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A review by lauracooleyjohnson
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
4.0
4-stars! I recommend this book. It was well-researched, and centers on a nurse in a maternity ward in Ireland during the 1918 flu. Given that we are in the midst of COVID-19, the publishers must have been giddy with excitement over the timing coincidence. Our main character is hardworking and lovable, and as a reader, I really felt the urgency and hecticness of the tasks on her ward, her helplessness and frustration in the face of poverty and corruption in church leaders, and her love, heartbreak and resolve in the end.
And yet I have a quibble. My quibble is that the book felt like the author didn’t quite know what she wanted to achieve, so she did it all, and separated each focus area with chapter headings that made the choppiness seem more seamless: Red, Brown, Blue and Black. These represent the progression of the skin tone when someone has the flu. So Maternity and midwifery detail (warning, gets a bit graphic/gory)? Historical commentary on social and political Ireland? The war and its impact? Forbidden love that seems a bit out of place from the rest of the book? Check, check, check and check. These are well done, and each packed tidily in their little labeled section, but I think the book could have been improved with a little more focus. I’m stingy with my 5-star ratings, so I’m withholding a star for that!
And yet I have a quibble. My quibble is that the book felt like the author didn’t quite know what she wanted to achieve, so she did it all, and separated each focus area with chapter headings that made the choppiness seem more seamless: Red, Brown, Blue and Black. These represent the progression of the skin tone when someone has the flu. So Maternity and midwifery detail (warning, gets a bit graphic/gory)? Historical commentary on social and political Ireland? The war and its impact? Forbidden love that seems a bit out of place from the rest of the book? Check, check, check and check. These are well done, and each packed tidily in their little labeled section, but I think the book could have been improved with a little more focus. I’m stingy with my 5-star ratings, so I’m withholding a star for that!