Jan. 7th, 2022 07:08 pm
two Emma Donoghue novels
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aphrodite_mineLast night I finished my 2nd book of the year, The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. It is about the 1918 flu epidemic in Dublin, so CLEAR content warnings apply, but I didn't know the premise when I started and then I figured I'd give it a go, and then I really adored the main character, Julia Power and just kept going.
I generally like Donoghue, though the last of her's that I read, The Wonder didn't blow me away. She's best when she writes queer characters, to be honest. But - here are some things that the two novels have in common:
- main character is a nurse
- patient(s) include children
- plot discusses abuse
- anti-Catholic discussions
- main character SPOILERs a SPOILER
The other spoiler-free thing to discuss is how in Stars Donoghue chooses not to use quotation marks! This was very close to fully turning me off of the novel, and I respect anyone for whom it does. My understanding of quirks like that is that... they need to be for something, they need to accomplish something, and for the life of me I absolutely cannot see any reason why it was done in this case.
Now, a bit of spoilery discussion, with lots of white space around.
I got the feeling about halfway through, after we've met Bridie, but before Julia knows she's falling in love, that we were heading for a bad end. Then, once I figured out the meaning behind the chapter titles (Donoghue really does forewarn, bless her) I knew I was going to end up crying. And sure enough. The last chapter is almost a horror narrative, the way the flu has been described until then in the book was something more familiar and understandable. But then Bridie is just... dead, after being this incredible alive force for 3/4 of the book, and 3/4 of the days of Julia's life.
The very ending is something of an odd scramble to head to a positive place that I don't think totally works, but also:
I NEED FIXIT AU. Bridie and Julia and Barnabus working at Dr. Lynn's country hospital and everyone being queer and happy and kept very neatly away from the police and the nuns, and Tim can come and maybe even meet a shy orderly who'll ask him gentle questions about his bird. HAS ANYONE READ THIS BOOK.
Okay, that's basically to say, I will likely be asking for fic for Stars, and The Wonder which really doesn't need a movie is getting one, and also - can you imagine being Emma Donoghue, and you've worked for two years on a pandemic novel about contagion and masks and hospitals and then when you turn it in to your publisher, COVID hits. I CANNOT.
This post is truly nonsensical, but I've been thinking and chatting about this all day, and I imagined this would come out much more organized.
I generally like Donoghue, though the last of her's that I read, The Wonder didn't blow me away. She's best when she writes queer characters, to be honest. But - here are some things that the two novels have in common:
- main character is a nurse
- patient(s) include children
- plot discusses abuse
- anti-Catholic discussions
- main character SPOILERs a SPOILER
The other spoiler-free thing to discuss is how in Stars Donoghue chooses not to use quotation marks! This was very close to fully turning me off of the novel, and I respect anyone for whom it does. My understanding of quirks like that is that... they need to be for something, they need to accomplish something, and for the life of me I absolutely cannot see any reason why it was done in this case.
Now, a bit of spoilery discussion, with lots of white space around.
I got the feeling about halfway through, after we've met Bridie, but before Julia knows she's falling in love, that we were heading for a bad end. Then, once I figured out the meaning behind the chapter titles (Donoghue really does forewarn, bless her) I knew I was going to end up crying. And sure enough. The last chapter is almost a horror narrative, the way the flu has been described until then in the book was something more familiar and understandable. But then Bridie is just... dead, after being this incredible alive force for 3/4 of the book, and 3/4 of the days of Julia's life.
The very ending is something of an odd scramble to head to a positive place that I don't think totally works, but also:
I NEED FIXIT AU. Bridie and Julia and Barnabus working at Dr. Lynn's country hospital and everyone being queer and happy and kept very neatly away from the police and the nuns, and Tim can come and maybe even meet a shy orderly who'll ask him gentle questions about his bird. HAS ANYONE READ THIS BOOK.
Okay, that's basically to say, I will likely be asking for fic for Stars, and The Wonder which really doesn't need a movie is getting one, and also - can you imagine being Emma Donoghue, and you've worked for two years on a pandemic novel about contagion and masks and hospitals and then when you turn it in to your publisher, COVID hits. I CANNOT.
This post is truly nonsensical, but I've been thinking and chatting about this all day, and I imagined this would come out much more organized.
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