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A review by beesteele
The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams
5.0
Rounded up from a 4.5 because I was hooked the whole time.
I was not surprised to find that this book wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I was drawn in from the beginning and stayed that way the whole way through. It isn’t a perfect book, but the lyrical, ruminating way in which it was written kept me there with Caroline (the main character) the whole way through, feeling quite anxious with her most of the time too.
Long story short, Caroline is the daughter of a famous essayist who, in Caroline’s childhood, had started a sort of commune for thinkers like him. The commune failed, Caroline’s mother died shortly thereafter, and Samuel raised Caroline on his own, teaching her his ways of thinking and, to be fair, granting her an education that most other women would not have been allowed to have in the mid-to-late-1800s. Inspired by the success he felt he’d achieved with Caroline, Samuel decides to start a school for girls to teach them in the same way, and Caroline is allowed to teach.
I think this book has some important things to say about the repression (and abuse!) of women, even in settings that claim to be uplifting for them. There is a lot of darkness and eeriness in this book, and it should be noted that sexual abuse does occur here (for content warning purposes). I personally think anyone who has ever felt the frustration of not being believed about your own health by those around you and by doctors will probably have quite a visceral reaction to this book.
If I had a complaint, it would be that I wish the book was longer to allow for the full development of the girls’ characters. The students aren’t massively fleshed out, because the story mostly follows Caroline, and I think it would have been interesting to take a closer look at them. However, this book was nice and short, one you could read in one sitting if you wanted to, and that quality would be sacrificed if it had been expanded.
I was not surprised to find that this book wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I was drawn in from the beginning and stayed that way the whole way through. It isn’t a perfect book, but the lyrical, ruminating way in which it was written kept me there with Caroline (the main character) the whole way through, feeling quite anxious with her most of the time too.
Long story short, Caroline is the daughter of a famous essayist who, in Caroline’s childhood, had started a sort of commune for thinkers like him. The commune failed, Caroline’s mother died shortly thereafter, and Samuel raised Caroline on his own, teaching her his ways of thinking and, to be fair, granting her an education that most other women would not have been allowed to have in the mid-to-late-1800s. Inspired by the success he felt he’d achieved with Caroline, Samuel decides to start a school for girls to teach them in the same way, and Caroline is allowed to teach.
I think this book has some important things to say about the repression (and abuse!) of women, even in settings that claim to be uplifting for them. There is a lot of darkness and eeriness in this book, and it should be noted that sexual abuse does occur here (for content warning purposes). I personally think anyone who has ever felt the frustration of not being believed about your own health by those around you and by doctors will probably have quite a visceral reaction to this book.
If I had a complaint, it would be that I wish the book was longer to allow for the full development of the girls’ characters. The students aren’t massively fleshed out, because the story mostly follows Caroline, and I think it would have been interesting to take a closer look at them. However, this book was nice and short, one you could read in one sitting if you wanted to, and that quality would be sacrificed if it had been expanded.