USA TODAY
USA TODAY
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The phrase "leave me alone" takes on new meaning in Half Life, the first novel from Shelley Jackson. Through Nora and Blanche, conjoined twins, comes a strange exploration of the self.

The world is not as we know it today. Now, "twofers" are common, a result of the government "bombing itself" in Nevada in 1951.

High radiation levels have led to a proliferation of conjoined twins, and we meet Blanche and Nora, who engage in a bizarre battle for identity.

Nora wants to cut Blanche's head off to become a "singleton." Blanche, in a comatose sleep, wakes occasionally to make Nora question her viewpoint of the world.

While Lori Lansens' The Girls, another recent novel about conjoined twins, is a sweet search for two young women yearning to live complete lives, Half Life is a brutal, raw look at one twin wishing for her own identity, for just a little time alone.

Life, in Half Life, is always seen through a mirror. Is this really happening, or this Nora's half-sided view of things?

Jackson's style is as offbeat as her storytelling. Some chapters are entries from The Siamese Twin Reference Manual, with hilariously dark humor. One entry is a list of books on sale at the Twice Blessed Bookstore. They include: Duality for Dummies and Fat in Spite of Myself: When One Twin Overeats.

Two main stories are told in Half Life. One is the childhood of the twins, who grow up with Mama, Papa and Granny in the Nevada desert. A dollhouse and a zoo of dead animals take on large meaning.

Another is the quest the twins undertake. Much in the news is the story of a doctor who, like a back-alley abortionist, is performing operations on twins who want to have one head removed. Nora (with Blanche asleep at her side) travels to England with the goal of coming back as a "singleton."

But will she then be but half a person? Remember: The shorter the half-life, the more radioactive the substance, Nora points out.

There are few passages of dialogue between the two sisters. Instead, the sense of self is all fuzzy. Who am I? Blanche or Nora? Are we one or two? Read this intriguingly odd book and you'll ponder the question: Are we all in this world together, or alone?