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evermore_reads's review against another edition
4.0
This book was very good although I didn't enjoy very much. Reading a book about pandemics after living through one may be less than desirable to most. I didn't mind it at all and reading a nurse's perspective was very insightful. However, the main character, Nurse Powers', voice was so stoic and methodical at times that it felt like reading a textbook at times. There are many exciting points and the book rapidly goes through very emotional scenes that are exhilarating to read. But this is no pleasant story, and I was relieved to have turned to final page of the book so that I could move on to something much more pleasant.
joexner's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book! The reason that I gave it 4 ☆s instead of 5 was because of the lack of quotations in the dialogue
emleemay's review against another edition
4.0
Here we are in the golden age of medicine— making such great strides against rabies, typhoid fever, diphtheria— and a common or garden influenza is beating us hollow.
Serious question: were there always this many books about pandemics? Is this like one of those things where you learn about something you'd never heard of before and then, suddenly, it's EVERYWHERE. Because I keep reading these books that were written pre-COVID and pandemics seem to be stalking me.
Anyway, I really liked this understated exploration of healthcare, illness, maternity, and all kinds of power abuses. [b:The Pull of the Stars|51824630|The Pull of the Stars|Emma Donoghue|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1586264332l/51824630._SY75_.jpg|76322248] is set in Ireland in 1918. It's a book that goes a lot deeper than you may first expect. It takes place over only a few days and barely moves outside of the single room in which Nurse Julia Power cares for those who are pregnant and in quarantine. It was a surprisingly emotional journey following Julia through her day as a nurse, trying to keep fevers down and despair at bay. Trying, against horrendous odds, to deliver healthy living babies.
The 1918 influenza was a devastating pandemic. Even as people were killing each other on the battlefields of the First World War, an even more deadly killer was spreading from person to person through love, kindness, touch. Here Donaghue brings a uniquely Irish perspective to the time. With the combination of aversion to contraception, the social pressure to churn out babies (upwards of ten was the norm), sexual abuses in religious institutions and Magdalene laundries, a maternal mortality rate of 15%, AND the pandemic, this was a terrible time and place to be a woman and pregnant.
Nurse Power sees mothers trying and failing to give birth to their twelfth child because their bodies can't take any more. She sees young victims of sexual abuse terrified as they are forced to give birth to the babies of the male relatives who raped them. She sees the "fallen women" of Magdalene laundries forced to give up their babies. She sees abuse victims who are afraid to get better and leave the hospital.
I found myself wondering who'd put us all in the hands of these old men in the first place.
It may seem like the whole story takes place in one small room, but much of the horror that happens there is rooted in far-reaching abuses of power, religious hypocrisy, and social policy. In the early twentieth century, many people really did believe that class was genetic and passed from parent to child, so the doctors in this book dismiss the infants of poor working class people literally from the minute they are born.
I would definitely recommend it if you can stomach the gore and the mentions of abuse/incest (all off-page). I liked that the author wove a lot of historical fact with her fiction, including the character of Kathleen Lynn, who I was unfamiliar with. The only thing I didn't love is how the romantic subplot seemed to come flying in out of nowhere with no romantic chemistry suggested beforehand, but it was such a small part of what's going on in this book that I didn't mind very much.
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eluned's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
tootiemama3's review against another edition
3.5
3.5⭐️ I found the first half to be very slow and I almost gave up, but I’m glad I stuck with it.
jmarchek's review against another edition
3.0
It took me forever to finish this book. It's a really slow story that takes place over the course of maybe 3 days. Set during the Spanish Flu pandemic in Dublin at a maternity hospital. If you can make it through the first 2/3rd, the final 1/3 will fly by. Emma Donoghue is a great writer, but I don't want to dwell in so much depth on the laboring births in those times.
nightstand_reads's review against another edition
4.0
"The Pull of the Stars” takes place in the middle of an influenza epidemic in Ireland in 1918 and centers on nurse Julie Power, who works tirelessly to help save the lives of pregnant women and their babies.
It’s a gripping tale that covers just three days.
The feeling and emotion in this book is something we can all relate to being in the midst of our own pandemic.
It’s a gripping tale that covers just three days.
The feeling and emotion in this book is something we can all relate to being in the midst of our own pandemic.
emmajosephine's review against another edition
4.0
finished in like 2 sittings, much gayer than I was expecting (slay), end felt a little rushed