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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Hollis Social Library Winter Challenge: A book about or set in the past
I hadn’t originally planned on reading this book. But, when I went to start listening to Winter Sisters, I quickly discovered that it was the sequel. I was able to get the first book on audio from the library. The plot was really good. It really put into perspective how far we have come in medical advancements since the Civil War era. Listening to what some of those poor soldiers went through was awful.
I hadn’t originally planned on reading this book. But, when I went to start listening to Winter Sisters, I quickly discovered that it was the sequel. I was able to get the first book on audio from the library. The plot was really good. It really put into perspective how far we have come in medical advancements since the Civil War era. Listening to what some of those poor soldiers went through was awful.
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed the book and particularly Mary.
It was a little long-going at times and missed opportunities for more diversity in the cast. I didn't realize it's the beginning of a series, but I'll probably read the rest!
It was a little long-going at times and missed opportunities for more diversity in the cast. I didn't realize it's the beginning of a series, but I'll probably read the rest!
Thoroughly enjoyed a different perspective on the Civil War. The lack of medical knowledge during that time period was astounding and to learn that so many died of sanitation issues was disturbing. I enjoyed Mary's character very much and all the historical figures the she included in the book. It also did not seem formulaic. I would recommend this book.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Set in the days of the inception of the Civil War, this novel is a fantastic fictional reference if you are looking to learn more about its impact on Union state citizens. Among them the call to serve was believed to be a three month commitment. The perceived brevity of this interruption to their daily lives convinced many young men that they had an obligation to muster and assist with the effort. Not only were those who answered the call untrained and unready, the Union generals were ill prepared to feed them, equip them, and to attend to their medical needs. Alternating the story of the fictional Mary Sutter with the non-fictional historical account, the reader meets several of the major figures of that time including Abraham Lincoln and Dorthea Dix, and is able to get a glimpse of the profound horror suffered by the men on the battlefields.
Mary is the daughter of Amelia and Nathaniel Sutter. Amelia was born in a long line of midwives and Mary became interested in the pursuit of assisting women during birth at a young age and began to aid her mother with house calls in her adolescence. She is now accomplished at this skill and has a reputation as such in Albany, NY where she resides. The reader first meets Mary a few months after her father has passed away. She is now a young woman and is determined to become a surgeon. In this regard she has applied to Medical colleges and inquired about the possibility of apprenticing with local physicians, including Dr. James Blevens. These avenues have been closed to her as she has been rejected in all these attempts. Her brother, Christian, and brother-in-law, Thomas Fall enlist and head south to the front. Headstrong and desperate to find a way to learn what she so desires, Mary leaves her home, mother and twin sister, Jenny, without saying goodbye and follows them to Washington with the hope of finding a position which will further her knowledge and simultaneously be helpful to soldiers wounded in pursuing the cause. None of the members of this family are prepared for the lasting impact this conflict between North and South will wreck on their existence.
Mary is the daughter of Amelia and Nathaniel Sutter. Amelia was born in a long line of midwives and Mary became interested in the pursuit of assisting women during birth at a young age and began to aid her mother with house calls in her adolescence. She is now accomplished at this skill and has a reputation as such in Albany, NY where she resides. The reader first meets Mary a few months after her father has passed away. She is now a young woman and is determined to become a surgeon. In this regard she has applied to Medical colleges and inquired about the possibility of apprenticing with local physicians, including Dr. James Blevens. These avenues have been closed to her as she has been rejected in all these attempts. Her brother, Christian, and brother-in-law, Thomas Fall enlist and head south to the front. Headstrong and desperate to find a way to learn what she so desires, Mary leaves her home, mother and twin sister, Jenny, without saying goodbye and follows them to Washington with the hope of finding a position which will further her knowledge and simultaneously be helpful to soldiers wounded in pursuing the cause. None of the members of this family are prepared for the lasting impact this conflict between North and South will wreck on their existence.
This was the Schenectady One County, One Book selection for 2011. While I wouldn't have picked up this book for any other reason, I'm glad they made this selection, and I can see why.
I don't know much about the Civil War period. I don't know what people did, day-to-day, I don't know much about the history and battles, and I definitely didn't know much about medical science back then. But this book put forth an interesting mix of historical fact and fictional narrative to weave an interesting, informative tale.
The story follows the title character of Mary Sutter, mostly. She's a midwife in Albany, NY, and she wants to understand the rest of the body's processes so she can better help the women she assists through childbirth. Of course most of the people she knows scoff at this notion. They don't do so for the reasons I'd expect; no one cites the common medical belief of the time that women are feeble-minded or less capable. Their objections may well boil down to that, with scrutiny, but they're able to deter the strong-willed Mary well enough that it doesn't come to admitting they think so.
Then, Lincoln calls for a volunteer army, and, at the same time, Dorothea Dix calls for nurses to serve in army hospitals. Though Mary is too young to meet Dix's stringent requirements, she goes, anyway, for the opportunity, and to avoid her own heartbreak when the man she falls for marries her sister.
Mary is warned that it won't be easy, which only makes her dig in her heels more. And, indeed, it isn't. She winds up serving at the Union Hotel, a makeshift hospital that's filthy and falling down around her ears. She has to prove herself by running herself ragged and shouting down the doctor for the right to assist him with amputations.
And that's just the start.
The book does a wonderful job of depicting the horror and bloodiness of war, to the point where I was often cringing to listen. The trouble with audio books is that it's very difficult to skim past disturbing scenes. One often skips past plot that way, too, and I didn't want to miss anything.
The book also does a good job of presenting the war in a way that added a human element to it. History is usually a lot of names and dates and battle names to me. This book gave them meaning. Maybe I'd've had a better idea of what to anticipate if I'd been familiar with the Civil War, but the book didn't assume I already knew. It tied together facts I'd only been loosely familiar with from high school history classes.
But the thing I liked best about this book was that it never took the easy way out. When Mary or another character is horrified by the sight before them, we don't pan back to get a flowery description. No; we're right there with them, experiencing every last drop of sweat and blood. We feel the horror of the situation just as well as they do. Similarly, there are no tangible villains (save the faceless South, whose soldiers are the same scared, hungry, tired boys as the North), and motivation comes from the characters presented in the book, rather than convenience of plot. Mary remains believably motivated, and she does waver in her resolve. I never questioned that she would behave exactly as she did, nor did I question that those who stood in her way did so for reasons they thought valid. I may have scoffed at certain characters, but it's only because they felt like people I knew, and not because I felt they decided what they did for the sake of the plot.
I do have one quibble with this book, and that's the perspective. It's an omniscient narrator, which is hard to accomplish while also getting into character's heads. In the beginning, it was really jarring, going from the perspective of Mary Sutter to that of James Blevins, the physician. At first, I thought the book was implying that Mary could read minds. Then it shifted to a third perspective, and I realized that it was just a weird way of doing omniscient, while also giving a strong point of view. There may have been a better way to handle the perspective problem.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about history and medicine without reading a nonfiction text or a dry infodump.
I don't know much about the Civil War period. I don't know what people did, day-to-day, I don't know much about the history and battles, and I definitely didn't know much about medical science back then. But this book put forth an interesting mix of historical fact and fictional narrative to weave an interesting, informative tale.
The story follows the title character of Mary Sutter, mostly. She's a midwife in Albany, NY, and she wants to understand the rest of the body's processes so she can better help the women she assists through childbirth. Of course most of the people she knows scoff at this notion. They don't do so for the reasons I'd expect; no one cites the common medical belief of the time that women are feeble-minded or less capable. Their objections may well boil down to that, with scrutiny, but they're able to deter the strong-willed Mary well enough that it doesn't come to admitting they think so.
Then, Lincoln calls for a volunteer army, and, at the same time, Dorothea Dix calls for nurses to serve in army hospitals. Though Mary is too young to meet Dix's stringent requirements, she goes, anyway, for the opportunity, and to avoid her own heartbreak when the man she falls for marries her sister.
Mary is warned that it won't be easy, which only makes her dig in her heels more. And, indeed, it isn't. She winds up serving at the Union Hotel, a makeshift hospital that's filthy and falling down around her ears. She has to prove herself by running herself ragged and shouting down the doctor for the right to assist him with amputations.
And that's just the start.
The book does a wonderful job of depicting the horror and bloodiness of war, to the point where I was often cringing to listen. The trouble with audio books is that it's very difficult to skim past disturbing scenes. One often skips past plot that way, too, and I didn't want to miss anything.
The book also does a good job of presenting the war in a way that added a human element to it. History is usually a lot of names and dates and battle names to me. This book gave them meaning. Maybe I'd've had a better idea of what to anticipate if I'd been familiar with the Civil War, but the book didn't assume I already knew. It tied together facts I'd only been loosely familiar with from high school history classes.
But the thing I liked best about this book was that it never took the easy way out. When Mary or another character is horrified by the sight before them, we don't pan back to get a flowery description. No; we're right there with them, experiencing every last drop of sweat and blood. We feel the horror of the situation just as well as they do. Similarly, there are no tangible villains (save the faceless South, whose soldiers are the same scared, hungry, tired boys as the North), and motivation comes from the characters presented in the book, rather than convenience of plot. Mary remains believably motivated, and she does waver in her resolve. I never questioned that she would behave exactly as she did, nor did I question that those who stood in her way did so for reasons they thought valid. I may have scoffed at certain characters, but it's only because they felt like people I knew, and not because I felt they decided what they did for the sake of the plot.
I do have one quibble with this book, and that's the perspective. It's an omniscient narrator, which is hard to accomplish while also getting into character's heads. In the beginning, it was really jarring, going from the perspective of Mary Sutter to that of James Blevins, the physician. At first, I thought the book was implying that Mary could read minds. Then it shifted to a third perspective, and I realized that it was just a weird way of doing omniscient, while also giving a strong point of view. There may have been a better way to handle the perspective problem.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about history and medicine without reading a nonfiction text or a dry infodump.
It is the onset of the Civil War, and Mary Sutter is a midwife. It seems to run in her blood, as her mother and generations of women before her practiced the trade. While Mary is the best midwife in Albany, she isn't content (or challenged); she wants to become a surgeon. Her pleas for training rejected by medical schools and practicing surgeons, Mary becomes increasingly frustrated. When the call is made for a volunteer army and the men enlist and head south, Mary isn't far behind. After much resistance, she elbows her way into a Union hospital and begins her work as a nurse, but the conditions are so deplorable that she ends up spending most of her time doing the work of a maid. In spite of sadness, regrets, and loss on the homefront, Mary's dogged determination eventually takes her to the battlefields. There she does learn to perform surgeries, although her success is marred by the thousands of lives that she cannot save.
Even if you're not into history, or the Civil War in general, My Name is Mary Sutter stands alone as a work of fiction. There's a bit of a love story (isn't there always a love story?), but it doesn't shadow the main focus of the novel. Instead, it provides motivation and softens a character that some might find a bit too hard, a bit too determined.
Still, this novel is a great work of historical fiction. While Mary Sutter is the protagonist, figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Dorothea Dix make not-so-brief appearances, which serve to provide context and give readers a feel for the overall tone in the Maryland and Washington (City) during the war. I couldn't help but think of the correspondence and notes that Oliveira must've pored through in order to get a sense of the conversations that these real people may have had with each other. This isn't just Mary's story; it is one extraordinary woman's narrative set among the backdrop of thousands of unprepared soldiers, inexperienced medical professionals, disorganized authority figures, and women who knew that more had to be done -- with everyone struggling to do the best they could with what they had.
Even if you're not into history, or the Civil War in general, My Name is Mary Sutter stands alone as a work of fiction. There's a bit of a love story (isn't there always a love story?), but it doesn't shadow the main focus of the novel. Instead, it provides motivation and softens a character that some might find a bit too hard, a bit too determined.
Still, this novel is a great work of historical fiction. While Mary Sutter is the protagonist, figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Dorothea Dix make not-so-brief appearances, which serve to provide context and give readers a feel for the overall tone in the Maryland and Washington (City) during the war. I couldn't help but think of the correspondence and notes that Oliveira must've pored through in order to get a sense of the conversations that these real people may have had with each other. This isn't just Mary's story; it is one extraordinary woman's narrative set among the backdrop of thousands of unprepared soldiers, inexperienced medical professionals, disorganized authority figures, and women who knew that more had to be done -- with everyone struggling to do the best they could with what they had.
This is a page-turner about a young midwife who wants to become a surgeon in the Civil War era. It's also about the beginning of nursing in America. The horrible conditions that physicians and nurses labored under, as well as their lack of knowledge about hygiene and pathogens really make you grateful for modern medicine! Mary is a character filled with grit and tenderness.
I received a copy of this book from the Goodreads giveaway program. Strong heroine. Good book about a not often covered subject from the Civil War. It did get a bit too soap opera like at some points though.
{4.5 stars}
Every now and then you come across one of those stories that make you want to shout from the roof tops: THIS IS A FANTASTIC BOOK!!!!!!! This is one of those times for me. I was so totally emotionally tied in to this story as it swept from one person to another, yet it always came back to Mary Sutter. Set in the horrific days of America's Civil War, this is a timeless tale that is fraught with grief and emotion, where the entire undercurrent was despair throughout the novel. This is not for the faint of heart, but a novel that is meant to cling to your soul and not let go.
Mary Sutter is a young midwife whose sole desire is to become a surgeon. This was a job that men would normally do, and Mary wanted to learn from any of those more learned men. Finding someone to apprentice to is her chief task, and she ultimately forsakes her loving family in New York and seeks knowledge amongst those who are tending to the war heroes. The formidable Dorothea Dix called for nurses for this task, yet she has turned Mary away due to her young age which was not the required age of thirty. Mary is a resourceful, stubborn woman set on her goals and finds the medical world a place that she needs to be, especially to save the boys who resemble her brother and brother-in-law, as she searched for them among the masses of soldiers she encountered.
The author skillfully blends fiction with fact, as Lincoln steps in as a shadow of a figure in the story as well, and a young assistant John Hay who made for another intriguing storyline as the war rages on. But the story is set up to follow the members of Mary's family from her twin sister and her husband to a doctor that had also turned Mary away. Following Mary's younger brother Christian as he enlists in the war against the South was one of those moments when you felt something is going to happen to this wonderful young gentleman, but please don't let it happen.. and we follow Mary from New York to Washington to Virginia as she is stubborn in her quest, while along the way the author is so descriptive that you feel like you are watching an epic movie unfold before you. The war was not supposed to be so long, and it took its toll on everyone, from President Lincoln and his ineffective commanders to the once eager nurse Mary Sutter. Hope was not really an option anymore, as we read of the dead and dying, and the maimed. Life and death were intertwining shadows as the effects of the war ravaged the men and their beloved families, and Mary's included. Pitiful and tearful despair as impossible choices were given, and the decisions made carried grave consequences and regret. The hypocrisy of the war for the quest for freedom was also evident, and one wonders if we could ever learn. There were almost 625,000 casualties, averaging 599 deaths per day in this Civil War which lasted from 1861 to 1865. Such an astronomical number as I contemplate the effects of the war on our ancestors. And so this story gives life to that seemingly long ago time, as Mary's once happy family is reduced to shreds with not a single light at the end of the tunnel. An incredibly amazing gutwrenching novel that I simply could not put down.
A small critique from me regarding the writing was the repeated use of parentheses which seemed overly used in the first part of the book: (to demonstrate a point). Otherwise, the writing felt skilled and highly steeped with the undercurrents of potential sorrows that still managed to pull at my heart as the author intermingles her characters with ease and talent that predicts wonderful things to come for this writer. There is also a lot of medical information as Mary and her peers try to discern the best ways to help their patients, as well as a lot of surgeries and blood. This is such a fantastic debut novel for Robin Oliveira that I have to wonder what next could come from her imaginative and talented pen? I will impatiently for another page turner that takes me into another time and place but manages to keep my soul there while the written story is long over. Those readers who enjoyed The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott will enjoy this one as it packs a lot of punch into the harrowing images of the Civil War, yet it is not done in such a way to shock the reader into pity for the characters of the story. Instead, it is done with a subtle torture to your sensitivities. If you think you would enjoy a Civil War era novel, pick this one up. This would be your favorite, in a masochistic sort of way.
Every now and then you come across one of those stories that make you want to shout from the roof tops: THIS IS A FANTASTIC BOOK!!!!!!! This is one of those times for me. I was so totally emotionally tied in to this story as it swept from one person to another, yet it always came back to Mary Sutter. Set in the horrific days of America's Civil War, this is a timeless tale that is fraught with grief and emotion, where the entire undercurrent was despair throughout the novel. This is not for the faint of heart, but a novel that is meant to cling to your soul and not let go.
Mary Sutter is a young midwife whose sole desire is to become a surgeon. This was a job that men would normally do, and Mary wanted to learn from any of those more learned men. Finding someone to apprentice to is her chief task, and she ultimately forsakes her loving family in New York and seeks knowledge amongst those who are tending to the war heroes. The formidable Dorothea Dix called for nurses for this task, yet she has turned Mary away due to her young age which was not the required age of thirty. Mary is a resourceful, stubborn woman set on her goals and finds the medical world a place that she needs to be, especially to save the boys who resemble her brother and brother-in-law, as she searched for them among the masses of soldiers she encountered.
The author skillfully blends fiction with fact, as Lincoln steps in as a shadow of a figure in the story as well, and a young assistant John Hay who made for another intriguing storyline as the war rages on. But the story is set up to follow the members of Mary's family from her twin sister and her husband to a doctor that had also turned Mary away. Following Mary's younger brother Christian as he enlists in the war against the South was one of those moments when you felt something is going to happen to this wonderful young gentleman, but please don't let it happen.. and we follow Mary from New York to Washington to Virginia as she is stubborn in her quest, while along the way the author is so descriptive that you feel like you are watching an epic movie unfold before you. The war was not supposed to be so long, and it took its toll on everyone, from President Lincoln and his ineffective commanders to the once eager nurse Mary Sutter. Hope was not really an option anymore, as we read of the dead and dying, and the maimed. Life and death were intertwining shadows as the effects of the war ravaged the men and their beloved families, and Mary's included. Pitiful and tearful despair as impossible choices were given, and the decisions made carried grave consequences and regret. The hypocrisy of the war for the quest for freedom was also evident, and one wonders if we could ever learn. There were almost 625,000 casualties, averaging 599 deaths per day in this Civil War which lasted from 1861 to 1865. Such an astronomical number as I contemplate the effects of the war on our ancestors. And so this story gives life to that seemingly long ago time, as Mary's once happy family is reduced to shreds with not a single light at the end of the tunnel. An incredibly amazing gutwrenching novel that I simply could not put down.
A small critique from me regarding the writing was the repeated use of parentheses which seemed overly used in the first part of the book: (to demonstrate a point). Otherwise, the writing felt skilled and highly steeped with the undercurrents of potential sorrows that still managed to pull at my heart as the author intermingles her characters with ease and talent that predicts wonderful things to come for this writer. There is also a lot of medical information as Mary and her peers try to discern the best ways to help their patients, as well as a lot of surgeries and blood. This is such a fantastic debut novel for Robin Oliveira that I have to wonder what next could come from her imaginative and talented pen? I will impatiently for another page turner that takes me into another time and place but manages to keep my soul there while the written story is long over. Those readers who enjoyed The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott will enjoy this one as it packs a lot of punch into the harrowing images of the Civil War, yet it is not done in such a way to shock the reader into pity for the characters of the story. Instead, it is done with a subtle torture to your sensitivities. If you think you would enjoy a Civil War era novel, pick this one up. This would be your favorite, in a masochistic sort of way.