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A review by obscuredbyclouds
Fever by Mary Beth Keane
3.0
I chose to read this for my "book club" (aka me and two friends) because I really enjoyed Mary Beth Keane's second novel "Ask Again, Yes" but didn't think I would pick her earlier novel on my own; I just didn't think a story told from Typhoid Mary's perspective sounded very interesting. So it was a "I oughta read this but I dont want to" pick.
The writing is once again pretty good and easy to read, but not as strong or interesting. I also thought there were parts that were written too simplistic and at least quite cheesy too. But overall the novel easily held my attention and entertained me. Keane tries to make the reader sympathize with Mary, but it never really worked for me. It was strange coming to this book in the middle of a pandemic because Mary's - and some other characters' - reasoning for why she couldn't have been the cause of death for so many people and why it was really unfair for her to have to stop cooking reminded me of so many "why should I have to change my life in any way when I'm not worried about being sick" types of people. In Mary's defense, germ theory of disease was not as well-established back in 1907 and asymptomatic carriers were something newly discovered. Still, Mary's stance was irritating, even though I felt for her when she was quarantined for the first time, and then later a second time when she broke the agreement not to cook. Although the novel is centered around Mary's struggle with accepting her disease and the damage she's caused, a large part of the book is about her and her partner. Their love story or rather the tragedy of it was, although entertaining, a little obvious.
I think the novel was hindered by it being about a real historic person and trying to include all the real parameters and names, but trying to turn around the perception a reader would have of the events and characters. It's a very obvious "You thought Typhoid Mary was bad? But have you ever looked at it from her POV?!" both-siding attempt, which I found a little irritating. As a stand alone story it was an entertaining and easy read, but not definitely not as good as "Ask Again, Yes". I haven't read her debut yet but I'm still curious.
The writing is once again pretty good and easy to read, but not as strong or interesting. I also thought there were parts that were written too simplistic and at least quite cheesy too. But overall the novel easily held my attention and entertained me. Keane tries to make the reader sympathize with Mary, but it never really worked for me. It was strange coming to this book in the middle of a pandemic because Mary's - and some other characters' - reasoning for why she couldn't have been the cause of death for so many people and why it was really unfair for her to have to stop cooking reminded me of so many "why should I have to change my life in any way when I'm not worried about being sick" types of people. In Mary's defense, germ theory of disease was not as well-established back in 1907 and asymptomatic carriers were something newly discovered. Still, Mary's stance was irritating, even though I felt for her when she was quarantined for the first time, and then later a second time when she broke the agreement not to cook. Although the novel is centered around Mary's struggle with accepting her disease and the damage she's caused, a large part of the book is about her and her partner. Their love story or rather the tragedy of it was, although entertaining, a little obvious.
I think the novel was hindered by it being about a real historic person and trying to include all the real parameters and names, but trying to turn around the perception a reader would have of the events and characters. It's a very obvious "You thought Typhoid Mary was bad? But have you ever looked at it from her POV?!" both-siding attempt, which I found a little irritating. As a stand alone story it was an entertaining and easy read, but not definitely not as good as "Ask Again, Yes". I haven't read her debut yet but I'm still curious.