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karen1's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
kingala's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
carryfiasco's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
b00kaholic91's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
mj_j's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed spending time with these ladies. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
catherine_louise's review against another edition
4.0
the literary intelligentsia probably wouldn’t have anything great to say about this book, but I thought it was delightful and soapy and sometimes very silly and other times very dark-- but just when you thought it'd be really sad and awful at the end, then it all wrapped up with everyone seeing the error of their ways, all the ladies finding a man to dance with, and the two (male) antagonists sacked and/or jailed and/or driven away from the hospital, and honestly, that's kind of all I wanted.
stray thoughts:
* prose styling is nonexistent at times but nonetheless I was invested and also seriously gutted by some of the shit that happened at this hospital- it’s about emotions, stupid
* the reasons for the main antagonist’s villainy are a little (ok, a lot) thin, but also like, whatever- he’s a creep, he's got a ton of power in the hospital, powerful creeps do what powerful creeps do, and that’s all we need to know (although, I gotta say, is he a creep or just a straight up sociopath??? after the stuff that happens at the 80% mark, my money's now on the latter)
* pammy is my queen (man the class stuff in this book was interesting and also pretty accurate historically, like nursing is a VERY classed profession)
* the author is also a conservative MP?? actually though that kind of makes sense given the politics of this book
* i think enrolled nurses were still called assistant nurses in 1953- and also, why didn’t we see any of them? but that aside, cool how the author shows all the different people/stakeholders in the hospital - doctors, junior doctors, nurses, sisters, porters, domestics
* st angelus sounds like a voluntary hospital, and is discussed as one (the comparison to st bart’s, etc) so the note about it being a former workhouse seems a little inaccurate (especially given the fact that it's a hospital where good middle class girls go to train)
* the matron's yearning for the sister was probably one of the more awkward sideplots but i still enjoyed it. it actually reminds me of this conversation I had about my PhD research with my advisor, when we're talking about nurses historically and he's like, "well, there's all these single women nurses in your research; are they lesbians?" and according to this book they are, which is great.
WHATEVER these are minor quibbles. Off to read book 2
stray thoughts:
* prose styling is nonexistent at times but nonetheless I was invested and also seriously gutted by some of the shit that happened at this hospital- it’s about emotions, stupid
* the reasons for the main antagonist’s villainy are a little (ok, a lot) thin, but also like, whatever- he’s a creep, he's got a ton of power in the hospital, powerful creeps do what powerful creeps do, and that’s all we need to know (although, I gotta say, is he a creep or just a straight up sociopath??? after the stuff that happens at the 80% mark, my money's now on the latter)
* pammy is my queen (man the class stuff in this book was interesting and also pretty accurate historically, like nursing is a VERY classed profession)
* the author is also a conservative MP?? actually though that kind of makes sense given the politics of this book
* i think enrolled nurses were still called assistant nurses in 1953- and also, why didn’t we see any of them? but that aside, cool how the author shows all the different people/stakeholders in the hospital - doctors, junior doctors, nurses, sisters, porters, domestics
* st angelus sounds like a voluntary hospital, and is discussed as one (the comparison to st bart’s, etc) so the note about it being a former workhouse seems a little inaccurate (especially given the fact that it's a hospital where good middle class girls go to train)
* the matron's yearning for the sister was probably one of the more awkward sideplots but i still enjoyed it. it actually reminds me of this conversation I had about my PhD research with my advisor, when we're talking about nurses historically and he's like, "well, there's all these single women nurses in your research; are they lesbians?" and according to this book they are, which is great.
WHATEVER these are minor quibbles. Off to read book 2
sammilittlejohns's review against another edition
3.0
I'VE FINALLY FINISHED OMGGGGGGGGG. So, I got this book in Kindle form in April just as something to read on the train, but I struggled so much because I was reading it on my phone. I could just not get into it, I thought there was too many characters, and every time I came back to it I was confused about what was going on. HOWEVER, I started reading it properly when I wasn't travelling, and realised it was just the fact I hate reading on my phone, rather than found the book difficult.
I've been after a Kindle for a while, and now I've finally got one (yey!) I found it 10000000x easier to read this book, and realised even though there are so many characters, once you know the difference, it's hard to get them re-confused. I actually enjoyed this book! It was slow getting to it, but once I got over the reading format, I found this was easy to read and the main characters were enjoyable and likeable! I felt that everything was tied up in a good way, and this book drew to light some important topics, especially for the time, such as misogyny, sexism and illegal abortions, without downplaying them into mere story points.
Overall, while this isn't my usual type of book, I really enjoyed it, and the fact i wasn't discouraged at the beginning just shows how easy to read and interesting this book is. Defo worth a read if this is your type of book or are a fan of this time period.
I've been after a Kindle for a while, and now I've finally got one (yey!) I found it 10000000x easier to read this book, and realised even though there are so many characters, once you know the difference, it's hard to get them re-confused. I actually enjoyed this book! It was slow getting to it, but once I got over the reading format, I found this was easy to read and the main characters were enjoyable and likeable! I felt that everything was tied up in a good way, and this book drew to light some important topics, especially for the time, such as misogyny, sexism and illegal abortions, without downplaying them into mere story points.
Overall, while this isn't my usual type of book, I really enjoyed it, and the fact i wasn't discouraged at the beginning just shows how easy to read and interesting this book is. Defo worth a read if this is your type of book or are a fan of this time period.