Scan barcode
rosekk's review against another edition
4.0
Well the ending was something of a surprise. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I really enjoyed the book. The characters were detailed, and felt individual. Her writing painted a picture of the London & Monmouth of the time. Mary's story was a fairly addictive thing to follow. I did feel as though the end was a little incongruous, but having read the note in the back of the book and discovered that it was loosely based on a true story, I find the ending less improbable since in real life the end doesn't always have to make sense with the rest of it. Donoghue did a good job bringing very distant, little known people to life in the novel. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars was because it's taken me a while to read, and I've had little else to do, and I know me - if I'd loved the book enough to give it 5 stars I would have had trouble putting it down.
anniew415's review against another edition
4.0
Woah. Dirty, bloody, gory, smelly and full of sang-froid. I suppose I should know better than to have expected a happy ending (I can be so naive.) Donoghue has made a modern re-telling of a story of a very bad girl whom you're still rooting for no matter how evil she proves herself to be. Has she been misled? Was it a matter of circumstance & environment, or is she really poisoned at the core? You have no idea until the final few pages (at least I didn't.) Very Tess of the D'Urbervilles meets Becky Sharp meets... well, to name someone else would give it away.
As a fashion person I also loved the sartorial details. Amazing! Went back to my costume encyclopedias to look up some of the terms just to make sure I knew what the silhouettes were and how they all went together. 1760s are a little bit before what we commonly see (most fashion histories begin around 1780s with the French Revolution), and while similar, there are differences.
This book would make an AMAZING film...
As a fashion person I also loved the sartorial details. Amazing! Went back to my costume encyclopedias to look up some of the terms just to make sure I knew what the silhouettes were and how they all went together. 1760s are a little bit before what we commonly see (most fashion histories begin around 1780s with the French Revolution), and while similar, there are differences.
This book would make an AMAZING film...
smashleyxk's review against another edition
2.0
Didn't know this was based on a true story. Well written but very heavy from start to finish .
hannmargret's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kellysmaust's review against another edition
4.0
So this is one of Emma Donoghue's earlier books, and while it shows the great promise that was to come in her later works, you can definitely see in this one that she wasn't quite there yet. We've got the historical detail, the skillful writing, the unflinching look at the darker side of our past world, but Slammerkin's Mary Saunders fails to become the unforgettable, sympathetic, nuanced, true-to-life heroine that Donoghue created with Frog Music's Blanche or The Wonder's Lib Wright. Unfortunately, her character suffers from the same problem I had with Kaya in Where the Crawdads Sing - due to difficult choices made in the aftermath of horrific trauma, isolation, and stigma from the "normies," Mary Saunders is considered a monster by society and we feel sorry for the way she is trapped and alone - until she proves them all right by There is still much to appreciate in this book, but everything Donoghue was trying to do here she did so much better in [b:Frog Music|18295858|Frog Music|Emma Donoghue|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393227215l/18295858._SY75_.jpg|25778638], so I'd recommend that instead!
Spoiler
brutally murdering someone! Seriously, I didn't realize this was based on a real person until I got to the random murder - I was like, there was absolutely no indication that's were this story was going and I don't understand why this happened. This must have been something that happened in real life and so the author put it in. Yep!holies's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. Great historical novel, paniful and depressing and yet uputdownable. It reminds me of Atwood's Alias Grace, in a way, and that's the best kind of praise I can think of.
erisouls's review against another edition
It just didn’t hold my attention. I loved the first chapter and some of the second. But after that the book started to drag and I have better things to read. If I were on a plane and that was the book I had, I’d definitely keep reading. But not being limited, it simply isn’t worth the time.
barjul24's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
tallbox's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
anitaofplaybooktag's review against another edition
3.0
This book is an engaging story about a young prostitute set in mid 16th century London.
I loved the book initially as it paints the picture of a young woman, Mary, who gets sucked into prostitution who finds a way to survive by her wits and with the help of an older, more experienced prostitute. Mary is not a typical fictional character; she has more than her share of flaws - - not merely in her judgement, but also in her character, yet she is portrayed sympathetically.
Unfortunately, Mary ultimately leaves London and goes into "service" under false pretenses to a family in the countryside.
Here is where one might hope that Mary would rise above her early circumstances and go on to live a happy life. Needless to say, that's not what happens. Not by a long shot.
This book really had a lot of four star qualities in that it was well written and suspenseful, but even I, who really LIKE dark books, found it just didn't have enough hope or uplifting qualities to contrast against the unrelenting darkness. For me, dark books can make even the smallest bit of humanity shine brightly, and I read them for those moving moments. The contrast is what engages my mind and my emotion.
Slammerkin just didn't quite deliver on that promise and while I admired the author for not taking the easy route with her characters, I also ended up feeling that the book really didn't develop that elusive theme that elevates an ordinary read to the four and five star levels.
I loved the book initially as it paints the picture of a young woman, Mary, who gets sucked into prostitution who finds a way to survive by her wits and with the help of an older, more experienced prostitute. Mary is not a typical fictional character; she has more than her share of flaws - - not merely in her judgement, but also in her character, yet she is portrayed sympathetically.
Unfortunately, Mary ultimately leaves London and goes into "service" under false pretenses to a family in the countryside.
Here is where one might hope that Mary would rise above her early circumstances and go on to live a happy life. Needless to say, that's not what happens. Not by a long shot.
This book really had a lot of four star qualities in that it was well written and suspenseful, but even I, who really LIKE dark books, found it just didn't have enough hope or uplifting qualities to contrast against the unrelenting darkness. For me, dark books can make even the smallest bit of humanity shine brightly, and I read them for those moving moments. The contrast is what engages my mind and my emotion.
Slammerkin just didn't quite deliver on that promise and while I admired the author for not taking the easy route with her characters, I also ended up feeling that the book really didn't develop that elusive theme that elevates an ordinary read to the four and five star levels.