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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
sad
Overall I liked it, though Bernice was the literal WORST. And I wasn't too sure about the 6th sense thing Pia had going on, even after some cursory research into the phenomenon. But it was interesting to read about people during a pandemic similar to the one we are in now, and draw parallels.
This one was hard to read at times. Listening to how horrible the conditions were during the last big pandemic of Spanish flu in one of the biggest epicentres (Philadelphia). Really makes you appreciate how much better we have it today. Horrible stories of children dying and children becoming orphans and just so much hardship and heartbreak. If you want a feel good story this might not be the one to read right now. Ultimately there was a happy ending but getting to it was brutal!
emotional
hopeful
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:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Only one disappointment: I wish Bernice's death would have been way more painful. She wins the trophy of most disgusting fictional character of 2020.
As an adoptive mother, I'm naturally drawn toward books about orphans. Plus, I love historical fiction, especially stories that take place during disasters and epidemics. THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR is both, so I was excited to read it.
The first part of the novel, which describes the rapid onset of the Spanish flu in Philadelphia and the devastating effect it had on the city, is appropriately vivid and horrifying. As Wiseman paints one gut-wrenching scene after another, the reader can really FEEL the panic, terror, sorrow, and desperation that the people of that time and place must have felt. In the middle of the story, the plot slows down, becoming repetitive, even tedious. The action picks up in the last quarter of the book, leading to a dramatic (melodramatic?) ending. While parts of the plot feel plausible, other sections just seem way too far-fetched and unrealistic.
THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR is told through the eyes of two main characters: Pia Lange and Bernice Groves. Because she's young, compassionate, and brave, Pia is a likable, root-worthy heroine. There's not a lot of depth to her character, unfortunately, nor does she show much growth over the course of the novel. She's very flat, which makes her story less compelling than it could be. Bernice, on the other hand, is wholly detestable. Although her debilitating grief softens her a tinge, her actions throughout the book show that her vileness goes down to her core. Why the author chose to tell so much of the story through her eyes, I'm not sure. It definitely made the story less enjoyable for me. This all good/all bad thing also permeates the rest of the novel's cast, which makes the lot of them feel like simple, overdone caricatures instead of real, complex people.
My other complaint about this novel is that it seems to go on and on and on and on without really getting anywhere. To be fair, I listened to the book on audio—a snippet here, a snippet there—so it might have seemed more rambly than it would have in print. Still, it seemed like it took MONTHS for me to finish THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR. Unfortunately, the narrator also irritated me. Rachel Botchan has an odd reading voice. It's kind of breathy and halting, not smooth at all. Also, her character voices sounded grating and unnatural to my ears.
I might have liked THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR better if I had read it instead of listened to it. I did find the first part of the novel atmospheric and engrossing. After that, the story just got stretched-out, becoming tedious and dull. The flat-as-a-pancake characters didn't help. All that, combined with an annoying narrator, made the book seem endless. All things considered then, THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR was a meh read/listen for me. Bummer.
The first part of the novel, which describes the rapid onset of the Spanish flu in Philadelphia and the devastating effect it had on the city, is appropriately vivid and horrifying. As Wiseman paints one gut-wrenching scene after another, the reader can really FEEL the panic, terror, sorrow, and desperation that the people of that time and place must have felt. In the middle of the story, the plot slows down, becoming repetitive, even tedious. The action picks up in the last quarter of the book, leading to a dramatic (melodramatic?) ending. While parts of the plot feel plausible, other sections just seem way too far-fetched and unrealistic.
THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR is told through the eyes of two main characters: Pia Lange and Bernice Groves. Because she's young, compassionate, and brave, Pia is a likable, root-worthy heroine. There's not a lot of depth to her character, unfortunately, nor does she show much growth over the course of the novel. She's very flat, which makes her story less compelling than it could be. Bernice, on the other hand, is wholly detestable. Although her debilitating grief softens her a tinge, her actions throughout the book show that her vileness goes down to her core. Why the author chose to tell so much of the story through her eyes, I'm not sure. It definitely made the story less enjoyable for me. This all good/all bad thing also permeates the rest of the novel's cast, which makes the lot of them feel like simple, overdone caricatures instead of real, complex people.
My other complaint about this novel is that it seems to go on and on and on and on without really getting anywhere. To be fair, I listened to the book on audio—a snippet here, a snippet there—so it might have seemed more rambly than it would have in print. Still, it seemed like it took MONTHS for me to finish THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR. Unfortunately, the narrator also irritated me. Rachel Botchan has an odd reading voice. It's kind of breathy and halting, not smooth at all. Also, her character voices sounded grating and unnatural to my ears.
I might have liked THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR better if I had read it instead of listened to it. I did find the first part of the novel atmospheric and engrossing. After that, the story just got stretched-out, becoming tedious and dull. The flat-as-a-pancake characters didn't help. All that, combined with an annoying narrator, made the book seem endless. All things considered then, THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR was a meh read/listen for me. Bummer.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Truthfully, I almost quit reading this one about 10x because of how gruesome it was in the first half (super weak stomach over here
***** SPOILERS ********** this is my summary of the hook to refresh my memory so has a lot of spoilers.
Around 1918 the Spanish flu started killing people and became very serious. The book revolves around a young girl who has two infant twin brothers, a mother, and a father overseas at war. When the fly begins the family quarantines and the mother falls ill and dies in her room. It is then only the young girl (Pia) and her two infant brothers in the apartment.
After running out of food and afraid they were going to starve, Pia leaves the apartment to go get food for her family; she locks the brothers in a compartment in the floor so they would be safe and not get hurt while she quickly ran to ask her neighbors for food.
Her nosey neighbor across the street sees Pia leave the apartment and she goes over to see what is happening. She finds the two infants alone in the apartment and decides she is going to take them and raise them herself because she had just lost her infant son and wanted to care for the boys to help her grieving.
While Pia is out she falls ill and wakes up days later in a hospital after surviving the flu. Pia is then taken to an orphanage and not allowed back to go see if her brothers are still at her apartment. The orphanage is horrible and mistreats the orphans.
Pia is assigned to take care of the infants at the orphanage and eventually is fostered to a family with small children so that she can help them.
Pia and the mother that adopted her find out that the neighbor that took Pia s brothers was stealing children and selling them to live in different homes during this pandemic. They finally are able to prove it but the woman had already given up the two twins and left town forever.
At the end, Pia gets to see her brothers again because they ended up being adopted by a nice family after the neighbor gave them up.
**Two important themes in the book are that Pia is German and tries to hide it a lot because of the hate for Germans at the time, and also Pia can tell if there is something wrong with someone by touching them. So if someone is sick Pia can tell if she touches themS
Around 1918 the Spanish flu started killing people and became very serious. The book revolves around a young girl who has two infant twin brothers, a mother, and a father overseas at war. When the fly begins the family quarantines and the mother falls ill and dies in her room. It is then only the young girl (Pia) and her two infant brothers in the apartment.
After running out of food and afraid they were going to starve, Pia leaves the apartment to go get food for her family; she locks the brothers in a compartment in the floor so they would be safe and not get hurt while she quickly ran to ask her neighbors for food.
Her nosey neighbor across the street sees Pia leave the apartment and she goes over to see what is happening. She finds the two infants alone in the apartment and decides she is going to take them and raise them herself because she had just lost her infant son and wanted to care for the boys to help her grieving.
While Pia is out she falls ill and wakes up days later in a hospital after surviving the flu. Pia is then taken to an orphanage and not allowed back to go see if her brothers are still at her apartment. The orphanage is horrible and mistreats the orphans.
Pia is assigned to take care of the infants at the orphanage and eventually is fostered to a family with small children so that she can help them.
Pia and the mother that adopted her find out that the neighbor that took Pia s brothers was stealing children and selling them to live in different homes during this pandemic. They finally are able to prove it but the woman had already given up the two twins and left town forever.
At the end, Pia gets to see her brothers again because they ended up being adopted by a nice family after the neighbor gave them up.
**Two important themes in the book are that Pia is German and tries to hide it a lot because of the hate for Germans at the time, and also Pia can tell if there is something wrong with someone by touching them. So if someone is sick Pia can tell if she touches themS