A review by alicemc25
The Dark Circle by Linda Grant

2.0

What I liked about this book is that it's about TB and explores the way the disease was managed and treated in the last 1940s-50s. As someone who works in medicine with an interest in medical history, I found this really interesting - did they really carry out operations to remove people's ribs?! I ended up googling a lot, so it definitely spiked my curiosity. Even though it's not a non-fiction book and I'm not sure how accurate it all was, I really enjoyed reading about the start of streptomycin treatment and the dramatic way it transformed TB treatment.

But however interesting I found the setting and the subject, the story it was based around was quite flat. The main characters are Jewish twins Lenny and Miriam, who share an unusually close relationship, and are carted off from London to Kent together when they are diagnosed with TB. But I found them both quite unlikeable. They didn't seem to have much depth or warmth to them. In fact, I didn't really feel a connection with any of the characters. Once they left the sanitorium behind I pretty much lost all interest in the story, and just read the last few chapters to get it done.

So for people who have an interest in TB and medical history, it's a good book. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone else.