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katekoz6615 's review for:
My Name Is Mary Sutter
by Robin Oliveira
Oh goodness. This book started so promisingly! I was very interested in how Mary Sutter would work to accomplish her goal of becoming a physician in decidedly patriarchal 1860s Albany. But oh, in the end I was sad.
First of all, I don't mind it when an author tells a story in more than one voice...as long as there is a clear delineation of who happens to be speaking at any given time. This book drifts annoyingly in and out of perspectives.
Secondly, ooooooooooh the speculation as to what real people were thinking at this moment in time! I don't really care, truthfully, or I would be reading non-fiction. Also, -10 points for not only blathering on about what their probable thought process was, but for doing so in an unintelligible way. For instance, supposedly Abraham Lincoln contemplated this gem during the early part of the Civil War:
Seriously?! I'm pretty sure he had enough to worry about, what with a bipolar wife, a dead child, and OH YEAH, a nation being torn apart. Who has time to think in run-on sentences about right and wrong - IN THE ABSTRACT, NO LESS?!?!?
*breath*
So clearly that kind of writing, not my fav. I was also not a fan of the wishy-washy relationship shenanigans that the author put poor Mary through in this book.
Is it so much to ask? I would just like my historical fiction to dispense with the abstract contemplation and give me a good story!
First of all, I don't mind it when an author tells a story in more than one voice...as long as there is a clear delineation of who happens to be speaking at any given time. This book drifts annoyingly in and out of perspectives.
Secondly, ooooooooooh the speculation as to what real people were thinking at this moment in time! I don't really care, truthfully, or I would be reading non-fiction. Also, -10 points for not only blathering on about what their probable thought process was, but for doing so in an unintelligible way. For instance, supposedly Abraham Lincoln contemplated this gem during the early part of the Civil War:
Contradiction the rule of the land. Right and wrong were as interchangeable these days, it seemed, as the winds, and yet here was one concrete thing he could achieve, would achieve before the end, whenever that came.
Seriously?! I'm pretty sure he had enough to worry about, what with a bipolar wife, a dead child, and OH YEAH, a nation being torn apart. Who has time to think in run-on sentences about right and wrong - IN THE ABSTRACT, NO LESS?!?!?
*breath*
So clearly that kind of writing, not my fav. I was also not a fan of the wishy-washy relationship shenanigans that the author put poor Mary through in this book.
Is it so much to ask? I would just like my historical fiction to dispense with the abstract contemplation and give me a good story!