A review by james1star
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I would argue this is a good book objectively but on the whole I didn’t particularly like it. That being said I am still very interested in picking up more books by Emma Donoghue and would still recommend giving this one a read. 

For a quick plot summary, in The Wonder we follow the main character of Elizabeth ‘Lib’ Wright who’s a Nightingale-trained English nurse offered a job in rural Victorian Ireland for a couple of weeks to look after a girl. When she arrives though, the case isn’t what it seems and instead she, alongside a nurse nun, is there to observe the eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell who’s apparently not eaten for four months but is still surviving. Her family and the town are all convinced the child is surviving via divine intervention and this is a miracle but Lib is much less eager to accept this. What ensures over ‘the watch’ is a very tense account of the two MCs getting to know each other, we learn about their past and essentially Donoghue depicts the slow murder of girl in view of the masses. 

At the book’s heart, there is a lot of contradicting ideologies and characters essentially butt-heading, with the victims of these ‘arguments’ being pushed aside. The key battle is that of religion vs science and what the watch - and hence the book - hangs on the balance of: whether or not Anna is a living miracle or it’s really a hoax all along. In a similar vein, the contrasting opinions of England and Ireland (or more so their people) at the time is explored in Lib being an English women surrounded by this small town in Ireland. Lib would probably be called an atheist today and she does express her religious beliefs but there’s also a battle of anglican vs catholic ideologies at place being a representative of each country’s primary religious affiliation. With the use of other characters, specifically Dublin journalist William Byrne, a rural vs urban distinction can be made and I think this is done very well especially because Ireland (unlike a lot of the western world) had recently lost a big chunk of their population with rural communities taking the brunt force of this. The differences within the country aren’t that extreme but Byrne does allude to some and I did enjoy what his character added to the story. A final conflict point that’s explored is that between women and men. Donoghue does a good job at depicting the history of the time very well with a focus on medicine, women and their position in society - a specific remark is how their opinions weren’t trusted or given their appropriate level of attention and it’s quite frustrating at times. 

Whilst the writing and prose is definitely very good, I would say this was the thing I personally disliked the most. It’s great don’t get me wrong but the pacing, whilst consistent, is extremely slow and there are many instances of the same conversation or event taking place and it was a bit of a slog to get thought at times. I understand the repetition in parts and it adds to the tension present between Lib and Anna which I liked but I wasn’t too keen as certain things were shown again and again. As mentioned, the tension that Donoghue generates is very good and adds to the eerie atmosphere present in the novel. Similarly, the character studies was handed very well with many having nuance and various parts to them, the most of which is Lib and she for sure is a complex woman. The mystery elements again was good and for a lot of the book I was generally shook and dumbfounded at what was actually happening here. The twists I personally didn’t see unlike some and whilst I see how the book doesn’t hang on such twists, they did still impact me when I go to such parts. 

Overall, I would recommend this book but after consideration I’m just quite confused on whether or not I actually liked it. It’s a strange one and I would say it impacted me quite a bit, Donoghue definitely knows how grip the reader and I cannot wait to explore more of her works. 
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