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phyxi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lbraden's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
willowmae's review against another edition
Sooooo good, will reread, busy at the moment and got distracted and haven’t picked it up in while
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
kimmag92's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I want to preface this review by saying I am a Canadian who was born in the Maritimes, has lived here the vast majority of my life, has visited Halifax more times than I can count, has family and friends who live there, and I have studied the First World War and the Halifax Explosion at numerous times in my life. My best friend's father also happens to be an expert in Canadian nurses during the First World War.
This book felt incredibly well researched and also drastically under-researched at the same time. The author got many details about the Halifax Explosion correct, which I was pleasantly surprised by like the Barrington Street YMCA hospital and how Boston sent supplies afterwards. What was missing was saying how the Mont Blanc didn't explode in the harbour but against Pier 6 in the north end of Halifax as well as the complete and utter devastation the Explosion caused in Halifax especially in the North End. Also, where was the elderly sisters house in Halifax that only the windows cracked but Laura was able to get to Veith Street quickly as well as walk to Barrington Street? Their house would have had to have been incredibly far away for that to happen. What the author also missed is how incredibly small Halifax is. Yes, Halifax was and is a fairly large city but I can go visit and run into all kinds of people that I know just walking along the boardwalk and Laura would have been tending to people she personally knew at the YMCA hospital.
Other aspects of this book that felt well researched was the conditions at the Front and the conditions in hospitals. What was lacking again was the details. If you've known people in the military you know they always ask what regiment are you with, what unit, your rank, and where did you serve. At no point did any character ask this of anyone else which would have happened during the First World War. Also missing was how the nurses all knew either other. In Canada, many universities sent hospitals and it's hinted at that Laura trained as a nurse in Montreal and most likely would have gone to the Front with the McGill Unit and would have studied and trained with her colleagues before the war. This was completely absent from the book.
What I was most disappointed by was how the whole time it felt like the author wanted to write a book about an American nurse and couldn't figure out how to do that. This felt confirmed to me by the Author's Note. She only discusses how the American's didn't enter the war until late. At no point did she discuss Canadian nurses experiences or nurses experiences in general during the First World War. She didn't say anything really about the Explosion expect how "hellscapes" have been used as a device in literature. The number of American characters and the lack of details about the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the CAMC also made me feel this way. The author very easily could have had this been an American story as Harvard sent a surgical unit to the Front (https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/noble-work-for-a-worthy-end/harvard-surgical-unit) and Laura could have been in Halifax for the Explosion as she was staying with her elderly aunts or something.
The final thing that really got to me was how the author didn't talk about her research or anything in the Author's Note or the Acknowledgements. It felt like she co-opted the experience of Canadian nurses and soldiers to tell this story without giving them any credit. Surviving diaries from Canadian nurses are incredibly rare and she probably consulted the diary of Clare Gass (published by McGill-Queen University Press, 2004). A more recent published diary is A Canadian Nurse in the Great War: The Diary of Ruth Loggie, 1915-1916 edited by Ross Hebb and published by Nimbus Publishing, 2021, if you want to read more first hand experiences.
Overall, from a Maritimer and Canadian standpoint I was overall disappointed in this book.
This book felt incredibly well researched and also drastically under-researched at the same time. The author got many details about the Halifax Explosion correct, which I was pleasantly surprised by like the Barrington Street YMCA hospital and how Boston sent supplies afterwards. What was missing was saying how the Mont Blanc didn't explode in the harbour but against Pier 6 in the north end of Halifax as well as the complete and utter devastation the Explosion caused in Halifax especially in the North End. Also, where was the elderly sisters house in Halifax that only the windows cracked but Laura was able to get to Veith Street quickly as well as walk to Barrington Street? Their house would have had to have been incredibly far away for that to happen. What the author also missed is how incredibly small Halifax is. Yes, Halifax was and is a fairly large city but I can go visit and run into all kinds of people that I know just walking along the boardwalk and Laura would have been tending to people she personally knew at the YMCA hospital.
Other aspects of this book that felt well researched was the conditions at the Front and the conditions in hospitals. What was lacking again was the details. If you've known people in the military you know they always ask what regiment are you with, what unit, your rank, and where did you serve. At no point did any character ask this of anyone else which would have happened during the First World War. Also missing was how the nurses all knew either other. In Canada, many universities sent hospitals and it's hinted at that Laura trained as a nurse in Montreal and most likely would have gone to the Front with the McGill Unit and would have studied and trained with her colleagues before the war. This was completely absent from the book.
What I was most disappointed by was how the whole time it felt like the author wanted to write a book about an American nurse and couldn't figure out how to do that. This felt confirmed to me by the Author's Note. She only discusses how the American's didn't enter the war until late. At no point did she discuss Canadian nurses experiences or nurses experiences in general during the First World War. She didn't say anything really about the Explosion expect how "hellscapes" have been used as a device in literature. The number of American characters and the lack of details about the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the CAMC also made me feel this way. The author very easily could have had this been an American story as Harvard sent a surgical unit to the Front (https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/noble-work-for-a-worthy-end/harvard-surgical-unit) and Laura could have been in Halifax for the Explosion as she was staying with her elderly aunts or something.
The final thing that really got to me was how the author didn't talk about her research or anything in the Author's Note or the Acknowledgements. It felt like she co-opted the experience of Canadian nurses and soldiers to tell this story without giving them any credit. Surviving diaries from Canadian nurses are incredibly rare and she probably consulted the diary of Clare Gass (published by McGill-Queen University Press, 2004). A more recent published diary is A Canadian Nurse in the Great War: The Diary of Ruth Loggie, 1915-1916 edited by Ross Hebb and published by Nimbus Publishing, 2021, if you want to read more first hand experiences.
Overall, from a Maritimer and Canadian standpoint I was overall disappointed in this book.
torreads95's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
anitaboeira's review
5.0
“The war to ends all wars.” It’s funny how little we know about WWI since there’s so many literature and media about the second one. But it was interesting reading this book about this war I know not a ton about, and the era and the setting was so perfect for the fantasy. Like a “modern” day Juliet marillier story where you have to make sure you don’t eat when you are in the fairy realm. The atmosphere fits with fantasy (no wonder Tolkien based some of his own work on lord of the rings on his war experience too). Lovely book, gruesome but beautifully written. Worth the hype.
yamiresse's review against another edition
dark
emotional
5.0
Love Katherine's writing and whilecI don't usually enjoy stories set during the war, I was able to immerse myself in the emotional aspect and admire the things we do for love.