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The Conjoined
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
On a sunny May morning, social worker Jessica Campbell sorts through her mothers belongings after her recent funeral. In the basement, she makes a shocking discovery -- two dead girls curled into the bottom of her mothers deep-chest freezers. She remembers a pair of teenaged sisters who lived with the family in 1988 as foster children: Casey and Jamie Cheng -- troubled, beautiful, and wild. After six weeks, they disappeared; social workers, police officers, and Jessica herself assumed they had run away. As Jessica learns more about Casey, Jamie, and their troubled immigrant Chinese parents, she also unearths dark stories about Donna, whom she had always thought of as the perfect mother and foster mother. The complicated truths she uncovers force her to take stock of own life -- her grief, a job she hates, and her tedious but safe relationship. Moving between present and past, The Conjoined unflinchingly examines the myth of social heroism, how race and class can assign unwanted roles to societys most vulnerable individuals, and the well-intentioned social service workers who mean to help. Set in the middle-class suburb of North Vancouver, as well as Chinatown and the infamous Downtown Eastside, this compulsively readable novel traces the often hidden fractures that divide our diverse cities.
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Reagan
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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I was going to focus on reading books I owned until the new year and put no new books on hold. Then I went to the library. None of these books were on hold! I have a problem! Help me!

Thousand-Lives I have the same problem! 😬 6y
43 likes1 comment
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WOCreads
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Took a Netflix break cause I was tired, so now I'm switching to The Conjoined for some creepiness 😱📚😁

#24in48 #diversebooks

14 likes1 stack add
review
CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Pickpick

This was an un-putdownable book that was part family drama and part mystery (although you don't get the tidy resolution you do in traditional mystery). The characters were expertly drawn, all authentic and sympathetic, all far from perfect. Jen Sookfong Lee's writing is incisive, thoughtful, and generous. And set in Vancouver! The audiobook voice actor was pitch perfect. Great for fans of Megan Abbott. #AwesomeAudiobooks #CanLit

29 likes4 stack adds
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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I am usually reading a few books at a time, but this is the #CurrentRead that I'm the most invested in. I was excited to find this in audiobook on Overdrive, as #CanLit is pretty scarce there. I am totally enthralled with this family drama / mystery / thriller that delves into multi-generational stories in Vancouver. Jen Sookfong Lee's writing is incisive, thoughtful, honest, perceptive. #Riotgrams

Alicia I liked this one on audio too!! 7y
37 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Kosugi
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Today's thrift store book buys. Forgot to post yesterday's - guess that's next up ;)

LeahBergen I have Fresh Off the Boat on my TBR. 😀 7y
7 likes1 comment
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Alicia
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Pickpick

Overall I enjoyed this listen. I really liked Jessica's character and I felt she was very relatable. It was a very interesting story and I'd be fascinated to hear how Lee came up with the idea. The only reason I didn't love it more was the story between Wayne and Casey. I didn't think the portrayal was accurate and too much ick factor.

45 likes1 stack add
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sandra888
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Pickpick

thoroughly enjoyed this. riveting and compelling. and i appreciated the ambiguity of the central mystery. thematically, i thought it spot on. also: a fellow Canadian author! 🍁

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dixi_e
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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I'm loving this book. There are multiple PoVs and in each I find wisdom and relatable longing, concern and questions. It's so good I'm risking the overdue fee to make sure I get through it all. #lifelessons #currentlyreading #libraryborrow

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dixi_e
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Not many of these around anymore. 🇨🇦

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dixi_e
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Now for this, and quick! It's due back... today. 😲🙃 I blame the ice/snow storm. 🌬🌧🌨 #currentlyreading

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TheBookRamblings
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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While sorting through her mother‘s belongings, Jessica Campbell and her father find a horrifying discovery — beneath resealable plastic bags with frostbitten meat, in the bottom of her mother‘s chest freezers are the bodies of two dead girls. The two girls are a pair of foster children, Casey and Jamie Cheng, that lived with the family in 1988 — two of the countless foster children her mother had taken in over the years.

ReadingOver50 Wow what a description! 7y
8 likes1 comment
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Gleefulreader
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Panpan

There are topics that should make for a thought-provoking book. In this case, the discovery of the bodies of two girls that went missing from foster care system nearly 30 years earlier.

But then an author inserts enough belief-straining melodrama to fill a 1,000 page book, never mind 268 pages, that the book becomes a hot mess (including a chapter attempting to normalize the relationship between a 37 yo man & a 14 yo girl). A wasted opportunity.

Bibliogeekery Yessssssssss. The normalizing of that relationship between child and adult was my biggest issue with the book! The story didn't hold up in other ways, either, which really did feel like a wasted opportunity to me as well. 7y
KVanRead A somewhat unrelated question...where are folks getting these cute cartoon caricatures? 7y
Soubhiville @KVanRead I was just wondering exactly the same thing! 7y
See All 12 Comments
Alfoster Are those Bitmoji? Not sure how to integrate them in photo tho. 7y
Gleefulreader @KVanRead @Soubhiville @Alfoster yes! They are Bitmojis. I figured out that the only way you can add them properly to a photo is via Snapchat, so I signed up for the app exclusively to edit pics (unless someone else knows of an easier method). I just save the edited pic but never post it to Snapchat. 7y
Gleefulreader @Bibliogeekery so many problems with this - from the lack of media interest/intrusion that would happen if bodies of children were found in a freezer, to the "relationship" with the investigating officer, to the revelation of her mother's secret (and attempt to tie it to the girls), to the lack of wrap up at the end. I'm sure there is other stuff I'm forgetting. It was all too much. 7y
Gleefulreader @Bibliogeekery and the chapter about Wayne and Casey is where I damn near threw the book across the room. If you are going to tread on some pretty taboo topics you better damn well follow through and handle it carefully (see: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things) otherwise it is just sensational exploitation. 7y
KVanRead Cool! Thanks for the tip. 7y
Soubhiville Thanks! Play with all the things!! 7y
LitHousewife Great graphic to go along with your review. 7y
MaryAnn1 Lovin the graphic though 7y
dixi_e Oh, wow! I fully disagree with your review. I'm loving this book. I'm intrigued by the repeat of the idea that some characters should just be happy and grateful because their lives are "easy"; how never-ending and dangerous child care services can be, despite good intensions and how a mother "just trying to do good" seems to have done some big wrongs. Always interesting how wildly different we can interpret books. ? 7y
39 likes12 comments
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Gleefulreader
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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When the book you are reading has one too many plot twists and devices, suddenly remembered "memories", and in general stretches the realm of imagination beyond belief. Coming close to being pitched across the room. ?

Texreader Arg! I feel your pain. Hopefully it turns around. 7y
Bibliogeekery I felt the same way with this one! 7y
Gleefulreader @Bibliogeekery I finished it and hoo boy did I want to through it across the room. Review coming when I can marshal the words. 7y
lisakoby Oh my god that is the best graphic of all time. Forever. The end. 7y
40 likes4 comments
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Gleefulreader
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Mr is stuck in traffic so it looks unlikely date night includes a nice dinner. Consoling myself with a Diet Coke and a new book while I wait. Totally fair, right?

38 likes1 stack add
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BookishTrish
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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While cleaning out her recently deceased mother's freezer, a young Vancouver social worker finds the bodies of her two foster sisters who had 'run away' when she was ten.

Books_Wine_Repeat This sounds really good! 7y
Abailliekaras Jeepers, what a premise! 7y
[DELETED] 2232195534 Ok, that is seriously creepy! 😳😳 7y
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jpear1977 Now I have to read this book! 7y
Zelma Holy moly, that is creeptastic! 7y
42 likes4 stack adds6 comments
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BookishTrish
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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My #holdshaul this week, part one. I'll be luck to get to one of them, but which one?

LeahBergen I think The Conjoined looks good. Try that one! 8y
27 likes1 comment
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Penny_LiteraryHoarders
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Laura317 That sounds intense! I'll be interested to see what you think! 8y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders Yes! For sure - I'm just going to assume it will make the Giller Longlist (due out soon!) and will read it around that time probably. 8y
26 likes2 comments
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RealLifeReading
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Pickpick

A grieving woman sorts through her late mother's things and finds the bodies of two girls in the bottom of her mother's freezers. It sounds like a thriller or a crime/mystery type of book. But it's not. Instead it is a book that unravels family secrets, explores immigrant identity and foster families. A gritty honest read by a writer who doesn't shy away from those deep dark thoughts we harbour at the backs of our minds

quirkyreader I'll be on the watch for this one. 8y
Alena So intriguing! Thanks for introducing another new title to me. And the list keeps growing... 8y
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RealLifeReading @quirkyreader hope you like it 8y
RealLifeReading @Alena you're welcome!! Always happy to hear that I've added to a tbr list 😊 8y
Procrastireader I'm sorry, "finds the two girls in her mothers freezers"?? This is not a sentence I expected to read, even in the year of Trump. 8y
81 likes24 stack adds6 comments
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KrisConstantReader
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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I hit a hundred for the year so far, YAY!!!

Sue Congratulations!! 8y
Varshitha Congrats👏🏻👏🏻 8y
BookishFeminist Awesome job!! 👏🏼👏🏼🎉 8y
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quirkyreader Hooray for you. 🐸 8y
JanuarieTimewalker13 Good job!!💫 8y
Megabooks Woo hoo! 8y
LauraBrook Wow, congrats! 8y
QuoteQueen Congrats! You're my reading hero! I recently bumped my goal from 15 to 25. If I complete that I'm going to be amazed! Lol 8y
Zakia Congrats :) 8y
KrisConstantReader Thanks, everyone! @VeteransWife512 a big reason is because I'm disabled, back problems. Also no kids. So I have plenty of time to just read. 8y
99 likes12 comments
review
KrisConstantReader
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
Mehso-so

A mystery/thriller that feels incomplete. Great start but not enough for me to say it's a great book or recommend it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

KrisConstantReader Read my full review and add me on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1689562316 8y
PurpleyPumpkin Wow, congrats on surpassing your GR goal, well done! 8y
43 likes3 comments
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KrisConstantReader
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Gonna hit this one now, still trying to make a dent in my Netgalley pile.

Lindy The premise of this one is a doozy! 8y
KrisConstantReader @Lindy it's good, I'm already halfway through it! 8y
Lindy You go! A marketing rep offered me an advance copy but I said no because I knew I wouldn't get to it soon enough. Glad to hear it's as good as it sounded. 8y
KrisConstantReader @Lindy I spoke too soon, it ended up being a huge let down at the end. 8y
Lindy 😟 8y
51 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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shawnmooney
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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KrisConstantReader I'm getting ready to start this one now! 8y
42 likes9 stack adds1 comment
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Bibliogeekery
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Pickpick

An intriguing and disturbing murder mystery that discusses intergenerational trauma, forgiveness, and social issues of poverty, race, and gendered violence with a critique of white social worker saviours. I didn't like how a sexual relationship between a 14yr old and adult was portrayed positively.

15 likes3 stack adds
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RealLifeReading
The Conjoined | Jen Sookfong Lee
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Saw so many of your June reading stats and thought I'd jump in with mine!

LiteraryinLawrence I'd never heard of The Conjoined. It sounds really gripping but also potentially gruesome. Was it hard to read? 8y
RealLifeReading @LiteraryinLititz it's to be published in Sept if not wrong. Wasn't gruesome although it sounds like it could be. More a story about family and secrets than a crime/mystery/thriller type 8y
50 likes1 stack add2 comments