Audio Review: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders—Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumoured Rebel on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney.

In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over three days, these women change each other's lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, carers and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.

In The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue once again finds the light in the darkness in this new classic of hope and survival against all odds.

Hardcover, 295 pages

Published July 21st 2020

by Little, Brown and Company

3/5 stars

My second book by Canadian author, Emma Donoghue was sent to the publishers just as covid hit a year ago.  How is that for timing especially given this book's theme.

I ended up going the audio route, lack of quotation marks drives me antsy and it was either that or pull a DNF. The narrator was Emma Lowe and she did a great job bringing the story to life.

The Pull of the Stars was atmospheric in that the author vividly described the setting, which is mostly at an infectious maternity ward.  Also this book takes place over the course of three heart wrenching days with nurse Julia and a volunteer to help get through those days.  I loved the compassion shown not just with the patients but towards each other, the developing friendship and Julia's plight at home. Though Julia and Bridie are fictional Dr Lynn is based on a real person, I would have loved to known more about her.

The Pull of the Stars was an emotional read for me, especially as it paralleled with this past year.  The medical conditions during that time made me very grateful for the time I had my kids in.

I struggled though, with the plot and pacing. While I know I am going against popular opinion there was just too much medical jargon and by the time the story picked up somewhat the end was in sight. All in all this was an okay read, educational and sad.

This book was from my personal library and part of my 2021 Reading Off My Shelf Challenge

Review: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

An eleven-year-old girl stops eating, but remains miraculously alive and well. A nurse, sent to investigate whether she is a fraud, meets a journalist hungry for a story.

Set in the Irish Midlands in the 1850s, The Wonder—inspired by numerous European and North American cases of “fasting girls” between the sixteenth century and the twentieth—is a psychological thriller about a child’s murder threatening to happen in slow motion before our eyes. Pitting all the seductions of fundamentalism against sense and love, it is a searing examination of what nourishes us, body and soul.

Hardcover, Canadian Edition, 291 pages 

Published September 20th 2016 

by HarperCollins Publishers

***

This is a book I have been wanting to read for a while, I have never read anything by Emma Donahue but I have heard many good things about her books.

The Wonder begins as nurse Lib makes her way to a small Irish Village, she is hired to watch over Anna, a young 11-year-old who has supposedly not eaten for four months and does not show signs of it, her task is to see if this is true or if someone is secretly feeding her.

The first part of the book was interesting enough as we meet the players and get a good sense of the landscape and the family members involved. But I really struggled with the next bit as I found it a bit dry and flat to the point where I was ready to give up. But I did something I very rarely do and that is look at other reviews before I finished it.  A number of them said the book picks up in the last third or so I persevered and got to that point, then I could not put the book down.

There is a lot of emotion in the story whether it be Nurse Lib, Anna's mother, the Sister or the reporter you can feel the tension in the air as they all have different reasons for wanting to be close to Anna. Superstition and religious convictions plays a big role here as does skepticism. Like I said it was the last part of the book that I found most interesting and the ending was satisfying even if somewhat improbable.

I will read more by this author, it wasn't hard to feel her dedication to this story and amount of research also.

This book was from my personal library and part of my 'reading off my TBR' challenge for 2017.