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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
I love how timely this book has become a little before it is release date. The Spanish flu was around 100 years ago and yet it just became very timely in the current pandemic world. The book describes the use of masks, difficulties in finding treatment, and more people dying than the morgues can handle. Maybe the difference is that now we have more technology and more resources to connect to each other. But other than that, everything is the same.
Bernice takes upon herself the task of finding new homes to kids that were displaced because of the virus. But she gets a little carried away and becomes greedy. Not all kids she's helping were truly orphans. And that's how she ends up findig the twin brothers of Pia. Pia will not give up trying to find them. And the book tells this quest of Pia, a 13 year old girl that takes care of her twin brothers after their mother dies of the flu, and Bernice, a mom mourning the loss of their infant child to the flu.
Bernice takes upon herself the task of finding new homes to kids that were displaced because of the virus. But she gets a little carried away and becomes greedy. Not all kids she's helping were truly orphans. And that's how she ends up findig the twin brothers of Pia. Pia will not give up trying to find them. And the book tells this quest of Pia, a 13 year old girl that takes care of her twin brothers after their mother dies of the flu, and Bernice, a mom mourning the loss of their infant child to the flu.
challenging
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Although some of the characters and situations were cartoonish, I was entertained enough to overlook them.
4 Stars.
Spoiler
Also, as a mom, reading multiple stories of the nurse stealing children from their mothers was simply awful.4 Stars.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked it, though it wasn’t what I expected. I learned a lot about the “Spanish” flu epidemic, and other things of that era.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Set in the slums of Philadelphia during the flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919, this story of a 13-year-old German immigrant girl who loses her mother to the flu, her father to WWI, and her twin brothers to a faux nurse is a good read. However, almost everyone in the first half of the book was so
stereotypically totally evil--the nuns, the other children, the faux nurse, the carriage drivers--that I was relieved when we finally found some people who were decent.
stereotypically totally evil--the nuns, the other children, the faux nurse, the carriage drivers--that I was relieved when we finally found some people who were decent.
Reading books blind didn't work as well for me with this one. I had no idea I picked up a book set during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Not sure if reading it during a global pandemic colored my feelings on it or not, but I was ready to give it 2 stars because it was just horror and heartbreak for 3/4 of the story. Fortunately, it turned around and there were bows.
actually never finished the book. Such incredibly sophomoric writing with every nuance written and rewritten and repeated yet again, as though the author doesn’t trust her readers to understand underlying feelings without having them explained in detail. Very unfortunate given the timeliness of the book.
sad