You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
"My Name Is Mary Sutter" is in the special class of historical fiction that immerses you in a time period, making you understand and feel what it was like to live then.
Set in the first years of the American Civil War, the novel is the story of a young midwife who is determined to become a surgeon. After experiencing rejection by the medical school in Albany, New York, Mary Sutter decides to answer Dorothea Dix's call for women to come to Washington to serve as nurses in the hospitals. The federal government is woefully unprepared for the vast number of sick and wounded that fill the DC hospitals. Conditions are horrific and there are few doctors and nurses to help. Mary throws herself into the work, scrubbing walls, cleaning toilets, and changing sheets. When the wounded from a battle arrive, Mary finds herself assisting the hospital surgeon in doing amputations.
When her twin sister is about to give birth in Albany, Mary goes home to assist in the birth, arriving as her sister Jenny is already in labor. Tragedy strikes and Mary feels like a failure. She returns to Washington, but takes a clerk's job because she has lost confidence in her medical ability. But when another battle decimates Union troops, Mary goes to the front-line hospitals and is able to use her hard-won skill to save lives.
There are a few chapters told from the point of view of President Lincoln which feel a bit awkward. While the insights on Lincoln's state of mind are interesting, they distract from the storyline. There are also some sentences that I had to read over and over because of twisted syntax.
If you liked the PBS series 'Mercy Street', this book will appeal to you. Highly recommended.
Set in the first years of the American Civil War, the novel is the story of a young midwife who is determined to become a surgeon. After experiencing rejection by the medical school in Albany, New York, Mary Sutter decides to answer Dorothea Dix's call for women to come to Washington to serve as nurses in the hospitals. The federal government is woefully unprepared for the vast number of sick and wounded that fill the DC hospitals. Conditions are horrific and there are few doctors and nurses to help. Mary throws herself into the work, scrubbing walls, cleaning toilets, and changing sheets. When the wounded from a battle arrive, Mary finds herself assisting the hospital surgeon in doing amputations.
When her twin sister is about to give birth in Albany, Mary goes home to assist in the birth, arriving as her sister Jenny is already in labor. Tragedy strikes and Mary feels like a failure. She returns to Washington, but takes a clerk's job because she has lost confidence in her medical ability. But when another battle decimates Union troops, Mary goes to the front-line hospitals and is able to use her hard-won skill to save lives.
There are a few chapters told from the point of view of President Lincoln which feel a bit awkward. While the insights on Lincoln's state of mind are interesting, they distract from the storyline. There are also some sentences that I had to read over and over because of twisted syntax.
If you liked the PBS series 'Mercy Street', this book will appeal to you. Highly recommended.
I started out really liking this book, but I got bogged down at times with all of the explanations of the battles in the Civil War. I did not appreciate the language used by the women.
A bit dramatic and emo, but loved the setting of the Civil War hospitals and the North perspective.
I liked this book... I did. At times it was boring and predictable in my opinion, but nevertheless, a nice work historical fiction.
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-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:
Complicated
I really wanted this to be a five star read, but it didn't live up to my expectations. It did have a great concept and some fascinating details about medicine during the time period, but I felt like there were too many of those details, and not enough focus on character development to suit my tastes.
Interesting read...as someone who is into Washington history! I though Oliveria painted a vivid picture of Civil War DC. I would have liked less of a love story and a bit more about surgery/medicine but an enjoyable easy read, rich with history!
I liked this novel, as I enjoy historical fiction. I thought it was a well plotted story and seemed to have been well researched and you could imagine the war unfolding the way the book describes. However, in the same vein, there were times where the book got too bogged down in the details!! I listened to it, so I couldn't really skim over those parts and it seemed to make it drag at times.
Oh goodness. This book started so promisingly! I was very interested in how Mary Sutter would work to accomplish her goal of becoming a physician in decidedly patriarchal 1860s Albany. But oh, in the end I was sad.
First of all, I don't mind it when an author tells a story in more than one voice...as long as there is a clear delineation of who happens to be speaking at any given time. This book drifts annoyingly in and out of perspectives.
Secondly, ooooooooooh the speculation as to what real people were thinking at this moment in time! I don't really care, truthfully, or I would be reading non-fiction. Also, -10 points for not only blathering on about what their probable thought process was, but for doing so in an unintelligible way. For instance, supposedly Abraham Lincoln contemplated this gem during the early part of the Civil War:
Seriously?! I'm pretty sure he had enough to worry about, what with a bipolar wife, a dead child, and OH YEAH, a nation being torn apart. Who has time to think in run-on sentences about right and wrong - IN THE ABSTRACT, NO LESS?!?!?
*breath*
So clearly that kind of writing, not my fav. I was also not a fan of the wishy-washy relationship shenanigans that the author put poor Mary through in this book.
Is it so much to ask? I would just like my historical fiction to dispense with the abstract contemplation and give me a good story!
First of all, I don't mind it when an author tells a story in more than one voice...as long as there is a clear delineation of who happens to be speaking at any given time. This book drifts annoyingly in and out of perspectives.
Secondly, ooooooooooh the speculation as to what real people were thinking at this moment in time! I don't really care, truthfully, or I would be reading non-fiction. Also, -10 points for not only blathering on about what their probable thought process was, but for doing so in an unintelligible way. For instance, supposedly Abraham Lincoln contemplated this gem during the early part of the Civil War:
Contradiction the rule of the land. Right and wrong were as interchangeable these days, it seemed, as the winds, and yet here was one concrete thing he could achieve, would achieve before the end, whenever that came.
Seriously?! I'm pretty sure he had enough to worry about, what with a bipolar wife, a dead child, and OH YEAH, a nation being torn apart. Who has time to think in run-on sentences about right and wrong - IN THE ABSTRACT, NO LESS?!?!?
*breath*
So clearly that kind of writing, not my fav. I was also not a fan of the wishy-washy relationship shenanigans that the author put poor Mary through in this book.
Is it so much to ask? I would just like my historical fiction to dispense with the abstract contemplation and give me a good story!