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A review by abeth_parker
Fever by Mary Beth Keane
4.0
I came across this novel during my last trip to the library. I'm glad I did. I had heard a few minor details of the famous "Typhoid Mary" case, but I didn't know many particulars. The biggest questions that arose for me as I was reading the book is "Where is the line between purposeful action and stubborn disobedience?"
After being identified as an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid, Mary was held on an island that housed a tuberculosis hospital for about three years. She was released with the agreement to not cook food for others. Eventually, possibly out of the need to make a living wage, she went back to cooking in bakeries, for friends, and eventually in a maternity hospital.
Of course, none of us now can know what she was thinking or what her motives were. Was she so uncaring and cold that she would knowingly expose post-partum mothers and newborn infants to typhoid? Or was she an individual who lived in New York during a time when overcrowding and poverty caused a very high mortality rate for those who were young or sick? Did she understand the mechanism of disease exposure as we do today? It is very thought provoking.
I think the author did an excellent job of portraying Mary Mallon as someone who wouldn't purposely bring harm to anyone, but who also didn't realize that her carrying of the typhoid with in her could truly have deadly affects for others.
My only criticism of the book lies in the relationship she was in during the time. She was unmarried woman living with an unmarried man. Which, of course, was still mostly unheard of at the time. References to their relationship, and his relationship with another woman while Mary was being held on the island, were not graphic by any means, but a little more detailed than I thought necessary.
I'm truly thinking of geeking out and reading a nonfiction book about Typhoid Mary. It is truly a more interesting story than I ever realized.
After being identified as an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid, Mary was held on an island that housed a tuberculosis hospital for about three years. She was released with the agreement to not cook food for others. Eventually, possibly out of the need to make a living wage, she went back to cooking in bakeries, for friends, and eventually in a maternity hospital.
Of course, none of us now can know what she was thinking or what her motives were. Was she so uncaring and cold that she would knowingly expose post-partum mothers and newborn infants to typhoid? Or was she an individual who lived in New York during a time when overcrowding and poverty caused a very high mortality rate for those who were young or sick? Did she understand the mechanism of disease exposure as we do today? It is very thought provoking.
I think the author did an excellent job of portraying Mary Mallon as someone who wouldn't purposely bring harm to anyone, but who also didn't realize that her carrying of the typhoid with in her could truly have deadly affects for others.
My only criticism of the book lies in the relationship she was in during the time. She was unmarried woman living with an unmarried man. Which, of course, was still mostly unheard of at the time. References to their relationship, and his relationship with another woman while Mary was being held on the island, were not graphic by any means, but a little more detailed than I thought necessary.
I'm truly thinking of geeking out and reading a nonfiction book about Typhoid Mary. It is truly a more interesting story than I ever realized.