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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault
Minor: Terminal illness, Death of parent, Abandonment
It was alright but I definitely didn't enjoy this one as much as The Birth House.
3.5
This was a deeply flawed book but I loved it nonetheless. I will continue to read McKay's work but wouldn't recommend this one in particular.
Please be aware that their are instances of paedophilia and detailed rape scenes.
This was a deeply flawed book but I loved it nonetheless. I will continue to read McKay's work but wouldn't recommend this one in particular.
Please be aware that their are instances of paedophilia and detailed rape scenes.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Definitely did not hold the same interest to me that Birth House did. Another storyline with strong female protagonists and a well-painted historical context, but I was not endeared to Moth.
Furthermore, after introducing readers to just how hopeless and terrifying a world it was to be a woman in lower-class Victorian New York, for things to tie up and work out so well in the end for Moth was fairly unbelievable.
In conclusion: too much of Cinderalla fairy tale kind of story for me, even though this Cinderella makes her own happily ever after.
Furthermore, after introducing readers to just how hopeless and terrifying a world it was to be a woman in lower-class Victorian New York, for things to tie up and work out so well in the end for Moth was fairly unbelievable.
In conclusion: too much of Cinderalla fairy tale kind of story for me, even though this Cinderella makes her own happily ever after.
This is the 4th Ami McKay book I have read, and though I did enjoy it in the end, it took a long time getting there. It is definitely my least favourite of her books. I really did like the characters, but nothing of interest happens to them for a while. I wouldn’t tell someone not to read it, but I wouldn’t gush about it either. Her other books are much better, do read those ones.
If you really love linear stories with elegantly tied-up happy endings you may want to take a pass on “The Virgin Cure.”
If, however, you deduced from the macabre title that using virgins to cure anything isn’t usually all sugar coated gumdrops and you’re still willing to give it a go, your time will not be wasted. For fans of “The Birth House”, this second novel of poetic east coast darling Ami McKay, doesn’t disappoint.
The story begins with these words:
“I am Moth. A girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart.”
We learn pretty early on that if Moth is going to survive the hardscrabble world of New York City circa. 1870 she is going to have to rely on her wits to make it. Here’s how she’s describes her own view of the future ahead of her:
“Girls sold matches and pins, then flowers and hot corn, and then themselves.
By nine, ten, eleven years old, you could feel it coming, the empty-bellied life of your mother—always having to decide what to give up next, which trinket to sell, which dreams to forget. The most valuable thing a girl possessed was hidden between her legs, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. It was never a question of yes or no. It was simply a matter of which man would have you first.”
Moth knows what’s coming and as she’s suddenly catapulted into independence on the streets, she is offered several different options to make a life for herself. McKay paints a fascinating picture of both high and low society and their many intersections. Through her elegant prose but also through the interjections of authentic artefacts and fictional period newspaper articles, à la Wayne Johnson in his recreation of the life of Joey Smallwood in “The Colony of Unrequited Dreams” she pulls the reader into an underworld wrought tangible through her incredible descriptions. I felt as though I was at times wearing an ill-fitting corset, eating fresh oysters in the rain and listening to the clink and clatter of a mortar’s pestle in a 19th century apothecary’ shop.
Through McKay’s colourful cast of characters- from Moth’s gypsy mother to the elegant Miss. Everett to the soulful and compassionate Dr. Sadie, we are transported to a world where women in turn discard, abuse, extort and betray one another. However, I said that this book was worth the read, and here’s why; as in the “The Birth House”, although women on the fringes of society are marginalized most tragically by other women, occasionally, triumphantly, sometimes a woman will rescue one of its own, and that’s a story worth reading over and over.
If, however, you deduced from the macabre title that using virgins to cure anything isn’t usually all sugar coated gumdrops and you’re still willing to give it a go, your time will not be wasted. For fans of “The Birth House”, this second novel of poetic east coast darling Ami McKay, doesn’t disappoint.
The story begins with these words:
“I am Moth. A girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart.”
We learn pretty early on that if Moth is going to survive the hardscrabble world of New York City circa. 1870 she is going to have to rely on her wits to make it. Here’s how she’s describes her own view of the future ahead of her:
“Girls sold matches and pins, then flowers and hot corn, and then themselves.
By nine, ten, eleven years old, you could feel it coming, the empty-bellied life of your mother—always having to decide what to give up next, which trinket to sell, which dreams to forget. The most valuable thing a girl possessed was hidden between her legs, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. It was never a question of yes or no. It was simply a matter of which man would have you first.”
Moth knows what’s coming and as she’s suddenly catapulted into independence on the streets, she is offered several different options to make a life for herself. McKay paints a fascinating picture of both high and low society and their many intersections. Through her elegant prose but also through the interjections of authentic artefacts and fictional period newspaper articles, à la Wayne Johnson in his recreation of the life of Joey Smallwood in “The Colony of Unrequited Dreams” she pulls the reader into an underworld wrought tangible through her incredible descriptions. I felt as though I was at times wearing an ill-fitting corset, eating fresh oysters in the rain and listening to the clink and clatter of a mortar’s pestle in a 19th century apothecary’ shop.
Through McKay’s colourful cast of characters- from Moth’s gypsy mother to the elegant Miss. Everett to the soulful and compassionate Dr. Sadie, we are transported to a world where women in turn discard, abuse, extort and betray one another. However, I said that this book was worth the read, and here’s why; as in the “The Birth House”, although women on the fringes of society are marginalized most tragically by other women, occasionally, triumphantly, sometimes a woman will rescue one of its own, and that’s a story worth reading over and over.
Set just after the Civil War, the story follows the life of a young girl, Moth. When her father abandons her and her mother, Moth s existence becomes even more precarious until her mother sells her as a servant to a woman who abuses. When another servant helps to free her, Moth finds her mother gone and herself on the street with nowhere to go until she meets Mae who takes her to a prostitute trainer where her virginity will be sold. However, the interest of the female doctor allows Moth to see another way of taking care of herself. A clear look at the issues of women and poverty but with a hopeful aspect of rising above the circumstances.
NYC in 1871 was a tough place to be one of the 30,000 poor children roaming the streets, but especially tough if you were a girl. This book makes that abundantly clear. The bits of history throughout the book are interesting and compelling accompaniments to the story. The female physician is based on the author's great grandmother. It didn't resonate with me like The Birth House did, but I'm glad I spent some time with Moth.
This was a disturbing but engrossing novel. I love love loved the Birth House and was excited for this one too as usual when I love a book (see Water for Elephants vs Ape House too) the follow-up turns out to be a good book for sure but not as OMG-I-love-it as the first one. Definitely worth the read though. The buildup went almost to the end of the book and then the resolution felt a tiny bit rushed, but that's my only complaint.