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lauracohran's review against another edition
4.0
So good. I loved the way she paired history and biology with story here!
archernaelra's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to read this book to prepare for Outlander that will be on Starz in August. I loved the book and the whole series in fact. I did not finish the book, which isnt a bad thing. The story was based on two separate people/families and their learning about smallpox. I learned alot about medicine in the 1700's and I am glad that i read what i did.
cosmith2015's review against another edition
1.0
I appreciate what Ms. Carrell was trying to do, but she failed. Miserably. This is a nonfiction book, not a novel. I have no problem with adding some flare or even acting like she knew how the people would've felt and how they acted. What I cannot get behind was the ridiculous amount of purple prose.
Paragraphs like this:
" There they emerged, tight lipped, the captain turning heads with his silver-laced, cockaded hat gripped firmly in white-gloved hands, his finely tailored blue coat fastened with gilt buttons above the clean lines of white breeches and gray hose, his black wig tied neatly with a cow, the glean of his sword competing with the flash of immense silver buckles on his shoes". This much description is unneeded. Even in a high fantasy novel.
I originally gave the book 100 pages. It got better around page 80 (when Lady Montague went to Turkey). Then it was mostly bad with a few good parts until page 136. I gave up. I couldn't understand why she'd needed to spend 10 or so pages about the 12 year old working on a ship.
side note: Over 20 pages were spent talking about Lady Montague's relationship with her husband.
Paragraphs like this:
" There they emerged, tight lipped, the captain turning heads with his silver-laced, cockaded hat gripped firmly in white-gloved hands, his finely tailored blue coat fastened with gilt buttons above the clean lines of white breeches and gray hose, his black wig tied neatly with a cow, the glean of his sword competing with the flash of immense silver buckles on his shoes". This much description is unneeded. Even in a high fantasy novel.
I originally gave the book 100 pages. It got better around page 80 (when Lady Montague went to Turkey). Then it was mostly bad with a few good parts until page 136. I gave up. I couldn't understand why she'd needed to spend 10 or so pages about the 12 year old working on a ship.
side note: Over 20 pages were spent talking about Lady Montague's relationship with her husband.
livsfarm's review against another edition
3.0
This one's hard to rate, because most of this book was boring and I had to read this book for class but, Zabdiel Boylston was a super fun character. His parts were the only non-boring parts. I really liked reading about his inner struggle as he navigated the beginnings of inoculation in Boston. The author did a nice job fleshing out his story and the relationship with his wife and kids.
The section where Lady Mary goes to Constantinople to have her son inoculated was interesting.
Zabiboi's parts 5 Stars
Lady Mary 3 Stars
Everything Else 1 Star
Average Star Rating: 3
The section where Lady Mary goes to Constantinople to have her son inoculated was interesting.
Zabiboi's parts 5 Stars
Lady Mary 3 Stars
Everything Else 1 Star
Average Star Rating: 3
lmfm's review against another edition
I tried and tried but I just could never get into this book. It should have been interesting but it just dragged.
cheraford's review against another edition
3.0
A bit slow but fascinating story about two people willing to try something new in order to protect their family from smallpox, and how the ended up saving hundreds
lunaseassecondaccount's review against another edition
4.0
Peter, who I borrowed this book from, hated it because it wasn't dry. That's the reason why I enjoyed it. As much as I enjoy historical novels, often I find them sludging to get through and pages go on and on about things that the author may find interesting but have either nothing to do with the actual happenings, or is only a very minor plot point that could have taken up less than half a page.
The first few chapters have very little to do with smallpox itself, but it does layer the history. The reason Lady Mary discovers the inoculation procedure is because she is so distant from her husband and goes about on her own. If they were romantically entwined, it may never have happened.
For two thirds of the book, I enjoyed the English story more than the American, but it wasn't until the fighting happened that my preference switched around. England, in this retelling, was much more open to the idea of inoculation than America.
Knowing little of smallpox, this book allowed a look into it and the start of the smallpox demise. I recommend this to those who want to learn more about it, or to start their learning procedure... and for those who want to avoid dry history.
The first few chapters have very little to do with smallpox itself, but it does layer the history. The reason Lady Mary discovers the inoculation procedure is because she is so distant from her husband and goes about on her own. If they were romantically entwined, it may never have happened.
For two thirds of the book, I enjoyed the English story more than the American, but it wasn't until the fighting happened that my preference switched around. England, in this retelling, was much more open to the idea of inoculation than America.
Knowing little of smallpox, this book allowed a look into it and the start of the smallpox demise. I recommend this to those who want to learn more about it, or to start their learning procedure... and for those who want to avoid dry history.
kymme's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so incredibly fascinating. I decided not to include "scholarly" books on my goodreads, but this one is both fun and super-well-researched, so it straddles both worlds, to an extent. I learned a ton from it, and not least to be grateful to only have ear infections to worry over with my son, and not deadly smallpox outbreaks. The story is beautifully wrought, and surprising, particularly for those who expect modern medical advances to have come from, well, medical experts... this book nicely shows the wisdom of the folk over that of (most) learned physicians--a stance I can well appreciate.
cbug412's review against another edition
Very informative but overly saturated with the personal love lives and politics of two people. I was looking for a more thorough history of smallpox as a global disease and less about Lady Mary Wortley's personal problems with society in general.