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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking
For some reason, I am always drawn to stories about brothels in the 1800s. There is just something so interesting about the way women lived and the double life men engaged in just to be near them. In Richard B. Wright's Mr. Shakespeare's Bastard, prostitutes were tough women, boyish, rugged and vulgar. Amy McKay's "near-whores" were much different.
I knew I had to read The Virgin Cure as soon as I read the synopsis. "The Virgin Cure" was the belief that men with sexual diseases could cleanse themselves by deflowering a virgin. Scarily enough, this is still believed in some cultures. Girls as young as twelve years old were taken off the streets and made into the most elegant of ladies to be sold off to the highest bidding gentlemen for sex or raped by vicious and selfish men in dark alleys as they went to and from their theatre shows. Ami McKay's narrator, Moth, becomes one such girl.
After being sold off to a wicked wench of an aristocratic woman, Moth is tortured daily simply for being an attractive young girl. When she finally runs away, her fate is sealed by allowing herself to be taken to Miss. Everett's home, where girls are raised to be "near-whores" -- high-end and respectable girls who are lavished by their male suitors. Miss Everett promises luxury and safety to her girls in exchange for their virginity and continued services to men who pay a pretty penny.
One woman stands in the way of Moth's lost innocence: a beautiful and kind-hearted doctor who has devoted her time to caring for the street kids, prostitutes and "freaks" who work for Mr. Dink's, a museum of fascinating talent. Dr. Sadie is modeled after McKay's own great-great grandmother who did exactly that.
I fell in love with Dr. Sadie. I smiled through every scene she entered and found her to be my favourite part of the entire book. Her heart of gold glistened on each page and I could just picture the trunk at the end of her bed, holding all of her memories, dresses and dreams. Dr. Sadie refuses to let Moth give herself to the highest bidder and will do anything she can to stop her from being the next ruined woman.
McKay's writing is beautiful, and I found myself marking pages to come back and re-read. (I thought of adding in a few here, but you'll just have to go see them for yourself!) This book was an absolute gem: hard to read at some points, raw, delicate and beautiful all at once. You have never seen the dark streets of New York quite like this. Ami McKay is a wondrous writer!
I knew I had to read The Virgin Cure as soon as I read the synopsis. "The Virgin Cure" was the belief that men with sexual diseases could cleanse themselves by deflowering a virgin. Scarily enough, this is still believed in some cultures. Girls as young as twelve years old were taken off the streets and made into the most elegant of ladies to be sold off to the highest bidding gentlemen for sex or raped by vicious and selfish men in dark alleys as they went to and from their theatre shows. Ami McKay's narrator, Moth, becomes one such girl.
After being sold off to a wicked wench of an aristocratic woman, Moth is tortured daily simply for being an attractive young girl. When she finally runs away, her fate is sealed by allowing herself to be taken to Miss. Everett's home, where girls are raised to be "near-whores" -- high-end and respectable girls who are lavished by their male suitors. Miss Everett promises luxury and safety to her girls in exchange for their virginity and continued services to men who pay a pretty penny.
One woman stands in the way of Moth's lost innocence: a beautiful and kind-hearted doctor who has devoted her time to caring for the street kids, prostitutes and "freaks" who work for Mr. Dink's, a museum of fascinating talent. Dr. Sadie is modeled after McKay's own great-great grandmother who did exactly that.
I fell in love with Dr. Sadie. I smiled through every scene she entered and found her to be my favourite part of the entire book. Her heart of gold glistened on each page and I could just picture the trunk at the end of her bed, holding all of her memories, dresses and dreams. Dr. Sadie refuses to let Moth give herself to the highest bidder and will do anything she can to stop her from being the next ruined woman.
McKay's writing is beautiful, and I found myself marking pages to come back and re-read. (I thought of adding in a few here, but you'll just have to go see them for yourself!) This book was an absolute gem: hard to read at some points, raw, delicate and beautiful all at once. You have never seen the dark streets of New York quite like this. Ami McKay is a wondrous writer!
3.5/5. I actually really enjoyed this book, great characterization and an almost Dickensian feel to the story. Moth is so well written and believable as her age, which is hard to do when the narrator is a child dealing with adult things. The world in this novel is just so real and well written. I just had issue with the ending - it wraps up a little too neatly and a little too quickly. There is enough happening plot wise that could have been explored a bit more fully. But overall a great read. The subject matter is heavy and definitely wouldn’t describe it as light, but it’s a fairly easy read paired with some content that really got me thinking. Definitely recommend it!
"The Virgin Cure" took me longer to read than "The Birth House" did, but I would say I enjoyed it just as much. Moth was a wonderful character, so easy to sympathize with (though this would have been easy even if she was a poorly developed character, since she faces so many hardships over the course of the book), and her innocence made her trials so much more tragic.
Less positively, I found the sidenotes from Dr Sadie to be unnecessary. I know the author was mostly interested in the Dr Sadie's story, and that was the inspiration for the book, but the notes she offered were usually distracting rather than important to the story. Toward the end, I found myself skimming them without really paying attention to them. Despite this minor inconvenience, I very much enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it.
Less positively, I found the sidenotes from Dr Sadie to be unnecessary. I know the author was mostly interested in the Dr Sadie's story, and that was the inspiration for the book, but the notes she offered were usually distracting rather than important to the story. Toward the end, I found myself skimming them without really paying attention to them. Despite this minor inconvenience, I very much enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it.
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don't think any book, including Ami McKay's own second one, will ever compare to The Birth House for me. We bonded. At least I realized this even before staring The Virgin Cure. I liked this book...it was an entertaining read. I wasn't blown away, nor was I disappointed. The ending didn't bowl me over...it fell a bit short and was a tad rushed. Glad I read it.
Always impressed by a book that makes me feel awkward in the best and worst situations. I caught myself cheering for the success of the worst of actions. Remarkable. Well done.
This book was amazing and I'm really sad that it's over. I thought it was well written and I believe Ami McKay did a great job writing a story revolving around her great-great grandmother's work.
The book had a somewhat unique narrative structure that included external voices in notes and marginal text. These added portions often included interesting bits of history, playbill style newspaper clippings and strong female voices. I'll admit to ignoring some of them as they had a tendency to be very tangential (eg. describing proper lady's clothing) but I did like the inclusion of visuals/newspaper style segments.