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A review by eleanormharte
Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
4.0
I have complicated feelings on this book, in that I'm not exactly sure how I feel. I first saw it at the bookstore, where I wanted to buy it for the pretty cover, and then thought, "hmm, maybe get it from the library instead."
The book opens with Claudia, a woman in her early 40s who works at a women's health clinic in downtown Boston. She counsels patients, on their pregnancies, both wanted and unwanted. Outside the clinic, there are anti-abortion protestors every day. Some of them she comes to recognize. She visits her weed dealer, Timmy, and spends the rest of her time went not at work either high or rudderless or sometimes both. Timmy's other customer is Anthony, a man who lives in his mom's basement, makes money from accident disability insurance and updating his church website, and is internet best friends with Excelsior11. Excelsior11 is the screen name for Victor Price, an anti abortion activist and white supremacist.
We follow these characters through one miserable winter (more on that later) and see how they are connected and disconnected. I don't want to give things away, but I thought things were going to happen in one way and instead they took a more character-centered approach. It was hard to read the sections of this book that take place in Victor's head. Given that he is a white supremacist, it's not a surprise that he has horrible beliefs, says horrible things about women and people of color, and runs an anti abortion website where he shames white women who have them. There's definitely a needed content warning in this book for all of those things.
The sense of place in MERCY STREET is transformative. The book takes place in the winter of 2015, and I was immediately taken back to that year in Boston where it snowed 110 inches in one winter. (The very reason I moved to California.) The actions of the book take place against this backdrop, of snow and cold and five winter storms in five weeks and every just so goddamn sick of shoveling and then having to shovel it all again.
Overall, I'm glad I read it and would recommend it if it sounds interesting to you!
The book opens with Claudia, a woman in her early 40s who works at a women's health clinic in downtown Boston. She counsels patients, on their pregnancies, both wanted and unwanted. Outside the clinic, there are anti-abortion protestors every day. Some of them she comes to recognize. She visits her weed dealer, Timmy, and spends the rest of her time went not at work either high or rudderless or sometimes both. Timmy's other customer is Anthony, a man who lives in his mom's basement, makes money from accident disability insurance and updating his church website, and is internet best friends with Excelsior11. Excelsior11 is the screen name for Victor Price, an anti abortion activist and white supremacist.
We follow these characters through one miserable winter (more on that later) and see how they are connected and disconnected. I don't want to give things away, but I thought things were going to happen in one way and instead they took a more character-centered approach. It was hard to read the sections of this book that take place in Victor's head. Given that he is a white supremacist, it's not a surprise that he has horrible beliefs, says horrible things about women and people of color, and runs an anti abortion website where he shames white women who have them. There's definitely a needed content warning in this book for all of those things.
The sense of place in MERCY STREET is transformative. The book takes place in the winter of 2015, and I was immediately taken back to that year in Boston where it snowed 110 inches in one winter. (The very reason I moved to California.) The actions of the book take place against this backdrop, of snow and cold and five winter storms in five weeks and every just so goddamn sick of shoveling and then having to shovel it all again.
Overall, I'm glad I read it and would recommend it if it sounds interesting to you!