From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
I almost abandoned this. I found the first 45% or so awfully boring! But wow did I love the second half.
I was excited to read this book because I was awed at how Donoghue captured the voice and viewpoint of a child in Room. She does the same trick here, but the protagonist is much less likeable. Donghue takes the voice of a rather snobbish English woman, a Nightingale-trained nurse who has taken a two week assignment in the midlands of Ireland. She begins sniffing as soon as she gets into the country. Stupid Catholics, Irish, lazy, dirty, ignorant.... Lib Wright is more than horrified to learn tha
...more
It's 1859 and Lib Wright is a nurse in England, trained by Florence Nightingale, sent to Ireland to observe Anna O'Donnell for two weeks. Anna is eleven and claims to have not eaten for four months. Lib and a nun are sent to observe Anna around the clock to see if she really is not eating. The story starts off very slowly. Only about the last third of the book does much happen. I also disliked at least one facet of pretty much every character in the book except for the newspaperman. The story do
...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Somewhat repetitive in the first half, day after day "watching" the girl. Second half picks up the pace and all in all, compulsive reading.
...more
May 08, 2016
Sam
marked it as to-read
Sep 08, 2016
Tracyene
marked it as to-read
Sep 17, 2016
Kim
marked it as to-read
Sep 27, 2016
Anna
marked it as to-read
Nov 01, 2016
Tanya
marked it as to-read
Nov 10, 2016
Alan
marked it as to-read
Nov 15, 2016
Erica
marked it as to-read
Nov 15, 2016
Dana Arbelaez
marked it as to-read
Dec 06, 2016
Jules
marked it as to-read
Jan 09, 2017
Anika
marked it as to-read
Jan 11, 2017
Cassie
marked it as to-read
Feb 16, 2017
grace
marked it as to-read
Mar 19, 2017
Lisa
marked it as to-read
May 26, 2017
Anya
marked it as to-read
Sep 06, 2019
SandyC
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
2019-read
