Book Review: Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue
Jun. 22nd, 2009 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: Slammerkin
Author: Emma Donoghue
Published: New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2002 (2000)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 390
Total Page Count: 80,384
Text Number: 235
Read For: Interest in the author after reading Kissing the Witch, from my parents's library
Short Review: 1760s London, and Mary Saunders desires more than the meager life of her widowed mother. Her lust for ribbon, lace, and the fineries of status leads her to sell the only thing she has: her body. Donoghue is a skillful writer, and Mary's journey as a London prostitute and a country maid is gritty, dark, and depressing, but driven by Mary's vivid personality. Multiple points of view in the second half of the novel detract from Mary's story, but on the whole this is a dark but burning novel which raises thoughtful issues of family, gender roles, and liberty. I recommend it.
Slammerkin a dense, intelligent, skillfully crafted novel. Donoghue does so much right that it feels excessive to list it all: Mary is willful, faulted, and startlingly real, the perfect protagonist to draw a reader deep into her story. Donoghue's writing is tight but descriptive, a combination which keeps direction through gritty descriptions of London and thoughtful exploration of the novel's themes. And these themes are abundant: with her heart set on liberty in a culture that offers little, Mary comes head to head with issues of gender roles and social prejudice, of familial love, of economic and personal freedom. Donoghue is intelligent and never preachy: she approaches her themes obliquely or couches them in desire, and they are personal and real. But for all that the novel does well, whether it's enjoyable is a different question. It's deeply settled within 1760s England—a gritty, dirty, disease-ridden, prejudiced, poor, distinctly unpleasant place which glamorizes nothing. Slammerkin is often dark and depressing, and it not a pleasure read.
Instead, the novel should be read for Mary's journey—which is not joyful, but is driven. The first half of Slammerkin closely follows her point of view, and her journey is as horrific as it is admirable: though never glamorous, her life of prostitution is sometimes joyful. The second half branches out into multiple points of view, which better conveys the plot of Mary's horrible end—but distracts from the personal fire that takes Mary on her journey. In her lust for liberty and luxury, Mary falls somewhere between brave and brash, between inspired and greedy. She is imperfect, but she is undeniably real. In the first half of the book, her strength of character pushes her forward. But multiple POVs distract the reader from Mary's character, and the book suffers. It's still good, and the ending is terrible and beautiful, but the book would be better—more impassioned, and more enjoyable despite the dark setting—if it closer followed Mary's story through to the end. I recommend Slammerkin—despite this weakness, it's a skillful and intelligent book of fire burning in the dark: a brave battle against the worst possible odds.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
The interesting synchronicity of picking up this book: When at my parent's house last month, I sorted their book collection (for books to donate) and while I was at it picked up a few novels to read myself—including Slammerkin, on the basis of its title. Weeks later I read Kissing the Witch, and enjoyed it enough to consider reading more by Donoghue. Last week, sorting my TBR pile for the next book to read, I grabbed this one and in browsing the back cover, finally noticed the author—and so read it immediately. It was a lovely and well-timed coincidence.
Author: Emma Donoghue
Published: New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2002 (2000)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 390
Total Page Count: 80,384
Text Number: 235
Read For: Interest in the author after reading Kissing the Witch, from my parents's library
Short Review: 1760s London, and Mary Saunders desires more than the meager life of her widowed mother. Her lust for ribbon, lace, and the fineries of status leads her to sell the only thing she has: her body. Donoghue is a skillful writer, and Mary's journey as a London prostitute and a country maid is gritty, dark, and depressing, but driven by Mary's vivid personality. Multiple points of view in the second half of the novel detract from Mary's story, but on the whole this is a dark but burning novel which raises thoughtful issues of family, gender roles, and liberty. I recommend it.
Slammerkin a dense, intelligent, skillfully crafted novel. Donoghue does so much right that it feels excessive to list it all: Mary is willful, faulted, and startlingly real, the perfect protagonist to draw a reader deep into her story. Donoghue's writing is tight but descriptive, a combination which keeps direction through gritty descriptions of London and thoughtful exploration of the novel's themes. And these themes are abundant: with her heart set on liberty in a culture that offers little, Mary comes head to head with issues of gender roles and social prejudice, of familial love, of economic and personal freedom. Donoghue is intelligent and never preachy: she approaches her themes obliquely or couches them in desire, and they are personal and real. But for all that the novel does well, whether it's enjoyable is a different question. It's deeply settled within 1760s England—a gritty, dirty, disease-ridden, prejudiced, poor, distinctly unpleasant place which glamorizes nothing. Slammerkin is often dark and depressing, and it not a pleasure read.
Instead, the novel should be read for Mary's journey—which is not joyful, but is driven. The first half of Slammerkin closely follows her point of view, and her journey is as horrific as it is admirable: though never glamorous, her life of prostitution is sometimes joyful. The second half branches out into multiple points of view, which better conveys the plot of Mary's horrible end—but distracts from the personal fire that takes Mary on her journey. In her lust for liberty and luxury, Mary falls somewhere between brave and brash, between inspired and greedy. She is imperfect, but she is undeniably real. In the first half of the book, her strength of character pushes her forward. But multiple POVs distract the reader from Mary's character, and the book suffers. It's still good, and the ending is terrible and beautiful, but the book would be better—more impassioned, and more enjoyable despite the dark setting—if it closer followed Mary's story through to the end. I recommend Slammerkin—despite this weakness, it's a skillful and intelligent book of fire burning in the dark: a brave battle against the worst possible odds.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
The interesting synchronicity of picking up this book: When at my parent's house last month, I sorted their book collection (for books to donate) and while I was at it picked up a few novels to read myself—including Slammerkin, on the basis of its title. Weeks later I read Kissing the Witch, and enjoyed it enough to consider reading more by Donoghue. Last week, sorting my TBR pile for the next book to read, I grabbed this one and in browsing the back cover, finally noticed the author—and so read it immediately. It was a lovely and well-timed coincidence.
