Reviews

I have no idea why I picked Slammerkin up but I do know it was in preparation for a plane ride and beach vacation where all I planned to do was read, read, read. I used to read tons of romance novels as a teen and it was so jarring to read something so dark, gritty and so not nice about the age in which most of those stories were set. Slammerkin is not a feel good story which makes it all the better.

j3mma83's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

manonh90's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

amyv's review against another edition

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4.0

Four stars for quality, three for my enjoyment. Donoghue is adept at character, human truths, and scene setting. But this was a dreary, difficult read. And though I could empathize with Mary and found her both believable and complex, for some reason I just didn't feel emotionally connected to the story. For all its tragedy, it rarely moved me at a heart level.

lezreadalot's review against another edition

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3.0

That Immortal Soul the teachers harped on so much -- Mary knew she'd swap it quick as a blink for the merest inch of beauty. A single scarlet ribbon.

This was heavy and hard. When the book starts, we know how it's going to end; with young Mary in a jail cell, awaiting her death. Based loosely on a true story, it details the suffering that women of the era were often forced to endure; the desperation, the unfairness, all the little victories and defeats. I've no doubts about the likelihood of the story, and it was extremely successful in creating its characters and the setting.

As well written as this was, I can't really say that I got anything out of it. It was a bleak, intense story, by its nature and by necessity, and I knew what I was getting into, but I did expect there to be a LITTLE levity or hopefulness at times, even though that I knew how it was going to end. Maybe that was asking for too much, in a novel that clearly took its realism very seriously. Mary's life was difficult, and often incredibly unfair, and there would often be no rhyme or reason to the ugly things that happened to her. She definitely didn't always make the right decisions. Realistic as that might have been, it was a lot, and stories that bleak don't ever really speak to me much.

I'm never really a fan of books that split their POVs in the manner that this one did; omniscient is just not the kind of style I like. But I do admit that I did come to appreciate it in the second part of the book when we got Abi's POV. She's the only major black character, and because of her particular circumstances, I'd have felt weird if we hadn't gotten her perspective.

(Also I'm not sure why so many people have this shelved as LGBT? Probably because of the author. But there's no romance in here, and no queer content, unless I really wasn't paying attention. And I can't lie, that's part of why I picked this up, so I was a bit disappointed lol. ETA: I just noticed that not that many people have actually shelved this as LGBT. I played myself!!)

Undeniably very good; there's merit in these kinds of stories being told. But not totally for me.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

multiple instances of rape and sexual violence, forced prostitution, abortion, miscarriage, racism and discussion of slavery, death.

cheesygiraffe's review

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5.0

Mary in the end is the same girl who wanted that red ribbon at the age of 14. Sad story really.

lwvalentine55's review against another edition

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4.0

Yes, it was dark, but I enjoyed reading about a person who wasn't grand or famous in her life, and whose end was just a side note in history.

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