Helpful Score: 5
This book was a quick read. For buying it on the cheap on paperbackswaps market I am glad to say it was a great deal and I will be buying at least 3 more books from there next week! The books is an unusual one well for me anyways it is about a young woman who works for the army of the Union during the civil war. I am a southerner and have always been and most books I read are of the southern content when it comes to civil war stories. I was very surprised to find a book just exactly the opposite that what I had began to call the norm. Such a captivating book.
The book begins as Mary Sutter the midwife who was given high praise for her cunning for a woman giving birth her real passion is the love of medicine she want's to become a doctor unheard of in those times. She get's her chance when the war begins. Sometimes as I read my southern war novels I think that the union was not as affected by it that they had it easier and didn't lack for all the thing's the Union did not. I was very very wrong the depravity suffered and the horror's she had to witness are almost unspeakable. The tragic love story involving her, her twin sister Jenny, and Thomas is a heart rendering thing as well. One point sticks out in my mind when the river of the Potomac ran red and they said it turned the color of rust and they had no idea what caused it until they found out that there was a huge battle up river and the land could hold no more blood.
She was a willful and stubborn woman who show's us all that a woman is as capable to do the thing's she want's in life as a man is!
The book begins as Mary Sutter the midwife who was given high praise for her cunning for a woman giving birth her real passion is the love of medicine she want's to become a doctor unheard of in those times. She get's her chance when the war begins. Sometimes as I read my southern war novels I think that the union was not as affected by it that they had it easier and didn't lack for all the thing's the Union did not. I was very very wrong the depravity suffered and the horror's she had to witness are almost unspeakable. The tragic love story involving her, her twin sister Jenny, and Thomas is a heart rendering thing as well. One point sticks out in my mind when the river of the Potomac ran red and they said it turned the color of rust and they had no idea what caused it until they found out that there was a huge battle up river and the land could hold no more blood.
She was a willful and stubborn woman who show's us all that a woman is as capable to do the thing's she want's in life as a man is!
Helpful Score: 4
The main character, Mary Sutter, is a young woman with an excellent reputaion as a midwife; yet, she yearns to become a doctor/surgeon at a time when it is an impossible goal for a woman. The story starts at the beginning of the Civil War and much can be learned about the war strategies, medical practises, and atmosphere of the country at that time. It contains history lessons, medical background, and a love story. Very well written.
Helpful Score: 3
This book started off very strong. The main character is Mary Sutter, a young woman in the 1860s. She is midwife as many generations of women in her family have been. She dreams of being a surgeon. Every door is closed to her as people cannot conceive of a woman surgeon. Surrounding Mary is a family and other very interesting characters. The characters are compelling and the story is well told.
Part way through the book, however, it transitions. From Mary's story, the book also becomes a story of the Civil War. At that point, for me, the book started to drag. It is still beautifully written, but I would rather have stayed completely with Mary's story without as much description and explanation of the war.
Part way through the book, however, it transitions. From Mary's story, the book also becomes a story of the Civil War. At that point, for me, the book started to drag. It is still beautifully written, but I would rather have stayed completely with Mary's story without as much description and explanation of the war.
Helpful Score: 3
I was expecting more from this book. I thought it was really slow.. Lots of discussion
Helpful Score: 3
The author's research for this book was exhaustive and it shows in the tremendously fascinating writing about the famous and infamous in Washington in the day. Otherwise dry material about battles comes alive under the author's pen. The characters are not very developed personalities, but engaging enough. The medical and surgical descriptions are vivid and detailed. This is Historical Fiction at its best.
Helpful Score: 2
I was sorely disappointed by this book. Perhaps I should have been warned by the title, which sounds more like a book for young people. I'm not a raging intellectual, but am no longer an adolescent. This book is aimed at the reading level of someone just going into "adult" books. That's my first complaint.
My second is that it takes forever to get to the civil war, which is the most interesting part to me and why I bought the book (in an airport.) The beginning chapters set the stage, I guess so you'll know Mary Sutter better, but it takes up too much of the book. Besides, she is a stock post-feminist character that exists in so many post-feminist novels, with few distinguishing characteristics.
All passages involving Abraham Lincoln should have been eliminated. The imagined conversations are forced. You want to know how he feels? Go read the 10,000 books written about how he felt, or go see the movie "Lincoln." I just skimmed those passages and was annoyed
On the bright side, her descriptions of the battlefield medical conditions, when they finally arrived, were wonderful. If only the book had stuck more to that and not become an adolescent girls soap opera it could have been good.
Did I mention that her writing is very awkward? Some sentences are so convoluted you have to read them two or three times for them to make any sense.
My second is that it takes forever to get to the civil war, which is the most interesting part to me and why I bought the book (in an airport.) The beginning chapters set the stage, I guess so you'll know Mary Sutter better, but it takes up too much of the book. Besides, she is a stock post-feminist character that exists in so many post-feminist novels, with few distinguishing characteristics.
All passages involving Abraham Lincoln should have been eliminated. The imagined conversations are forced. You want to know how he feels? Go read the 10,000 books written about how he felt, or go see the movie "Lincoln." I just skimmed those passages and was annoyed
On the bright side, her descriptions of the battlefield medical conditions, when they finally arrived, were wonderful. If only the book had stuck more to that and not become an adolescent girls soap opera it could have been good.
Did I mention that her writing is very awkward? Some sentences are so convoluted you have to read them two or three times for them to make any sense.
Helpful Score: 2
Not nurse, not a doctor, but a driven healer
Mary Sutter drives a wedge into convention, opening for herself the door of undaunted, faithful service to the ill and injured solders she treats. Mary Sutter is a woman you wont soon forget after you turn the last page of Robin Oliveiras book. A woman with a dream that wouldnt die, her persistence, intelligence and candor drove her undeterred from a relatively safe career as a midwife in Albany to the throws of the battlefield hospitals during the Civil War.
The scholarship of Robin Oliveiras research into mid 19th century medical practice and procedures is admirable. Vignettes of surgical practices, the filth of army hospitals and the desperation of doctors fully aware that they didnt have knowledge necessary to save their patients fill the novel.
I found the love stories in the novel of secondary interest to the characterization of Mary. Snippets of descriptions of her personality from wounded soldiers, President Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, the men who love her and Mary herself weave into a vividly drawn female protagonist. She balanced pain with anger and so was able to survive.
Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
http://www.hollyweiss.com
Mary Sutter drives a wedge into convention, opening for herself the door of undaunted, faithful service to the ill and injured solders she treats. Mary Sutter is a woman you wont soon forget after you turn the last page of Robin Oliveiras book. A woman with a dream that wouldnt die, her persistence, intelligence and candor drove her undeterred from a relatively safe career as a midwife in Albany to the throws of the battlefield hospitals during the Civil War.
The scholarship of Robin Oliveiras research into mid 19th century medical practice and procedures is admirable. Vignettes of surgical practices, the filth of army hospitals and the desperation of doctors fully aware that they didnt have knowledge necessary to save their patients fill the novel.
I found the love stories in the novel of secondary interest to the characterization of Mary. Snippets of descriptions of her personality from wounded soldiers, President Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, the men who love her and Mary herself weave into a vividly drawn female protagonist. She balanced pain with anger and so was able to survive.
Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
http://www.hollyweiss.com
Helpful Score: 1
Some of my best reads feature strong women characters. Mary Sutter is such an individual and she is my kind of woman! I felt as if I were beside her as she struggled with her society's beliefs about the place of women, not only in the community but also in tragedy such as that caused by war. Her goal to reach beyond the accepted role of women as midwives to become a surgeon is one women yet encounter when they choose to be all that they can be. This is an outstanding read.
Helpful Score: 1
This was my first book by Robin Oliveira and it will not be my last. I was instantly taken with this book because I am from the south and this book dealt with the Civil War. This story was well written and described a young woman's goal to be a surgeon in a time when we were barely allowed to be nurses. This book had love, sacrifice, hope and sadness all in one. Overall this book expresses to women that we can do anything we want to in a man's world.
Helpful Score: 1
I would recommend this book. Very interesting portrayal of the Civil War and the medical treatment of wounded soldiers. Mary Sutter was well trained midwife, but wants to become a doctor. This is her story of the training she obtains because of her tenacity and courage in the horrifying time of the Civil War.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this - more for the history of medical care in the Civil War than for anything else. The romance is there, but I wish it had been expanded a little more. There are hints of a great story and then they sort of float around instead of being developed fully. Nice book though and a good read if you are not looking for super meaty reading.
Helpful Score: 1
Well written, engaging. About halfway through it lost some steam but still interested me enough to keep reading. I found the lead character stand-offish but sympathetic. She had one goal--to be a surgeon and that desire trumped everything else. The story also gives a well painted portrait of what doctors and nurses must have faced during the civil war. I found myself grimacing, envisioning the sound of a saw cutting through bone with only a surgeon's hands to guide it--and these surgeon's were not trained in amputations. Horrible, unbearable, heartbreaking sights for these helpers to face daily, minute by minute with no end in sight. The reason I give it three stars instead of four--I found Mary's personality, while admirable, to be difficult to always comprehend. And the men that surrounded her seemed to experience emotions and make choices involving Mary in ways that didn't always seem true to me. I still liked it and would recommend it. It's an easy read. It's just not one I would want to read again.
It would, I think, make a good movie. :)
It would, I think, make a good movie. :)
Helpful Score: 1
I was captivated by this gritty and often gruesome perspective of the Civil War from a female doctor's point of view. Well-written realistic depiction of war and medical practice at that time in history. I highly recommend to thoughtful readers who are interested in these issues.
Story of a young woman who wants to be a surgeon. Her dream is realized when she helps another surgeon during the Civil War.
Pretty good read. I think I liked reading about the history of the civil war and the role of women in medicine at the time.
This was the most recent choice of my book club, and we all were pleased with our choice!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. Since I like history and work in the medical field this touched both of those worlds.
I thought this book was going to really be great. It left me disappointed. It was really a stuggle to finish it but I was hoping that it would get better.
Wow, what a great book about a woman wanting to become a surgeon, ending up amputating legs in the Civil War. Love, suffering, tragedy, beautifu;ly written.
This book is about a young woman who wanted to be a physician/surgeon and about the start of the civil war and what the medical care was at that time, and what she went through. As a nurse I was facinated, could not put the book down
Mary Sutter is a brilliant, headstrong midwife from Albany, New York, who has aspirations of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the inherent prejudices against women in medicine - and eager to escape her recent heartbreak - Mary leaves home and travels to Washington, D. C. to help tend to the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of William Stipp and James Blevins - two surgeons who unwittingly fall in love with Mary's courage, will, and stubbornness in the face of suffering - and resisting her mother's desperate pleas for her to come home and assist with the birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career in the desperately overwhelmed hospitals of Washington.
In this stunning debut novel, Robin Oliveira has created in the character of Mary Sutter, a truly unforgettable heroine whose unwavering determination and startling vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere. My Name is Mary Sutter: A Novel by Robin Oliveira powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the period. Rich with historical detail - including marvelous depictions of such individuals as Abraham Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, General McClellan, and John Hay among others - as well as immersed in the tragedies and challenges of wartime, My Name is Mary Sutter is an exceptional novel.
I must say that I found this to be an absolutely brilliant book. It really brought home to me not only the suffering and hopelessness of war, but also the immense courage and indomitable strength that human beings are capable of. This book resonated with me and I'm eagerly awaiting Ms. Oliveira's next book I Always Loved You, with baited breath. I give My Name is Mary Sutter: A Novel an A+! - What a debut!
In this stunning debut novel, Robin Oliveira has created in the character of Mary Sutter, a truly unforgettable heroine whose unwavering determination and startling vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere. My Name is Mary Sutter: A Novel by Robin Oliveira powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the period. Rich with historical detail - including marvelous depictions of such individuals as Abraham Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, General McClellan, and John Hay among others - as well as immersed in the tragedies and challenges of wartime, My Name is Mary Sutter is an exceptional novel.
I must say that I found this to be an absolutely brilliant book. It really brought home to me not only the suffering and hopelessness of war, but also the immense courage and indomitable strength that human beings are capable of. This book resonated with me and I'm eagerly awaiting Ms. Oliveira's next book I Always Loved You, with baited breath. I give My Name is Mary Sutter: A Novel an A+! - What a debut!
Enjoyed this book very much. Such a strong and capable woman.
Wonderful book! Got to meet author Robin Oliveira & hear how she researched this truly amazing historical fiction book. Reminds me of "Gone With The Wind" ~
