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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
This novel is about Claudia, who has run the clinic on Mercy Street for years, during the winter Boston was hit by snowstorm after snowstorm. She's never been afraid and sometimes argues with the protestors who stake out the entrance and yell at the women attempting to access the clinic's many services. She has a weed dealer named Timmy she visits now and again. Timmy fell into the job a long time ago and now that his son is a teenager, he's thinking that it's past time for him to start a legitimate business and make a life where his son could come and live with him. Anthony also visits Timmy. He hasn't been the same since a workplace accident put him on disability, but the weed helps with the vertigo and the headaches. Anthony found a place to belong in his local church and a priest has him running an anti-abortion website for him. He has a friend he only knows by his internet name, and who has asked him to take pictures of women entering the clinic on Mercy Street for him.
Haigh does a great job with the structure of taking unconnected characters and gradually showing how they relate to one another and putting those characters on a collision course. And while the novel centers on a women's clinic and the people it serves, this isn't a book that exists to drive home a political point. The characters are all so believable and human, from the drug dealer to the guy with very unfortunate views about women. I've read a few of Haigh's novels now and I've enjoyed the thoughtful way she approaches polarizing subject matter in every one.
Haigh does a great job with the structure of taking unconnected characters and gradually showing how they relate to one another and putting those characters on a collision course. And while the novel centers on a women's clinic and the people it serves, this isn't a book that exists to drive home a political point. The characters are all so believable and human, from the drug dealer to the guy with very unfortunate views about women. I've read a few of Haigh's novels now and I've enjoyed the thoughtful way she approaches polarizing subject matter in every one.
Yes, about an abortion clinic, but much more about the lives of people who work there or are peripherally involved. WAY too much about marijuana. Just not as good as I expected.
This was a heart breaking book. Especially after the decision that was made recently.
This book is not going to be for everyone but I absolutely LOVED it!! I loved that the author shines light on an unassuming woman who works at an abortion clinic in Boston and the stress and anxiety her work puts her under as anti-abortion protesters grow more and more vocal and threatening.
Highly recommended for fans of Margaret Atwood. Great on audio narrated by Stacey Glemboski. A new to me author and narrator I couldn't put this story down. It could have been ripped from the headlines of any American newspaper but definitely does a good job setting the scene in Boston. Undoubtedly this will be a controversial read but also a much needed one to expand people's understanding of the importance of women's reproductive rights. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC!
CW: abortion
Highly recommended for fans of Margaret Atwood. Great on audio narrated by Stacey Glemboski. A new to me author and narrator I couldn't put this story down. It could have been ripped from the headlines of any American newspaper but definitely does a good job setting the scene in Boston. Undoubtedly this will be a controversial read but also a much needed one to expand people's understanding of the importance of women's reproductive rights. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC!
CW: abortion
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very slow and hard to finished. Enjoyed the bits about the main character, too much time spent on the anti-abortion men’s group without much of a point in the long drawn out side stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content
Claudie has been working at the Mercy Street Clinic for almost ten years. Mercy street is in the middle of the city in an area that used to be the Red Light district, but with gentrification, the block has changed. Women in need of assistance frequent Mercy Street daily as do vocal protestors. As passionate as Claudia is about the work that she does, there are people out there as passionate as taking the clinic down. She manages her anxiety with pot from her dealer, Timothy, who, like Mercy Street, includes a hodge podge of characters with various belief systems.
This engrossing book is a look at issues of women’s health, ideologies and polarization, a book that really resonates in today’s climate. Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for the advanced review copy. Hear my review on Books Are My People Episode #71.
This engrossing book is a look at issues of women’s health, ideologies and polarization, a book that really resonates in today’s climate. Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for the advanced review copy. Hear my review on Books Are My People Episode #71.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
On a prose level, this book astounds me. It's beautiful, stripped down prose that balances a matter-of-fact, distant narration with this wry compassion that threads through the piece. It's most present in Claudia's point of view (and what a triumph it is there), but comes through clearly in Timmy and Anthony's perspectives as well.
It's when we get to Victor that things begin getting hairy. SpoilerI understand that people like Victor exist, and know/have known plenty of them. I find however, that Victor reads less like a person and more like a living white supremacist manifesto. We get hints of him through his views on aging as a string of humiliations, but for the most part, he's cartoonish in his simplicity. I am not advocating for him to be "sympathetic" by any stretch of the imagination—the man is a white supremacist in all but name.
What I was missing however, was the acknowledgement of his humanity, not for the sake of making us empathize with him, but to prevent this writing off of people like him as one-dimensional monsters. In a book so interested in exploring complex topics and generating material for reflection/critical thought, Victor's perspective sticks out, because it does not encourage further thought. It encourages writing him off as evil beyond repose and completely separate from the rest of society. To be frank, I think it stems in part from the desire to have a character who is so cartoonishly evil to dunk on.
I found that the handling of race in this book was...questionable, not because it was particularly heinous, but because there was an undercurrent of anxiety when exploring race relations in the characters that are more complex and sympathetic (particularly with Claudia). There's a strange, oddly combative observation early on in one of Claudia's chapters about how she, a white woman working at an abortion clinic, must be perceived by the Black women who come through the clinic. It's an odd inclusion that seems to lampshade the power dynamics and horrific history of uterine health with regards to Black women/the longstanding history of white people brutalizing Black babies without any further reflection or explanation. It's as if the slight nod to this historical context is supposed to be a "reckoning" with that history, but there is no further reflection or exploration of it from Claudia's perspective that would qualify this as a reckoning.
I find myself wondering if some of the anxiety/inability to explore Claudia's discomfort and what that discomfort may stem from comes from the author identifying with Claudia. To turn the magnifying glass so directly towards yourself seems daunting.
This, in part, is where it seems like Victor comes into play. Victor, again, is cartoonishly extreme in his perspective (which, again, yes there are tons people like that who exist, but given this is fiction we can and should question why Victor, in all his QAnon white supremacist glory is who was settled upon as this perspective), which makes him easy to separate from the reader (and maybe the author). It's then much easier to deal with these topics of race and bodily autonomy when it's coming from the perspective of someone who does not resonate with the reader or author, because "we" can safely judge him from a distance without the danger of self-reflection or a come to Jesus moment. Victor, in essence, allows for a "scathing" discussion of racial politics in America as it relates to abortion without having to explore how white women contribute to those dynamics, and reckon with what that means for white women as a whole. Instead, we can drop pages of Victor's horrifying mindset that were obviously heavily researched wrt the connection between pro-life communities and white supremacist circles, and that researched voice distances us from the reflection and critical thinking that make the rest of this piece so compelling. It feels safe, and (in many ways) irresponsible for it.
It's when we get to Victor that things begin getting hairy. SpoilerI understand that people like Victor exist, and know/have known plenty of them. I find however, that Victor reads less like a person and more like a living white supremacist manifesto. We get hints of him through his views on aging as a string of humiliations, but for the most part, he's cartoonish in his simplicity. I am not advocating for him to be "sympathetic" by any stretch of the imagination—the man is a white supremacist in all but name.
What I was missing however, was the acknowledgement of his humanity, not for the sake of making us empathize with him, but to prevent this writing off of people like him as one-dimensional monsters. In a book so interested in exploring complex topics and generating material for reflection/critical thought, Victor's perspective sticks out, because it does not encourage further thought. It encourages writing him off as evil beyond repose and completely separate from the rest of society. To be frank, I think it stems in part from the desire to have a character who is so cartoonishly evil to dunk on.
I found that the handling of race in this book was...questionable, not because it was particularly heinous, but because there was an undercurrent of anxiety when exploring race relations in the characters that are more complex and sympathetic (particularly with Claudia). There's a strange, oddly combative observation early on in one of Claudia's chapters about how she, a white woman working at an abortion clinic, must be perceived by the Black women who come through the clinic. It's an odd inclusion that seems to lampshade the power dynamics and horrific history of uterine health with regards to Black women/the longstanding history of white people brutalizing Black babies without any further reflection or explanation. It's as if the slight nod to this historical context is supposed to be a "reckoning" with that history, but there is no further reflection or exploration of it from Claudia's perspective that would qualify this as a reckoning.
I find myself wondering if some of the anxiety/inability to explore Claudia's discomfort and what that discomfort may stem from comes from the author identifying with Claudia. To turn the magnifying glass so directly towards yourself seems daunting.
This, in part, is where it seems like Victor comes into play. Victor, again, is cartoonishly extreme in his perspective (which, again, yes there are tons people like that who exist, but given this is fiction we can and should question why Victor, in all his QAnon white supremacist glory is who was settled upon as this perspective), which makes him easy to separate from the reader (and maybe the author). It's then much easier to deal with these topics of race and bodily autonomy when it's coming from the perspective of someone who does not resonate with the reader or author, because "we" can safely judge him from a distance without the danger of self-reflection or a come to Jesus moment. Victor, in essence, allows for a "scathing" discussion of racial politics in America as it relates to abortion without having to explore how white women contribute to those dynamics, and reckon with what that means for white women as a whole. Instead, we can drop pages of Victor's horrifying mindset that were obviously heavily researched wrt the connection between pro-life communities and white supremacist circles, and that researched voice distances us from the reflection and critical thinking that make the rest of this piece so compelling. It feels safe, and (in many ways) irresponsible for it.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes