Review: The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally, award-winning novelist of the acclaimed Schindler's List brings us this historical fiction based on the lives of nurses during WWI. Following the young Durance sisters, Naomi and Sally, we are transported across the seas from the beaches of Australia to the front lines of World War I in Europe. Naomi and Sally have just laid their mother to rest and want an escape from their lives in Australia, while they lead different lives they are both nurses.
As they set sail on the Archimedes and meet new friends the war does not seem so bad. Here they are in Cairo, there is time for sightseeing, visiting the pyramids, dining, and enjoying new friends. The horror of war and its wounds doesn't seem like a real danger yet, at worst they are seeing soldiers with sexually transmitted diseases. Things change as they move closer to the front line, towards the Dardanelles (Turkish Straits) and injured patients start arriving. The pace of arriving injured is fast and furious and medical supplies are slim, there is no time to think only to act. What do you do when you have no more morphine and peroxide to treat patients with?
Their time in the Dardanelles area was not easy, but then they move forward inching closer and closer to the front lines. Here they meet a new set of wounded, injuries never before seen; warfare is no longer being fought with just bullets. They are forced to learning new techniques on the fly as they figure out what gas warfare brings and being under threat of bombardment. The Red Cross symbol does not guaranty safety as it is sometimes used as a trick to convey troops.
The Durance sisters have meet a core group of friends on this journey that all have their own story, the ups and downs of trying to form meaningful relationships under the threat of death. Are you content to just follow orders, even if those orders are against what you believe in? Can these sisters that have grown-up with a wedge between them reconnect and help each other through these harrowing times?
The difficulties some soldiers have transitioning back to civilian life is a known, their experiences will forever change them. This is a new look at how civilian medical staff can face the same effects of trauma as they transition from a "normal" hospital atmosphere to the battlefields and back. They are also faced with horrific death and a sense of helplessness when they can't make things right. Does the endless hours, horrific wounds, shortages of pain medication, being short staffed for surgeons, needed equipment not available change your outlook on life? Can you establish meaningful relationships in these conditions?
I found this to be a profoundly moving book with a powerful story, it isn't filled with gory details (some do exist) but you still understand the scene faced. This lack of details might be viewed as downplaying the events; however I feel that in order for these nurses to have functioned they would have needed a personal defense mechanism, turning off some of the emotion. This was one of my Top Ten picks for 2013.
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-01 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: Historical Fiction, Top Ten by Year, 2013
Thomas Keneally, award-winning novelist of the acclaimed Schindler's List brings us this historical fiction based on the lives of nurses during WWI. Following the young Durance sisters, Naomi and Sally, we are transported across the seas from the beaches of Australia to the front lines of World War I in Europe. Naomi and Sally have just laid their mother to rest and want an escape from their lives in Australia, while they lead different lives they are both nurses.
As they set sail on the Archimedes and meet new friends the war does not seem so bad. Here they are in Cairo, there is time for sightseeing, visiting the pyramids, dining, and enjoying new friends. The horror of war and its wounds doesn't seem like a real danger yet, at worst they are seeing soldiers with sexually transmitted diseases. Things change as they move closer to the front line, towards the Dardanelles (Turkish Straits) and injured patients start arriving. The pace of arriving injured is fast and furious and medical supplies are slim, there is no time to think only to act. What do you do when you have no more morphine and peroxide to treat patients with?
Their time in the Dardanelles area was not easy, but then they move forward inching closer and closer to the front lines. Here they meet a new set of wounded, injuries never before seen; warfare is no longer being fought with just bullets. They are forced to learning new techniques on the fly as they figure out what gas warfare brings and being under threat of bombardment. The Red Cross symbol does not guaranty safety as it is sometimes used as a trick to convey troops.
The Durance sisters have meet a core group of friends on this journey that all have their own story, the ups and downs of trying to form meaningful relationships under the threat of death. Are you content to just follow orders, even if those orders are against what you believe in? Can these sisters that have grown-up with a wedge between them reconnect and help each other through these harrowing times?
The difficulties some soldiers have transitioning back to civilian life is a known, their experiences will forever change them. This is a new look at how civilian medical staff can face the same effects of trauma as they transition from a "normal" hospital atmosphere to the battlefields and back. They are also faced with horrific death and a sense of helplessness when they can't make things right. Does the endless hours, horrific wounds, shortages of pain medication, being short staffed for surgeons, needed equipment not available change your outlook on life? Can you establish meaningful relationships in these conditions?
I found this to be a profoundly moving book with a powerful story, it isn't filled with gory details (some do exist) but you still understand the scene faced. This lack of details might be viewed as downplaying the events; however I feel that in order for these nurses to have functioned they would have needed a personal defense mechanism, turning off some of the emotion. This was one of my Top Ten picks for 2013.
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-01 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: Historical Fiction, Top Ten by Year, 2013