas they face as both a conjoined twin and as a gay and straight man. I loved this book, and couldn't put it down. While many of the issues that Owen and Porter face are not ones that I will ever face myself, this book is incredibly human and pulls you into their captivating complexity as you watch them struggle to figure it all out.

Beierle has created a one-of-a-kind story that is unique in the general literary world, and a gem in the collection of LGBT literature. This book has depth of emotion, and gives you great empathy for the world these characters inhabit. I'm so glad that I found this book on the shelves of a small LGBT bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI. It sat for a year and a half on my bookshelf until I got to reading it. Read this book sooner than I did! It certain merits it and you'll be entranced and glad that you did.

I found the storyline fascinating which kept me turning the pages of this intriguing and thought provoking novel. Owen and Porter Jamison are conjoined twins: one is a popular jock, the other is quiet and introspective, one likes to study and read, the other likes to date girls. One is straight and the other is gay. Herein lies the conflict that moves the story along. How do Owen and Porter negotiate their lives? Andrew W.M. Beierle has obviously researched data on conjoined twins which gives the book a strong layer of believability even as implausible as the storyline might appear to some. To notch it up a bit, Owen and Porter's are dicephalus twins, that is to say, unlike the famous Chang and Eng Bunker, or Daisy and Violet Hilton who had completely separate bodies, Owen and Porter are like Abbey and Brittany Hensel, well-known teenage girls from Minnesota that have appeared on the cover of Life Magazine and on various nationally televised TV programs. They share the same lower torso.

At times, I found the story humorous; Porter and Owen fight over control of their commonly share penis and the straight brother warns his gay twin that under no circumstances would he ever even consider passive anal penetration as an option. Couple this with Beirle's well-crafted prose and intelligent psychological insights when Porter the narrator dissects feeling and thoughts and you have a good book.

But teenage fights over masturbation rights, or conflicts over one-night sexual conquests are nothing compared to the tensions that develop when Owen marries a Fundamentalist Christian opposed to the gay lifestyle. Is Owen engaging in homosexual sex even if his brother is the one performing the act? Can this be considered infidelity because they share the same penis? What happens when Porter's sister-in-law blames him for turning her brother gay after he has an affair with him? How is it even possible for Porter and Owen to fight if they share the same body? How can they reach a resolution? The book could easily be titled, Conundrum.

If one doesn't mind light suspension of belief here and there, this book is well worth reading.

I could not put "First Person Plural" down. I had to remind myself that I had homework to do, but still I kept on reading. "First Person Plural" is juicy, thought provoking, and a fun read.

Owen and Porter are conjoined twins, what we used to know as siamese twins, their spine divides above the waist but they remain joined to the shoulders, two heads on slightly broader shoulders. Owen has control of the right side of their body, Porter the left; the only thing they share is that vital sensitive appendage between their legs. They are fortunate to be born to intelligent and reasonably well off parents, they have a good upbringing that shelters them from becoming a freak show, and a way of living together from the start that enforces on them the concept of sharing everything fairly and equally.

They follow through with a university college education, and have little worries about financial security as they enter adult life. But apart from the obvious, they are not without their problems. They are very different in nature, Porter the gregarious sportsman, Owen studious, of a quieter, more contemplative nature. The differences do not stop there, while Porter hopes despite their handicap that one day he will marry and have children; Owen however begins to acknowledges that that is not possible for him as he comes to the realisation that he is gay. Revealing this fact to Porter is just the first of a series of potential crises the two boys must work through together.

They are able to work some of these problems out, and they become sexually active, Porter with girls, and eventually Porter with a boy - they have developed strategies to cope. Yet there are more problems to come; when Porter falls in love and wants to marry there are of course the problems with he intended's family, but they do eventually marry, Porter and Faith. However there are yet more problems in store, as yet Owen's sexual preferences are still a secret know only to Porter and Owen's one sexual partner, and not know to Faith. When Owen falls in love with Faith's younger brother Chase things cannot be kept secret any longer, and at the revelation all hell breaks lose, can they resolve the unresolvable?

This is most interesting problem, two minds controlling one body, they even have to cooperate in order to be able to walk. Beierle cleverly avoids many of the potential problems in providing the two boys with a good home and subsequently a comfortable income; their problems centre entirely on their sharing a body, and how far each is prepared to go to accommodate the other. The twins despite their different temperaments live very amicably, even Porter's tendency towards demanding more than his fair share offset by Owen's more accommodating nature. Together they have to work out how to live with the problems brought about by others.

Owen is the narrator, and so we see everything from his perspective, but he deals fairly and helps us see Porter's side of thing too. There are times in the narrative when one wonders what is Porter doing at that moment, it almost seems as if he has left him, certainly he is left out of the discussion at times.

I did enjoy this book, the difficulties the twins had to face and the means of overcoming them made fascinating reading. However I felt there were some short comings too; the narrative lacked involvement, it seemed at times detached, too matter of fact. It left me feeling detached, there are times when I should have been feeling something for them, but that did not happen. There was frequently a great deal of reasoning and conjecture on the problems they faced, to the point that it became repetitive - Beierle had made his point, but he had often laboured it. When I reached the end of the book I found a few pages headed Discussion Questions (a reading group guide), it made me think that much of the content of the story had been constructed simply to accommodate these questions.

This is a good, thought provoking story, but not a great story teller, it lacked heart. Perhaps that is in part due to the peculiar circumstances the twins enjoyed making it more difficult to relate to, to put aside the novelty, but then with more thoughtful handling the narrative should be able to overcome that.

I can honestly say this is one of the best, most well-written, books I've ever read. I was captivated by the two lead characters right from the start, so much that I admit if they were real people I wish I knew them. Beierle writes with such heart-felt emotion that it was hard not to fall in love with them. They are Owen and Porter, two conjoined twins who are unique because they basically have one complete body (two arms and two legs), but have two heads and two hearts. Two very different hearts, as Owen explains. Porter is straight, and Owen is gay.

They grew up in a well-to-do family and we get a good glimpse at what their childhood was like. Porter grew up as an all star, outgoing athlete in high school while Owen was more introverted and book smart. Given their unique condition, they become somewhat celebrities thanks to a music career and are treated with normalcy for the most part. People are shocked when they come in contact with them and either want to laugh or cry from the experience. Shielded from hatred throughout most of their young lives, they finally experience it "head on" at the beginning of college when Porter is forced to stop seeing his first true love girlfriend at the request of her father. But Porter soon meets another girl named Faith and asks for her hand in marriage.

The story is told from Owen's point of view, and you can't help but feel sorry for him even though he wouldn't want you to. Thanks to Porter's dominant personality, Owen is often treated like a third wheel. Being gay only makes it more difficult for him. The boys literally share the body, this means taking turns and having control of it every other day, including the one penis they have. Sounds odd? Yes. But the way it is explained in the book makes absolute perfect sense. But it's easy to see why others in the equation may not be able to accept Owen and Porter's unique way of trying their best to be individuals despite their condition.

When Porter and Faith get married, Owen has to obviously share the marital bed. And when Owen finds himself falling in love with someone at last, it is Faith that stands to become between Owen and his demand for his share of privacy and individuality, ultimately making him choose between his own well-being and his brother's.

The conflict at hand is pretty obvious. It's hard not to think that everyday would be complicated for them. But the author builds upon it with such intensity and truth, right down to going into great detail about the boy's sex life and how each responds to the other. I was both shocked and intrigued. While Beierle steers the reader down a predictable path for the twins, he doesn't always let you be right. As a reader, you don't always get your way and the author definitely kept you guessing which made this a fast page-turner for me. I didn't want it to end, but was eager to see how things would play out.

I fully admit it's an odd little book. I had trouble just explaining it out loud to others. It's one of those where you just have to read it to get it. Think of how hard it must be to born a conjoined twin. Beierle even relates to several real-life conjoined twins throughout the book. Then add to it one having to struggle not just for individuality, but for acceptance as a gay man while literally living in the shadow of his straight dominant brother. The emotion and feeling of reading it was unbelievable and will stay with me for a long time to come. It is definitely a book that I will never forget.

Excellent book. Makes you think about relationships in general. It is impossible to like Faith, good choice for a misnomer:)

I ordered this book with low expectations because i feared the cojoined twin premise was too much of a reach, but this book just entranced me with characters so real and a depth of emotion so honest that by the end of the book I felt I knew these people and loved them. Yes, the cojoined twin premise is a vehicle for all of this, and if you examine that too closely I tihnk it doesn't reflect reality, but that's not what the book is about. All at the same time, mixed together, you have in Porter and Ownen's relationship both a fulfillment of community, brotherly love and compassion that I feel many gay men crave, and at the same time the conflict that sexuality introduces into that, and a mirror for the "internalized homophobia" that many gay men feel splits themselves into two people. From another angle, Owen and Porter reflect a bit what it's like for a mature gay relationship, where sex is still a part of it (Owen and Porter by necessity have a sexual relationship with each other), but there's all these brotherly feelings that at the same time make their bond stronger from one side, but push them apart from the other, at the same time bound to each other in the strongest way, but also finding that total intimacy and connectedness repulsive in its own way. This is a book that I both enjoyed reading, and also thought about for weeks after finishing it. After I read the last page, I felt like two new friends had just been torn away from me, which I think is the ultimate invasiveness of an author, where he has cojoined his characters with your heart, and at a complete opposite to a cojoined twin, at the end you're left with just this void where these imaginary souls seemed to have touched your life. I don't know what more you can ask for.