Slammerkin
Ratings9
Average rating3.9
Set in London and Monmouth in the late 1700s, this is an extraordinary novel about Mary Saunders, the young daughter of a poor seamstress. Mary hungers greedily for fine clothes and ribbons, as people of her class do for food and warmth. It's a hunger that lures her into prostitution at the age of thirteen. Mary is thrown out by her distraught mother when she gets pregnant and almost dies on the dangerous streets of London. Her saviour is Doll - a prostitute. Mary roams London freely with Doll, selling her body to all manner of 'cullies', dressed whorishly in colourful, gaudy dresses with a painted red smile. Faced with bad debts and threats upon her life she eventually flees to Monmouth, her mother's hometown, where she attempts to start a new life as a maid in Mrs Jones's house. But Mary soon discovers that she can't escape her past and just how dearly people like her pay for yearnings not fitting to their class in society...
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It was an interesting story, but toward the middle of the book, the author changed the narrative voice by switching it from solely the protagonist's to the protagonist's plus like 10 other people's. It seemed like a really cheap way to expose the thoughts and motivations of the other characters in the story – the author just spelled it out, basically. I also thought the writing was a little subpar compared to that of Donahue's later novel, Room.
Men aren't cast in a good light in
Slammerkin; no good guys here. The
story had an authentic feel and
Donoghue tells a great story. I
recommend this one.
