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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
There was a story there but the writing was SO dry. I just couldn't keep my focus.
Mary Doria Russell knows how to write historic fiction. She knows how to make characters real and relatable, personalize historic events and surround both with motives and principles. I read the book with my iPad, looking up characters (real or made up or composites) and events and even text from historic documents. She gets it right, time and time again, with beautiful or infuriating quotes, and scenes that ring with truth, whether they happened or not. It helps that she's such a lucid and imaginative writer.
I was especially interested in this book because it takes place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, although I was clueless about the copper miners' strike, Anna Clemenc, and the Italian Hall disaster of 1913. In her thoroughly engaging afterword, Russell says that the events and people still divide the town of Calumet, and I don't doubt it. One hundred years is not enough to erase horror and shame, in a remote small town, where half the year is winter.
It's also an excellent book to read RIGHT NOW, as we are experiencing what happens when the rich and privileged are given free rein to squeeze and exploit the poor and disadvantaged. James MacNaughton, the manager of the Calumet and Hecla mining operation in Calumet, is as noxious as any villian in fiction, but he was a real person. Moreover, everyone reading the book can identify a real-life person--probably a politician or CEO-- whose world view aligns perfectly with MacNaughton's.
This is a masterpiece. Five solid stars.
I was especially interested in this book because it takes place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, although I was clueless about the copper miners' strike, Anna Clemenc, and the Italian Hall disaster of 1913. In her thoroughly engaging afterword, Russell says that the events and people still divide the town of Calumet, and I don't doubt it. One hundred years is not enough to erase horror and shame, in a remote small town, where half the year is winter.
It's also an excellent book to read RIGHT NOW, as we are experiencing what happens when the rich and privileged are given free rein to squeeze and exploit the poor and disadvantaged. James MacNaughton, the manager of the Calumet and Hecla mining operation in Calumet, is as noxious as any villian in fiction, but he was a real person. Moreover, everyone reading the book can identify a real-life person--probably a politician or CEO-- whose world view aligns perfectly with MacNaughton's.
This is a masterpiece. Five solid stars.
I wish that every conservative “protests are for delinquents and capitalism can do no wrong bc I have a proud American heritage” miner in my family could read this and know what their heritage actually is. I cried reading this book, it was so heartbreaking. The writing was not as personal as some like, and some people describe it as “surface,” but I don’t think impersonal is the same as surface level. I appreciated the impersonal level during the Italian hall tragedy. Normally I always have to wonder “how much of this is true, and how much is being fictionalized by the author?” I could always tell when something was not being dramatized, bc it felt a *little* bit like a reporting and the personal perspectives went away. Every time it happened, I knew I was getting something that was at least 90% true, and not something dramatized or fictionalized to make up for gaps in history that occur when authors use 1st or third person narration that is centered around individual emotion. And I actually appreciated that.
Mary Doria Russell, you are a treasure. You are quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
So far, I've read The Sparrow, Doc and now this gem.
This book really made my curiosity take flight. I've been looking the events and people up left and right. I'd say this is historical fiction at its finest.
So far, I've read The Sparrow, Doc and now this gem.
This book really made my curiosity take flight. I've been looking the events and people up left and right. I'd say this is historical fiction at its finest.
Another book that reminds me why I love historical fiction. I love books that portray and highlight strong women during significant historical moments and this one does just that! I enjoyed reading about a place I was familiar with but a series of events that I didn’t know occurred. Will be doing more reading on the strikes now (:
Very engaging historical fiction about the strike of the copper miners in Michigan in 1913, and the role of the women's auxiliary of the union.
The story of the Copper Miners and their attempts to strike for better wages and working conditions. Great characters in a well researched story of a little known time in history.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No