The Pull of the Stars

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.

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.

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.

“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!

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.

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.

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

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 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.