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melohpa's review against another edition
2.0
See my review at
https://topplingbookpile.blogspot.com/2021/01/by-mary-beth-keane-new-author-i-was.html
https://topplingbookpile.blogspot.com/2021/01/by-mary-beth-keane-new-author-i-was.html
wildfaeriecaps's review
When I started this book I feared that it would be all about disease. Filled with descriptions of sickness and death. I was pleasantly surprised to find it, instead, full of life. Fever is the story of Mary Mallon. Yes, she carried Typhoid. Yes, there was sickness and death. But Mary's passion for cooking, her desire to be free - they kept the book from being dark and depressing. Her interactions and relationships were complex and well described. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the "historical" lives of little known people.
samiswanhorst's review against another edition
2.0
I found it to be somewhat dry and very depressing. I don't really know much about Typoid Mary either though.
knitter22's review against another edition
3.0
Fever by Mary Beth Keane provided me with a good introduction to the life of Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary), but there was a lot of information that would have made the book more complete for me if it had been included. Almost everyone participating in our online book club was busy googling while they read Fever, looking for more basic information about typhoid fever, Mary Mallon's reasons for seeming to refuse any responsibility as a typhoid carrier, and why even though Mary Mallon was the first asymptomatic typhoid carrier to be identified by medical science, she was treated so severely by the NY City Health Department. I would also have liked to read more about George Soper, his background and thought processes in identifying Mary as a carrier. In 2020, we have established public health protocols and laws in the United States, and chronic carriers of most communicable diseases are not allowed to work in sensitive occupations or situations, at least until they repeatedly test negative for the disease-causing agent, but this was not the case in 1907.
By the time of her second quarantine, Mallon was far from the only known asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever. There were thousands across the country and hundreds in New York. Other healthy typhoid carriers identified at the beginning of the 20th century include Tony Labella, an Italian immigrant, presumed to have caused over 100 cases with five deaths, an Adirondack guide dubbed "Typhoid John", presumed to have infected 36 people with two deaths, and Alphonse Cotils, a restaurateur and bakery owner. These examples are all male and non-Irish, so I'm looking forward to our book discussion. I anticipate that the rights of patients with communicable diseases, prejudice against Irish immigrants, Mary Mallon's treatment, and gender and social class distinctions in early 20th century America will be among our discussion topics.
For me, much of the value of Fever lay in piquing my curiosity, leading me to research further information about typhoid fever, the asymptomatic carrier status, how these patients are currently treated, and George Soper's original writings.
By the time of her second quarantine, Mallon was far from the only known asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever. There were thousands across the country and hundreds in New York. Other healthy typhoid carriers identified at the beginning of the 20th century include Tony Labella, an Italian immigrant, presumed to have caused over 100 cases with five deaths, an Adirondack guide dubbed "Typhoid John", presumed to have infected 36 people with two deaths, and Alphonse Cotils, a restaurateur and bakery owner. These examples are all male and non-Irish, so I'm looking forward to our book discussion. I anticipate that the rights of patients with communicable diseases, prejudice against Irish immigrants, Mary Mallon's treatment, and gender and social class distinctions in early 20th century America will be among our discussion topics.
For me, much of the value of Fever lay in piquing my curiosity, leading me to research further information about typhoid fever, the asymptomatic carrier status, how these patients are currently treated, and George Soper's original writings.
irishlibrarian's review
4.0
Really enjoyed the glimpse of turn of the century New York and the imagining of Mary's life.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
5.0
I've been meaning to read this for the longest time but was a bit wary of starting this book as I was afraid that this would be a very sad and thug on my emotions. It definitely did that but it was a truly fascinating novel that sadly is based on reality. I felt for Mary, that she was put on blast for being the cause for so much suffering and treated the way she was, without them telling exactly how it was caused. From this book she sounded like a very fascinating person and I wish that her story would have been different. Like the story of a cook like she had wanted to been. A truly emersive read and I'm glad I finally got around to it
macrosinthemitten's review against another edition
4.0
Typhoid Mary, a subject I knew little about, was a real woman from history who was an asymptomatic carrier of Typhoid. This book is a fictionalization of her life and it was really fascinating. Mary Mallon worked as a cook in wealthy homes in New York in the early 1900s. After a series of families fell ill - and in some cases, dead - health officials began to investigate. Mary was sent to live in isolation on an island off of New York. Fighting her own confusion and desire to cook, which is one of the only pleasures in life, and the frustration of being isolated, Mary begins to work for her release. This was a really interesting book that had some parallels to the isolation around COVID and it introduced me to a topic I really did not know much about. I loved the lyrical prose and the development of Mary’s character as she worked through a lot of life’s challenges.
catherine_louise's review
4.0
this was a good book!
I wasn't that invested in Albert, really, and so ended up skimming through some of his sections in the later half of the novel.
unlike some other reviewers I think MBK makes it very clear why it was so devastating for Mary to give up cooking, what a bitter pill that was for her to swallow, and what ultimately drew her back, even if it meant her ultimate capture and quarantine.
I wasn't that invested in Albert, really, and so ended up skimming through some of his sections in the later half of the novel.
unlike some other reviewers I think MBK makes it very clear why it was so devastating for Mary to give up cooking, what a bitter pill that was for her to swallow, and what ultimately drew her back, even if it meant her ultimate capture and quarantine.
hsrudolph's review
3.0
Fictional retelling of the story of Mary Mallon, a feisty, determined Irish immigrant in NYC at the turn of the century (1900), who works her way up from laundress to cook and whose life is turned upside down when a medical investigator traces various typhoid outbreaks to her cooking. Typhoid Mary, as she comes to be known, is an asymptomatic carrier of the desease and unknowingly spread it through her cooking. She is hunted and captured, hospitalized and tested and studied. She ultimately spends most of her life in a small cabin on North Brother island in the East River. The book humanizes Mary, explores various themes about women’s rights, human rights, medical studies and more. Keane brings old New York to life - the sounds, the smells, the struggles, the hardship of life. The story moved slowly but was very rich.
kymme's review
5.0
Absolutely engrossing story about a fictionalized Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary. Also really enjoyed the entwining tale of poor, substance-addled Alfred. I don’t know if he’s at all real, but he felt real, as did Mary. A very timely read—Mary seems difficult and maybe crazy because she is either incapable or unwilling to see how she could be an asymptomatic carrier of a disease...