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driedfrogpills's review against another edition
4.0
This was a trip from start to finish. Hard to believe that premature babies were once a side-show exhibit, but truth really is stranger than fiction. I didn't mind that Raffel jumped around time-line wise because her writing was so accessible. I do wish there was more on Couney so we could have had more definitive answers about his life, but I applaud Raffel's research and dedication to tracking down the still-living Incubator Babies and their stories.
dalek_caan's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
This was such an interesting story, I had heard of Dr. Couney before but not nearly in this much detail. This book overall was extremely informative and in many ways does not feel like your typical biography. I would recommend to anyone interested in medical history it was a really quick read and clearly well researched.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Antisemitism, Xenophobia, and War
vireogirl's review against another edition
4.0
Bizarro bit of history that I’d never encountered before. Thousands of premie babies saved in a side show at the fair?! The history was fascinating, from babies to fires to hospitals refusing to learn from it.
However, the writing was disorienting at first. At times there were way too many adjectives and at other times it seemed more stable. I eventually decided that she was deliberately using extra adjectives when describing history. For example: “Soon [he] would stride away from the cloyingly vomitous air of steerage and into the thrillingly filthy oxygen of New York City.”
However, the writing was disorienting at first. At times there were way too many adjectives and at other times it seemed more stable. I eventually decided that she was deliberately using extra adjectives when describing history. For example: “Soon [he] would stride away from the cloyingly vomitous air of steerage and into the thrillingly filthy oxygen of New York City.”
ssejig's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
The description of this book on NPR's Best Books was delightful. Incubators, they're in hospitals, right? It would make sense that they've always been in hospitals. But incubators for preemies actually started out as a spectacle. They were displayed as miracles. Did all of the babies survive? No, but the preemies in Couney's incubators had a better survival rate than those in the hospitals.
Raffel focuses mainly on Couney (who was a mysterious figure whose personal biography tended to shift with his moves) but also weaves in some of her own connection to the story as well as the histories of some of the babies who survived. We hear about the origins of the story as well as learning about how the incubators rose in prominence but then fell again.
Raffel focuses mainly on Couney (who was a mysterious figure whose personal biography tended to shift with his moves) but also weaves in some of her own connection to the story as well as the histories of some of the babies who survived. We hear about the origins of the story as well as learning about how the incubators rose in prominence but then fell again.
vietmom's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.5
This jumped around so it was kind of hard to follow, especially as an audiobook.
amkago2008's review against another edition
3.0
I really struggled with rating this book. While I loved learning about Couney and what he did to help advance the care of premature babies (which was basically nothing until Couney stepped in), I felt the book didn't really teach me much. I learned more random facts about the world fair and Couney Island than I did about Dr. Couney. The last third of the book held more pertinent information than the first two thirds. The storyline also seemed less scattered in the end which is why I bumped my rating up to three stars.
palliem's review against another edition
2.0
The story and premise of the book was really interesting, but the actual writing was awful. Add that to an organization pattern that felt random and poorly thought out and what could have been fascinating was just okay.
settingshadow's review against another edition
Preemie incubators got their start as a sideshow act?! True story.