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a_mckeever's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Medical content, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, and War
Minor: Gun violence and Fire/Fire injury
booksandteatime's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Death, Self harm, Grief, Suicide, and Vomit
Moderate: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Physical abuse
kimia_hyperfocuser's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
She doesn't have any clever tricks, just simple prose and powerful characters. And in the afterword she tells you how the story is based on real events and people.
Her depiction of the profession of nursing is so charming. Both in this and in The Wonder her nurse characters are competent, discip ined, and endlessly compassionate. I admire them so much.
Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape
emjay2021's review against another edition
5.0
Emma Donoghue is a beautiful writer, and the audio version of this really does the prose justice. One funny thing about the audio book: I kept thinking the doctor was saying “N’est-ce pas?” an awful lot, and it made me wonder why she would lapse into French so often. Well, it turned out she was actually saying “Nurse Power” in an Anglo-Irish accent. It took me a LONG time to realize it.
This book is set in a quarantine maternity ward during the 1918 flu pandemic, so there is a lot of pregnancy, baby loss, and death. Heads up if these are things you don’t want to read about at this time. I was OK with it, but there was a time when I would not have been. There is also a lot about the abuses perpetuated on women and children by the Catholic Church.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Physical abuse, and Sexism
writingcaia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A maternity nurse sees herself in a position of more power managing a ward for pregnant women suspected of having the grippe — what they initially called the Spanish Influenza.
The whole story takes place in 3 days but however slow and dark the start much happens after, and in a way showcases a lot of the spirit and morale of Dublin in 1918 with the WWI and the division between the Irish that supported the King and Country, and those who did not, who felt they should care for their own and not be taken as cattle to a war they had no part in. There are also the losses, people dying in the streets, families being found all dead at home — a disease that was unseen and affected mostly the poor who shared small quarters and were forced to work to feed their numerous families. Last, the cruelty of the church is in much focus as well. The indentured children and young women, the abuse and cruelty, the disregard for life, the false morality.
And, of course, our nurse! Oh, what a character! What surprises she unveils about herself. What insight in her caring for her muted-by-shell-shock in the war brother, in her relationship with an orphan, kin to learn, bright and older than her years girl that comes to help the ward, and with the orderlies and the female doctor (a real life personality), a rebel and a progressive.
Also, pregnancy! The horror and the miracle. Death, a curse and a final rest.
What a book!
Don’t hesitate if you like historical novels with focus on character.
‼️And, with the added - SPOILER ALERT ‼️
LGBTQIA+ representation
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Domestic abuse
LGBTQIA+ representationmekilouise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Death of parent and Child death
Minor: Child abuse
isaaah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Medical content, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism, Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, and Child abuse
Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Vomit, Incest, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Infertility, Suicide, Slavery, Excrement, Miscarriage, and Abandonment
bessadams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, Blood, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Death, Grief, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Vomit, and War
leontyna's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Pregnancy, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Vomit, Sexual violence, and Violence
helzie_2023's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child abuse, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, and Gore