Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Really liked but wished the ending was a bit different. Overall great reas. Thoughtful in how abortion is approached as a topic.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.5. Mercy Street is the women’s health care facility that ties the novels characters to each other. I thought this would be more gripping, yet it is less about the violence/politics surrounding the issue of abortion and much more a character study about the many people, many living difficult marginal lives, connected to the clinic. Claudia, the main character and the intake counselor at the clinic is the most interesting, yet she isn’t all that interesting.
I listened to this on audiobook and I have a feeling it’s best enjoyed in that format, the narrator knocked it out of the park. It’s certainly character driven so I can understand the critique that it’s slow - but listening to it felt like an old friend telling a very long, intriguing story. Haigh’s writing is melodic.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is beautiful & extremely well-written & gut-wrenching & just so, so depressing. Probably the best book on abortion I’ve read
I have complicated feelings on this book, in that I'm not exactly sure how I feel. I first saw it at the bookstore, where I wanted to buy it for the pretty cover, and then thought, "hmm, maybe get it from the library instead."
The book opens with Claudia, a woman in her early 40s who works at a women's health clinic in downtown Boston. She counsels patients, on their pregnancies, both wanted and unwanted. Outside the clinic, there are anti-abortion protestors every day. Some of them she comes to recognize. She visits her weed dealer, Timmy, and spends the rest of her time went not at work either high or rudderless or sometimes both. Timmy's other customer is Anthony, a man who lives in his mom's basement, makes money from accident disability insurance and updating his church website, and is internet best friends with Excelsior11. Excelsior11 is the screen name for Victor Price, an anti abortion activist and white supremacist.
We follow these characters through one miserable winter (more on that later) and see how they are connected and disconnected. I don't want to give things away, but I thought things were going to happen in one way and instead they took a more character-centered approach. It was hard to read the sections of this book that take place in Victor's head. Given that he is a white supremacist, it's not a surprise that he has horrible beliefs, says horrible things about women and people of color, and runs an anti abortion website where he shames white women who have them. There's definitely a needed content warning in this book for all of those things.
The sense of place in MERCY STREET is transformative. The book takes place in the winter of 2015, and I was immediately taken back to that year in Boston where it snowed 110 inches in one winter. (The very reason I moved to California.) The actions of the book take place against this backdrop, of snow and cold and five winter storms in five weeks and every just so goddamn sick of shoveling and then having to shovel it all again.
Overall, I'm glad I read it and would recommend it if it sounds interesting to you!
The book opens with Claudia, a woman in her early 40s who works at a women's health clinic in downtown Boston. She counsels patients, on their pregnancies, both wanted and unwanted. Outside the clinic, there are anti-abortion protestors every day. Some of them she comes to recognize. She visits her weed dealer, Timmy, and spends the rest of her time went not at work either high or rudderless or sometimes both. Timmy's other customer is Anthony, a man who lives in his mom's basement, makes money from accident disability insurance and updating his church website, and is internet best friends with Excelsior11. Excelsior11 is the screen name for Victor Price, an anti abortion activist and white supremacist.
We follow these characters through one miserable winter (more on that later) and see how they are connected and disconnected. I don't want to give things away, but I thought things were going to happen in one way and instead they took a more character-centered approach. It was hard to read the sections of this book that take place in Victor's head. Given that he is a white supremacist, it's not a surprise that he has horrible beliefs, says horrible things about women and people of color, and runs an anti abortion website where he shames white women who have them. There's definitely a needed content warning in this book for all of those things.
The sense of place in MERCY STREET is transformative. The book takes place in the winter of 2015, and I was immediately taken back to that year in Boston where it snowed 110 inches in one winter. (The very reason I moved to California.) The actions of the book take place against this backdrop, of snow and cold and five winter storms in five weeks and every just so goddamn sick of shoveling and then having to shovel it all again.
Overall, I'm glad I read it and would recommend it if it sounds interesting to you!
Character-driven storytelling wrapped around potent commentary on one of the biggest hot-button issues right now: the right to get an abortion. In a good way, I had no idea where "Mercy Street" would take me when I started reading, and by the end I found myself having sympathized for (but not excused the actions of) some of the worst members of our society.
Haigh does a fantastic job of making every character feel like a real person with complex morals, complex values, and a full story arc. Everyone whose point of view is explored (there are four) is unique from the other and grapples with their own struggles. Perhaps this is how she's able to pull off writing a novel about abortion (and insert plenty of commentary) without coming across as hamfisted.
7/10
Haigh does a fantastic job of making every character feel like a real person with complex morals, complex values, and a full story arc. Everyone whose point of view is explored (there are four) is unique from the other and grapples with their own struggles. Perhaps this is how she's able to pull off writing a novel about abortion (and insert plenty of commentary) without coming across as hamfisted.
7/10