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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
I've read all three Call the Midwife books by Nurse Jenny now, and I'd say that I loved three and one and I liked this one.
Most of book two centers on an orphaned brother and sister who end up in the workhouse. It's a tale of misery and woe, but it's a story she learned of second hand, and it isn't quite the peer of the vivid tales Worth shares that she experienced herself.
Still, a solid book of powerful stories, and a series well worth reading.
Most of book two centers on an orphaned brother and sister who end up in the workhouse. It's a tale of misery and woe, but it's a story she learned of second hand, and it isn't quite the peer of the vivid tales Worth shares that she experienced herself.
Still, a solid book of powerful stories, and a series well worth reading.
I haven't read any of this author's work before but was attracted to the title because I'm so interested in history. However, despite clearly advertising itself as non-fiction, I felt that the whole thing read as a twee novel, with slightly unbelievable characters and situations. It doesn't surprise me that its predecessor has been turned into TV series, as some of the anecdotes lend themselves so perfectly to cosy Sunday night viewing.
I really expected to find more exploration into the workhouse part of the book - as it was, the first section focussed on three people who had grown up in workhouses, but the reader was left with little understanding of the realities of their lives. One of the characters, Jane, seemed more like a caricature; I was scratching my head with bewilderment during the part where she is taken to the hairdressers and shopping for a new wardrobe. I think this part of the tale was intended to be funny and heart-warming (perfect fodder for cosy Sunday night viewing on TV) but it just grated. A further criticism of this section is that she tells the stories of the three characters without us ever really 'meeting' them. To all intents and purposes, this piece comes across as fiction; as another reviewer has commented, did those people honestly give the author that much detail about their lives? It seems very unlikely, given the content and circumstances.
I got about a third of the way through the utterly pointless second part, which centred on a very odd nun called Sister Monica Joan. The author seemed blindly in awe of the woman but she came across as many of the other characters saw her: manipulative and rude. After a lengthy dialogue over a Monopoly game, during which a particularly plummy-mouthed character speaks in a manner that makes Enid Blyton's boarding school girls sound like troglodytes, I skipped to the final part of the book. Sister Monica Joan's self-inflicted dilemmas held no interest for me and the whole sorry debacle had nothing whatsoever to do with the shadows of the workhouse!
The final section, in which we meet an old Army veteran, was probably the most interesting part of the book. Thanks to the author's self proclaimed ignorance ('I didn't know much about the First World War... I must confess I didn't even know what trenches were!' - in her early twenties? Really??) she is able to encourage the old man to talk about his days as a soldier, and those of his children. Because she is relaying it as a first hand account, it feels much more real and honest, and the subsequent descriptions on the issues of rehousing the tenement occupants also sound authentic (at least compared to the first section).
I don't want to slate the book because Worth can write well, but I do feel that her experiences would have been better channelled into works of fiction rather than this slightly disjointed work. At times, I wondered where on earth she was going with her stories and the 'shadows' of the workhouse never really loomed large enough to justify the title. Perhaps, as someone who is not a fan of cosy, Sunday night TV viewing, this explains why the book was not for me, especially given the glowing 5 star reviews here. However, I will not be reading another Jennifer Worth book.
I really expected to find more exploration into the workhouse part of the book - as it was, the first section focussed on three people who had grown up in workhouses, but the reader was left with little understanding of the realities of their lives. One of the characters, Jane, seemed more like a caricature; I was scratching my head with bewilderment during the part where she is taken to the hairdressers and shopping for a new wardrobe. I think this part of the tale was intended to be funny and heart-warming (perfect fodder for cosy Sunday night viewing on TV) but it just grated. A further criticism of this section is that she tells the stories of the three characters without us ever really 'meeting' them. To all intents and purposes, this piece comes across as fiction; as another reviewer has commented, did those people honestly give the author that much detail about their lives? It seems very unlikely, given the content and circumstances.
I got about a third of the way through the utterly pointless second part, which centred on a very odd nun called Sister Monica Joan. The author seemed blindly in awe of the woman but she came across as many of the other characters saw her: manipulative and rude. After a lengthy dialogue over a Monopoly game, during which a particularly plummy-mouthed character speaks in a manner that makes Enid Blyton's boarding school girls sound like troglodytes, I skipped to the final part of the book. Sister Monica Joan's self-inflicted dilemmas held no interest for me and the whole sorry debacle had nothing whatsoever to do with the shadows of the workhouse!
The final section, in which we meet an old Army veteran, was probably the most interesting part of the book. Thanks to the author's self proclaimed ignorance ('I didn't know much about the First World War... I must confess I didn't even know what trenches were!' - in her early twenties? Really??) she is able to encourage the old man to talk about his days as a soldier, and those of his children. Because she is relaying it as a first hand account, it feels much more real and honest, and the subsequent descriptions on the issues of rehousing the tenement occupants also sound authentic (at least compared to the first section).
I don't want to slate the book because Worth can write well, but I do feel that her experiences would have been better channelled into works of fiction rather than this slightly disjointed work. At times, I wondered where on earth she was going with her stories and the 'shadows' of the workhouse never really loomed large enough to justify the title. Perhaps, as someone who is not a fan of cosy, Sunday night TV viewing, this explains why the book was not for me, especially given the glowing 5 star reviews here. However, I will not be reading another Jennifer Worth book.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Although this was very sad in parts, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories that the author told in this book. Jennifer worth was a great storyteller and writer and I am very glad to be able read these recollections of a time forgotten in these modern days.
I liked the first book much more than this one, but I did like the focus this book had on the characters it did. It allowed the reader to learn and get to know more of the characters we love from the show.
I don't quite know why I didn't seem to enjoy this one as much, maybe because it focused more on the other people Jenny knew and less on herself...?
None the less, I did seriously enjoy this book. And I would recommend it for sure.
I don't quite know why I didn't seem to enjoy this one as much, maybe because it focused more on the other people Jenny knew and less on herself...?
None the less, I did seriously enjoy this book. And I would recommend it for sure.
A very heavy book, emotionally speaking. Glad I read it but also very glad I’m about to go watch a bright, lively jewelry-heist movie.
This entire book and subsequently all the others in this series are designed to make us think, to help open our eyes to society and how people lived. The language is straight forward - it flows effortlessly and easily yet the content is heavy and difficult to process.
No matter how many times I read this series or watch the show, I'm constantly bowled over by the emotion and the outpouring of soul and hope that goes into these memoirs. You cry at Jane, Frank, and Joe, but at the same time laugh at Sister Monica Joan. It's a tough balance and yet managed beautifully. At the end of the day it can't have been an easy book to write and I'm glad that these stories are out there because their memories deserve to live on.
I can't recommend this book and the series enough. It is one that will keep you wanting more because after all, it is our history and we are proud of it.
No matter how many times I read this series or watch the show, I'm constantly bowled over by the emotion and the outpouring of soul and hope that goes into these memoirs. You cry at Jane, Frank, and Joe, but at the same time laugh at Sister Monica Joan. It's a tough balance and yet managed beautifully. At the end of the day it can't have been an easy book to write and I'm glad that these stories are out there because their memories deserve to live on.
I can't recommend this book and the series enough. It is one that will keep you wanting more because after all, it is our history and we are proud of it.
This book is definitely darker in tone than its predecessor, Call the Midwife, so I'm unsure what it says about me that I enjoyed this one much more. I felt like it was more poignantly written, and that the author was completely dedicated to really and truly making the reader feel how much the people she writes about had suffered, and consequently ended up with a more powerful product. Shadows of the Workhouse is less of a feel-good easygoing book than Call the Midwife, which had its fair share of sad moments but overall was mostly "Babies! Women having babies! It's beautiful!" Instead, this book was about some of the elderly people and patients that she worked with in her time as a nurse, and the truly horrible things they had been through; War, the brutal environments of the workhouses, the tragic deaths and forced separations of their families...basically life was incredibly hard if you were a poor Londoner at the turn of the 19th century. This book was sad, and hard to read at times, and at points has clearly been fluffed up a bit, ie she has to conjecture as to what people's feelings and thoughts were at certain moments, but for the most part it is unflinching and realistic in its portrayal of the people, and of Ms. Worth's sometimes unflattering (but realistic) reactions to their lives and hardships. In all, a good book, and one worth reading, especially if you need a reality check about how hard your own life is.