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A review by siobhanward
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Alright, this is your warning that there are spoilers ahead! I've formatted them appropriately, but I know that doesn't always work when viewing a review on mobile, so this is your warning!
Overall this book was really, really timely. A book about the Spanish Flu pandemic? Very close to home. This is the second book I've read about the pandemic this year, but unlike the last book ( In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters), this one was published this year, so presumably it was written in 2019. Weird.
Anyway, the book was fine. I liked Julia and her story, I liked the idea of everything taking place in a maternity ward, which is definitely not the typical setting for a pandemic-era book. Bridie was a great character and I loved her and her development throughout the book, but there were some parts that definitely turned me off. Some things would have been impossible to predict - when Donoghue was writing this book, I'm sure she didn't anticipate that having multiple characters talk about how "masks didn't do anything" or "masks are useless if you've already have the flu" would be a controversial take by the time the book came out, but it was still a bit weird to read that and it didn't sit well with me.
(THIS NEXT PART IS WHERE THE SPOILER IS, MOBILE READERS!)
However, the part that really didn't sit well with me was the queer plotline that IMMEDIATELY ended in tragedy. This is a huge, ongoing problem in media. Queer characters are part of the story, get their happily ever after and then immediately experience some form of violence and tragedy. In this case, there was already so much death in the book, did having one more really add to it? Or if we needed one more death that was close to Julia and acted as her breaking point, did it need to be the person that she realized she was in love with, immediately after she realized she was gay?? I get why it was done, I do. If she had fallen in love with a male character and he had immediately gotten the flu and died, I would have been a bit more accepting, but by making her gay and then immediately killing off her love, which is a media trope, it really took a lot away from the book for me. Not cool. Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't seen more reviews that make reference to this spoiler.
For the plot itself and the characters, I would easily give this 4* - for the issues that were present in the text and the parts that just really didn't sit right with me, I'd be tempted to pull it down to 2.5*. Since it was overall a good book with some flaws, I'm happy to settle on 3*. It's a good read, but brace yourself for some parts that really did not age well, despite it only being published in 2020.
Overall this book was really, really timely. A book about the Spanish Flu pandemic? Very close to home. This is the second book I've read about the pandemic this year, but unlike the last book ( In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters), this one was published this year, so presumably it was written in 2019. Weird.
Anyway, the book was fine. I liked Julia and her story, I liked the idea of everything taking place in a maternity ward, which is definitely not the typical setting for a pandemic-era book. Bridie was a great character and I loved her and her development throughout the book, but there were some parts that definitely turned me off. Some things would have been impossible to predict - when Donoghue was writing this book, I'm sure she didn't anticipate that having multiple characters talk about how "masks didn't do anything" or "masks are useless if you've already have the flu" would be a controversial take by the time the book came out, but it was still a bit weird to read that and it didn't sit well with me.
(THIS NEXT PART IS WHERE THE SPOILER IS, MOBILE READERS!)
For the plot itself and the characters, I would easily give this 4* - for the issues that were present in the text and the parts that just really didn't sit right with me, I'd be tempted to pull it down to 2.5*. Since it was overall a good book with some flaws, I'm happy to settle on 3*. It's a good read, but brace yourself for some parts that really did not age well, despite it only being published in 2020.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death