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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Virtual Mount TBR 2021: Book #4
This was not a bad listen, although at times, the content was very depressing. It rounded out rather nicely, though.
This was not a bad listen, although at times, the content was very depressing. It rounded out rather nicely, though.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
informative
medium-paced
In the largely Catholic city of Dublin Ireland in 1962 sixteen year old Teagan Tiernan is the only child of Cormac and Shavon. Cormac is an alcoholic who has angry episodes causing Teagan and her mother much consternation and dysfunction in their household. When Father Mark, a new young priest, arrives in their parish, Teagan and he meet and have a brief innocent encounter. She stirs sexual fantasies within him which he confesses to his mentor, Father Matthew. After Father Matthew has a conversation about this with Teagan’s father, she is immediately punished for being the object of Father Mark’s desire. She is banished from her parent’s home and sent to live with the Sisters of the Holy Redemption. There her hair is sheared; she is made to wear a dowdy Magdalen uniform and is given little sustenance. Her days are filled with long hours of labor, sorting and washing laundry. She befriends Nora, another young woman who arrives shortly after her as the result of a similar situation and Lea, a gifted artist and seer, who has been living with the nuns for years. Teagan and Nora’s thoughts are filled with plans for their escape from the religious prison.
This work exposes yet another example of how it is always women who are seen as temptresses and therefore bear all of the responsibility for men’s inclinations.
I was a bit confused about the purpose of the author writing of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Nora. Although it helped strengthen her temporarily, that inspiration did not last long enough to help her endure her greatest sufferings. The reader is left to wonder why the Virgin would comfort Nora at that point, and then fail to appear her later.
Also there are no definitive answers as to the identity of the souls of the young children Lea observes in the corner of the property. Who are they? Why are they being buried there? How will this situation be resolved?
This work exposes yet another example of how it is always women who are seen as temptresses and therefore bear all of the responsibility for men’s inclinations.
I was a bit confused about the purpose of the author writing of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Nora. Although it helped strengthen her temporarily, that inspiration did not last long enough to help her endure her greatest sufferings. The reader is left to wonder why the Virgin would comfort Nora at that point, and then fail to appear her later.
Also there are no definitive answers as to the identity of the souls of the young children Lea observes in the corner of the property. Who are they? Why are they being buried there? How will this situation be resolved?
This book was way better than I expected! It deserves a 4.5 from me. I'd never heard of the real Magdalen Girls, but I always wondered why parents threatened their girls with the nuns years ago. Now I know! I learned so much from this book about a topic that has rarely been covered--more like covered up. The story had so many different turns that I never expected; I was always eager to get back to the book. The narrator is one of my FAVORITE readers--Alana Kerr Collins. She is fantastic.
slow-paced
"The Magdalen Girls" is an embarassingly badly written book about an important subject. The Magdalen Laundries in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the US imprisoned many thousands (maybe millions) of girls and women and used them as slave labor in the name of "rescuing" "fallen women." While the book accurately conveys the fact that girls could easily wind up in these institutions and it was very difficult for them to get out again, the storytelling is cringeworthy. None of the characters have any real depth, and Alexander telegraphs his plot turns from a mile away. And, although these institutions were places of shocking mistreatment and abuse, Alexander goes over the top to pile trauma upon trauma on his characters, to the point that it feels almost like satire. I'm not sure if he's done anything here to raise awareness. I just hope this book doesn't wind up actively doing harm to the efforts to gain apologies and reparations for the survivors of Magdalen Laundries.
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Magdalen Girls highlights an unfortunate period of history in which girls/women were committed to work in the Catholic Laundries --against their wills--for such infractions as: sex before marriage, unwed pregnancies, thief, etc. Their parents signed the papers hoping the nuns would straighten them out ,and to avoid the embarrassment of having a wayward daughter. You will note that the boys involved got off scot free, as it were. The laundries operated mostly in Ireland with chapters in Canada, Australia, the US. It is a dark period of abuse in the history of the church, with many lives crushed.
Though the subject matter is tough to read, it is told in a fictional story of three teens who are incarcerated there. In places the author seems a bit heavy-handed with the girls, but her research backs her up. As the old saying goes, if we do not want a repeat of this less than pleasant history---we must learn from it.
I am glad I read this book, learning something I knew little about, of the history of the Catholic laundries. It has stayed with me, the treatment of those girls and women.
Though the subject matter is tough to read, it is told in a fictional story of three teens who are incarcerated there. In places the author seems a bit heavy-handed with the girls, but her research backs her up. As the old saying goes, if we do not want a repeat of this less than pleasant history---we must learn from it.
I am glad I read this book, learning something I knew little about, of the history of the Catholic laundries. It has stayed with me, the treatment of those girls and women.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes