Wickett's Remedy: A Novel Summary and Reviews

Wickett's Remedy: A Novel
by Myla Goldberg

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Book Summary Information

Author: Myla Goldberg
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-10
ISBN: 1400078121
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Anchor

Book Reviews of Wickett's Remedy: A Novel

Book Review: As they lay Dying, -The 1918 Influenza Epidemic
Summary: 4 Stars

"The 1918 influenza epidemic-whose cause is sill a matter of debate-killed more Americans in tem months than died in all twentieth century wars combined and killed well over 20 million people worldwide. Gallups Island, now known as Gallop Island, in Boston Harbor was in November and December of 1918 the site of a United States Public Health Service study designed to determine the cause and mode of the spread of the illness. The subjects were prisoners; inmates of Deer Island Naval Prison were subjected to the testing." Myla Goldberg

Lydia Kilkenny was from South Boston. She journeyed over the bridge that separated Southie from Boston, and found a world she wanted to join. She met a young man, Henry Wickett, studying to become a physician, and someone who wrote the most beautiful letters to her. He was of the world she longed to join. They married; Henry became disillusioned with his life and quit medicine, and started to sell a family elixir, Wickett's Remedy. At this time, in 1918 an unknown illness was spreading in Boston, and took the life of Henry. Lydia went home to South Boston, and began to care for the people who were dying from this 'flu'. In a world turned almost unrecognizable by swift and sudden tragedy, Lydia finds herself working as a nurse in an experimental ward dedicated to understanding the raging epidemic -- through the use of human subjects. These volunteers, prisoners of the local naval prison, were injected with blood from someone who had the influenza, and luckily only one young service man died.

The 1918 Influenza Epidemic is told in great detail and spelled out in the form of a story of what happened. The dead also have a part of this story. From the margins come their words. At times, this form of narrative is off-putting, but for the most part, their words gave impetus to the story that was being told. 20 million people died of the Influenza in 1918, and my grandfather was one of them. My grandmother told a tale of suffering and fear. No one knew who would be next. How would she care for her family? She had 4 little children to care for, and she met and married a man who had also lost his mate to the influenza.
While the story of Lydia and her courage in caring for men who were so ill, and the chances she took with her own life is a 'telling' one. I found the addition of the Wickett's Remedy, and its tale to be unsatisfying and not needed in this context. It did not add to the story, and while I understand that these unknown and untested elixirs were popular during this time, a mere mention would have sufficed. Yet as well-researched and polished as the book is, I did nit find that I understood or knew the characters' mindsets. While I admire Lydia, I did not feel that I ever truly knew her.

"Two hurdles confront a novelist who writes about epidemic disease. The first is the Yuck Factor -- as in, "Yuck, who wants to read a book about phlegm?" The second is that the writer will have to kill off a number of characters, and it can be tricky to find the balance between making a character important enough to engage the reader but not so important that her or his demise will destroy the narrative momentum." Geraldine Brooks. Geraldine Brooks in the title of her critique calls this book 'Love In the Time of Influenza', how simple but right.

Recommended for the historical and literary senses. prisrob 11/19/06

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