Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - The Pull of the Stars

Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

29 reviews

kitkatkick's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

In The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue shows off a masterful understanding of early 1900s society and the women that lived and worked within it, and of the one thread that ties women of every race, class, and nation together: the concept of motherhood.

Through the eyes of Nurse Julia Powers, we see the comings and goings of Irish women in a maternity ward for patients infected with the “Great Flu” of the 1910s. Donoghue skillfully captures the fast-paced and borderline frantic setting of a hospital, especially one cripplingly overwhelmed with patients. Reading her description of a past pandemic in a post-COVID world was an experience in itself. Julia over time is joined by our two other female leads: Birdie Sweeney, a sweet young volunteer with a troubled past, and Dr. Kathleen Lynne, a real-life doctor with ties to the revolutionary movement in Ireland. The relationships between the three are deeply complex as their worldviews collide and occasionally clash. Secondary to them falls a rotating cast of patients in the ward, pregnant mothers from all classes and social standings whose own stories deepen the overall story when they’re all brought into such close comparison.

Donoghue takes on a wide variety of social issues throughout the book- the effects of war, class divisions, poverty, religion, sexism, and the Irish revolutionary movement- and while none are portrayed poorly, it does occasionally feel as though discussions are rife Ed because there is so much to fit in. But one of the main themes of the book, the concept of motherhood and how it applies differently to every woman on Earth, is addressed incredibly. It is never outright glorified or discredited, and Donoghue gives us examples of a wide variety of viewpoints: Julia, with no intention of having her own children but with a deep respect for childbirth and the “blood tax” that women have been paying since the beginning of time; experienced mothers with multiple children already; a first-time mother and a young girl both finding out the details of pregnancy and childbirth in real-time; mothers in a social position stable enough to provide for children and those in a position where neither they nor their child could ever hope to thrive; those who do and don’t want the babies they’ve been given; those that do or don’t support the then-popular Irish saying of “If she loves him, she’ll give him twelve;” and the contrast of those who gave birth successfully and those who did not. No one experience is shown as better than another. The story will leave the reader deeply moved on the subject, no matter the opinion they hold when turning the first page.

Deeply moving is the best phrase I have to describe this book. To address a few smaller details, from a technical perspective the book is unique in that it does not place quotations around dialogue, which does occasionally make that dialogue hard to follow. It is a very poor audiobook in my opinion, due to the graphic depictions of childbirth and other medical practices. To me, any cries or yelling are better read than heard, but others’ mileage may vary. Those graphic depictions may make the book difficult or even inaccessible to more hemophobic readers- I personally had to put it down or pause it several times for that reason, but inevitably I had to pick it up again because I was so ensnared by the story. None of these make the book impossible to read, but they are worth mentioning.

The Pull of the Stars is a deeply-moving and thoughtful read that I would recommend to just about anyone with a soul, and anyone who has ever interacted with a mother or a child.

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mad_is_rad's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Well now my heart’s broken. An incredible story! It was a surprisingly cozy read, too, until it wasn’t.

Content Warnings

have_a_doris_day's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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booksandbargains's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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maddiet425's review

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Content Warnings

libraryghost's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Broke my "No Pandemic Books During a Pandemic" rule but it was worth it.

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absolutive's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This novel, set in a maternity/fever ward in Dublin in 1918, did not pull me in right away. I twice started it and had trouble focusing. But on the third try I found it riveting, reading it in two days. The novel is set over the course of three days and follows Nurse Julia Power as she cares for pregnant women with the Great Influenza. Each day she improvises, saves lives and is powerless to stop death, using her knowledge and experience and kindness in an utterly overwhelmed and devastated health system. Also in the novel is the real life activist and doctor Kathleen Lynn whose own mastery in politics and medicine rise above Nurse Power, but who is also powerless at times, both in the hospital and against the police; the young, exploited and utterly effective, competent and sympathetic Bridie Sweeney; the whole system of Catholic control over morality, women's bodies, and the babies of poor and unwed mothers; the women on the ward, who along with Nurse Power, Bridie and Dr. Lynn form a small community, constrained by War, Pandemic, British Imperialism and cruel Catholic morality, living, caring and dying together.

The novel not only explores the stories of people often left untold--poor women in Dublin, children of the unwed, for example--but also queer stories in an unusual and highly effective way. No one would call this a queer novel, I think, but by the end of the novel one must say that it is the story of four queer people living in Dublin when people didn't talk openly about this. This realisation occurs slowly and it's implicit, it's something the novel is lightly building towards but which does not emerge on the ward, hidden from view, like these lives themselves, but which, like the hidden stars, pulls the narrative forward.

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