The Pull of the Stars

  ‘'The bone man was making fool of us all. That was what we kids called death in my part of the country - the bone man, that skeletal rider who kept his grinning skull tucked under one arm as he rode from one victim's house to the next.''
Dublin, 1918. The world is being torn apart by the final blows of the First World War and the lethal flu that seems to have a mind of its own and no one yet knows what its end will be. In this nightmarish era, babies are waiting to be brought into the world, mothers are risking their lives, nurses and doctors are venturing a minefield. Julie Power, Bridie Sweeney and Kathleen Lynn, along with their patients, are fighting a long, terrible battle within a tiny ward where cries of pain and cries of the newborn citizens of our world are echoing.
‘'I spotted a waning crescent moon speared on a spire and draped in clouds. A red-eyed paper boy, his cap upturned on the pavement in hopes of coins, was singing that rebel song in a squeaky soprano: ‘'Tonight we man the gap of danger...''
Emma Donoghue needs no introductions. In this novel, she showcases how to contain the entire world and its joys and pains in 3 days. Within the suffocating environment of the maternity ward, we witness the bravery of the mothers who have to fight the flu and brace themselves for the ordeal of birth and the self-sacrifice of the nurses. At the same time, two worlds collide. The old-fashioned views of certain doctors and the nuns and the new methods of a brilliant doctor who has already committed two terrible ‘'sins'': 1) She is a woman. 2) She wants to live in a free country, an independent Ireland. In striking, shocking scenes, Donoghue writes about what it means to become a mother, the right of the vore, Ireland's battle for freedom, the hypocrisy of the government and the Church. As we walk through Dublin (uniquely depicted), we will find traces of folklore co-existing with commentary on poverty, social injustice, inequality and the torture of being exiled within your own country.
We experience the infested wounds of poverty and war, the traumas of the ones who returned from the ‘'war that was to end all wars'' (yes, wrong!) and one cannot help but wonder: is there a point in bringing new life into a world that is being butchered by the wrath of men and the wrath of Nature? For Julia, a sublime character, and the two women who aid her in her battle, the answer is a loud ‘'yes''.
‘'That's what influenza means, she said. Influenza delle stelle - the influence of the stars. Medieval Italians thought the illness proved that the heavens were governing their fates, that people were quite literally star-crossed. I pictured that, the celestial bodies trying to fly us like upside-down kites. Or perhaps just yanking on us for their obscure amusement.''
Sometimes, you're just exhausted and the world doesn't do you any favours. You have only one option: to salvage a tiny speck of your dignity and your sanity. And this might be enough for a day...
‘'I'd never believed the future was inscribed for each of us the day we were born. If anything was written in the stars, it was we who joined those dots, and our lives were the writing.''
My reviews can also be found on: https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
 

I think I have been realizing the sheer amount of plague books that exist in this world...or maybe its just that I have a keener eye for them now. This historical fiction masters the setting and the characters, and while I did have a hard time every once in a while keeping engaged (a lot of that is because I was thrown off by the lack of quotation marks...get used to it, ladies, gents, and nonbinary fellow readers...because it's odd. And jarring. But I got used to it), all things considered, I found the read timely and enjoyable.

This is excellent. Short and beautiful.

“The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than the First World War—an estimated 3 to 6 per cent of the human race.”

This probably wasn't the best choice of book to read while I was nursing one of my dogs who's been quite ill over the last week. The story follows nurse Power and her inexperienced volunteer helper Birdie as they work on a maternity ward in an understaffed Dublin hospital during the flu pandemic of 1918 with WW1 raging on the continent.

Equal amounts of joyous uplifting and graphically harrowing moments. I had to stop reading on a couple of occasions, it really is that traumatic, then again I do tear up regularly while watching Call The Midwife. The ending really got me in the feels, I did see it coming, but still.

God this was heartbreaking 💔

Set on a maternity ward during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, it was grief after grief with no break.

Although I was totally unable to stop reading this, I do feel like it was lacking in depth at times. I also felt like the moment between Julia and Bridie came out of nowhere, this really needed some more fleshing out.

This was my first from Emma Donoghue but won't be my last.

I liked this book better than Room. I enjoyed the medical side of things, hearing how they cared for expectant mothers who also had influenza. Medicine intrigues me and was a big part of my childhood, being the daughter of two nurses.

The entirety of this book takes place over three days. The plot also matches one of the frequent sayings of the main character, Julia... Watch and wait.

You should avoid this book if you're queasy about blood, guts, and bodily fluids. Birth is a messy business.

What the actual hell? Can't believe I wasted my day off reading this, honestly.

Donoghue has a fantastic way with words, as always, but this story was hot garbage.

Quote marks were invented for a reason.

Very well written book about the pandemic of 1918 set in a hospital in Dublin, Ireland. The main character is a maternity nurse/midwife, and the story is told over three days in which she must try to save women and infants who are battling poverty, influenza, mistreatment, and difficult deliveries. There is much to discuss with this story, and somehow the author manages to address many topics without the reader getting whiplash with topic changes, including the horrible conditions due to WWI or the pandemic or poverty, the perspective of Nurse Powers versus that of Bridie, a volunteer who has grown up with literally nothing, finding love in unlikely places, societal ‘norms' for mothers and infants, the role of women during the war, even the political upheaval of the time in Ireland. Highly recommend for a book club book to discuss.

This book might be in my top 10 favourite books!

Fun fact: I am a nurse. That's why reading about what it was like being a nurse in the olden days was so fascinating. A lot of research must have gone into writing this. It must have been so hard being a nurse during a pandemic while in the middle of a war. If you think we are struggling now, how much more back then.

There was a time when mix your own saline solution, whiskey and chloroform were used to treat patients! How medicine has changed!!

This book is so gripping. I couldn't put it down, I wanted to know what will happen to the mothers in the ward. The story is set up in a span of 2 days but you wouldn't think that as there is a lot happening. It was well written, however, Emma Donoghue does not use quotation marks so it's a bit confusing to read at first.

Oof. A lovely story, I really enjoy slice of life novels. This one moved so quickly that I was near the end before I realized, and I wish it were longer.

Julia Power is a maternity nurse working out of a repurposed supply closet that barely holds three beds and functions as a makeshift delivery ward. The book covers a mere three days in the midst of the 1918 flu pandemic in Ireland. The writing is breathless and steamrolls relentlessly forward. It starts to feel as claustrophobic as that tiny room and one wonders if author Emma Donoghue had stumbled across a turn of the century gynaecological manual in researching the story and is now intent on stuffing every page of her book with all manner of birthing catastrophes and unorthodox delivery procedures.

Still, amidst the turmoil of a mother gripped in fever coughing violently in one cot, another mourning the loss of her child and a third screaming through contractions, Julia strikes up a warm familiarity with her orphaned helper Bridie Sweeney. Their growing relationship a bright spot in an otherwise calamitous read.

This novel was pure therapy. A compelling narrative set in an Irish maternity ward during the Spanish flu about women bonding over the struggle of childbirth and women helping other women. I felt a connection with these characters as we navigate through our respective pandemics. The fact that this novel also read like a thrilling hospital drama is

This book is about a nurse working in a makeshift maternity ward in Ireland during the Spanish flu pandemic. The medicine parts of it were interesting (though not for the faint-hearted) and I liked most of the characters, though there are a few that I wish had gotten a bit more screen time. A lot of social issues in Ireland at the time are brought up and discussed in a way that mostly feels organic. 

The last third was just too much for me though, way too soap opera-ish for me with all the romance and drama crammed into two days. After the weight of the rest of the book it felt kind of silly.

Maybe 4.5 stars, but we can round up. Wonderful, wrenching, appropriate to the times.

In Ireland of 1918, the flu pandemic is raging through the country. Three women, a nurse, a doctor, and a young orphan woman cross paths in the maternity ward of a hospital.

I don't want to give away the story, but it and the characters in it are worth your time. While the nurse and young orphan woman are fictional characters, Doctor Kathleen Lynn is a real historical person who was a member of Sinn Fein and being pursued by the police.

The parallels between the flu pandemic of 1918 and the COVID-19 pandemic today and people's reactions then and now make you realize that 100 years is not such a great divide of time.

My only complaint; Ms. Donoghue's style of writing is a narrative where dialogue is never offset by quotes and punctuation that is painfully distracting. I almost stopped reading the book early on because of it, but I persevered and I'm glad I did.

Highly recommended.

“That's what influenza means, she said. Influenza delle stelle—the influence of the stars. Medieval Italians thought the illness proved that the heavens were governing their fates, that people were quite literally star-crossed.”

This was good. I liked it. That's my review. Also, as a warning, some of the descriptions of prolonged childbirth in an understaffed hospital in 1918 during a pandemic were super graphic and made me a little woozy, and I don't typically get woozy. Bodies are nuts!

Julia is a nurse in war and flu ravaged Dublin in 1918. She works in a special ward for expectant mothers who have contracted this new flu sweeping the country. Joining her in her work are a female doctor, on the run from police after having worked for Ireland's freedom, and a young volunteer assistant. The story shares three days from Julia's life.

The Pull of the Stars is an emotional rollercoaster as Julia, in an understaffed hospital and with few tools available to her, works to try to save the lives of patients in her special maternity ward.

My only criticism is that I think the story would have been greatly improved had there been more time to edit, and possibly enlarge, the story. All the plot points are quickly tied up at the end and I think it would have been a stronger book had it not been rushed to print because of its relevancy to the 2020 pandemic.

I don't know what the odds are of me reading two 5-star reads in one week (I just finished The Underground Railroad) when I barely find a handful a year, but here it is: The Pull of the Stars is freaking amazing. I almost skipped it. It came in for me via la digital library and I knew absolutely nothing about it except that Donoghue wrote it.
And on the surface, it's not my kind of read. I've been actively avoiding all pandemic or flu or dystopian reads since March (hard to avoid them, but it's not where I want to go right now). Childbirth and maternity wards and, well, nursing have never really interested me. Also, I am embarrassed by how little I know of Irish history.
And then, I read the first few pages and was HOOKED. I could not wait to find a quiet moment to steal to get back to Julia and the rest of the gang in the emergency ward they have thrown together for pregnant women who are also sick with the influenza. I swear I was reading to keep pace with them, as the entire novel takes place over two and a half days (maybe 3, I lost track).
Just as when I read Room, I have had my heart wrenched out of my chest, stomped on and now handed back to me and I must find a way to live on.
Needs must.

Emma Donoghue is a relatively popular author at our library, but I've never read any of her books. The only exposure to her work was the movie Room, and I just assumed that was what every one of her books was like. I'm glad I finally took the time to read one of her books, and I'll be adding her other work to my to-read pile.

The Pull of the Stars takes place over three days, but packs in so much emotion and action in that short amount of time. I read the book in two sittings because I was drawn into Julia's little corner of the hospital. The Maternity/Fever ward seems like a terrible place to be, and I felt such a connection to all the characters. The protagonist, Nurse Julia Power, cares so much about each patient, and that emotion flows straight from the page.

The plot could have felt repetitive – one woman goes into labor, then another, then another, and so on – but it never did. There was urgency and emotion in every scene, and it kept me reading late into the night.

It's impossible not to think about the timeliness of this book, as well. The author's note addresses the fact that she started writing several years ago, but that the book's release was pushed up in light of our current pandemic. That led to wondering what sections of the book were written when. The discussions about the government's policy, politics, masks, and the staff and supplies shortages at the hospital all mirror what's happening today.