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A review by llama_lord
So Far From Home: the Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847 by Barry Denenberg
4.0
This is definitely one of the most dreary entries in the Dear America series. So dreary, in fact, that they rewrote the ending of this one for the TV adaption to make it less depressing. I don't think that the protagonist Mary experiences any real moments of happiness or triumph in the story. Rather, her life seems to move from one tragedy to the next.
That's not to say that this isn't an interesting book. I thought that the information about the mills and the girls working there was really fascinating. I also thought that the book did a good job showing the interactions between the Irish and American mill workers and why the two groups are at odds, and does so in a way that makes it easy to empathize with both groups. This book also features one of the more gruesome deaths/implied deaths in the series.
I think that maybe the message that the author was trying to send here is that America does not always welcome its immigrants with open arms. Often, as in Mary's experience, they are actively resented. This is a problem that American immigrants have been experiencing for centuries and continue to experience today, and I think it's interesting for a Dear America book to go in that direction if that was indeed the author's intent. Or maybe the author didn't mean to send that message and just wrote an unusually depressing Dear America book for some other reason. In any case, although it isn't the best the series has to offer, I would still recommend this book.
That's not to say that this isn't an interesting book. I thought that the information about the mills and the girls working there was really fascinating. I also thought that the book did a good job showing the interactions between the Irish and American mill workers and why the two groups are at odds, and does so in a way that makes it easy to empathize with both groups. This book also features one of the more gruesome deaths/implied deaths in the series.
Spoiler
A girl who ignores the safety rule of wearing her hair up gets her loose hair caught in a machine and has her scalp ripped off.I think that maybe the message that the author was trying to send here is that America does not always welcome its immigrants with open arms. Often, as in Mary's experience, they are actively resented. This is a problem that American immigrants have been experiencing for centuries and continue to experience today, and I think it's interesting for a Dear America book to go in that direction if that was indeed the author's intent. Or maybe the author didn't mean to send that message and just wrote an unusually depressing Dear America book for some other reason. In any case, although it isn't the best the series has to offer, I would still recommend this book.