synopsis found here
it was a lonnnnnng book at 500 something pages. but i would say the fact that i finished it in a little over a week means it was a pretty good read. it held my attention throughout and the story was full of conflict.
that said - it was a fairly easy/simple read. there's not a lot of foreshadowing and events play out kind of as planned. it's based in history, but it doesn't really add much literary intrigue. there's 3 or 4 side stories playing out at the same time - easy to follow - but these stories don't add anything extra to the main character's plight. the writer never really develops those characters playing out the side stories, and realistically could have left them out and explained everything within the main text.
the ending is kind of, without giving anything a way, ...well..it was good, but not great. reading the last 100 pages or so you knew something was going to come to a crashing hault...and it kind of did, but after reading so much conflict and sob story...we're handed a neat little package with a bow on top and told "the end."
i hate being left with an open ending like the next person, but tying up loose ends and telling you everyone lives happily ever after is kind of lame - and at the same time, apparently not true to history.
the story is good, but the historic retelling is far better.
so after much debate and searching i've found a new book.
i scoured the top books of 2012.
seriously, shades of grey, people?
no.
it was so hard to settle on something to read. i would find a book on a must read list and go straight to amazon to see so many disappointing reviews. i haven't read for pleasure in such a long time, i don't want to let myself down with a bad read - or buy a book for $10 and not finish it - that would definitely keep me from downloading more.
so i went to my last resort.
oprah.
say what you will, but girl can pick a book...or you know...she pays people who can pick a book.
after reading something historical, i thought i would stick with the theme and oprah had a list of books that would transport you to another time.
number 5 on the list had me searching amazon.
The Virgin Cure
Moth
is a 12-year-old girl growing up in the tenements of Lower East Side
Manhattan in 1871, "born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke
her heart." The heroine of Ami McKay's sobering novel The Virgin Cure
is sold into servitude by her mother but escapes to the streets,
begging and thieving to survive. Rescued in an alley, Moth accepts
refuge at Miss Emma Everett's Infant's School, a brothel of certified
virgin maidens who, after being checked by the kindly Dr. Sadie, "are
brought into the trade gradually, with care and consideration for their
tender age"—instead of having their purity brutally stolen by men
seeking the "virgin cure" for syphilis. But for Moth, this is a slavery
no better than the one she escaped. With Dr. Sadie's help, our
hardscrabble heroine invents a new career for herself as a performer at
Mr. Dink's dime museum, finally creating the kind of independent life
she craves.
— Abbe Wright
apparently i like stories of girls coming from nothing and trying to make something with their lives?
and with only 79 reviews of the book on amazon - it was easy to sort through
and with 82% rating it 4-5 stars i downloaded it right away friday night.
i'm already about 60% of the way through and i'm anxious to finish in the next couple of nights. i'm enjoying the read thus far - so if you want to go ahead and download too or pick up a copy i would not tell you not to :)
what's on your "to read" list? i'm leaning towards something cheesy and light for my next book...maybe in the christmas spirit.
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