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wordsofclover 's review for:
Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen
by Dexter Palmer
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When in 1726, a patient of surgeon and man midwife John Howard begins to give birth to rabbits, he doesn't quite know how to react - is it something monstrous, or miraculous, and soon stories are flying about Mary Toft; the Rabbit Queen. But is Mary truly birthing kittens, or is something nefarious or horrific going on?
I liked the majority of this book and I actually enjoyed that despite the story being about this woman's strange birthing moments and her medical needs, the POVs we were getting were from John Howard and his young apprentice Zachary. The surgical/medical side of this book was a great one to be a part of from the types of practices they used for certain medical ailments, to the shortcomings and all they entailed. Not to mention the ignorance of all these men when it came to what a woman might do or go through when giving birth. One of the best characters in this book was John Howard's wife Alice who had the best things to say yet very little page time, but I loved her honest mouth and some of the shock moments she delivered.
The story did drop off in interest near the end, and it felt like a long time before it got around to the wrapping up part of the story. I did enjoy most of the author's conversations around how people treated things that were other and monstrous at the time from people born with deformities to people who were just a bit different. There are intersting and shocking conversations in this book as to how people believe Mary is giving birth to rabbits because she had a dalliance with a black man.
One of the things that truly spoiled this book was a horrific act of animal cruelty near the end of it. This act (which had nothing to do with rabbits fyi) was there to make a point about London and the darker side of people, but I really felt like it could have been done without pages and pages of description of what was happening to the animal. It soured me a bit for the very end of the book as then I just wanted the book to be finished, it was too far in to DNF it so i read the rest of it quickly and that was that.
I liked the majority of this book and I actually enjoyed that despite the story being about this woman's strange birthing moments and her medical needs, the POVs we were getting were from John Howard and his young apprentice Zachary. The surgical/medical side of this book was a great one to be a part of from the types of practices they used for certain medical ailments, to the shortcomings and all they entailed. Not to mention the ignorance of all these men when it came to what a woman might do or go through when giving birth. One of the best characters in this book was John Howard's wife Alice who had the best things to say yet very little page time, but I loved her honest mouth and some of the shock moments she delivered.
The story did drop off in interest near the end, and it felt like a long time before it got around to the wrapping up part of the story. I did enjoy most of the author's conversations around how people treated things that were other and monstrous at the time from people born with deformities to people who were just a bit different. There are intersting and shocking conversations in this book as to how people believe Mary is giving birth to rabbits because she had a dalliance with a black man.
One of the things that truly spoiled this book was a horrific act of animal cruelty near the end of it. This act (which had nothing to do with rabbits fyi) was there to make a point about London and the darker side of people, but I really felt like it could have been done without pages and pages of description of what was happening to the animal. It soured me a bit for the very end of the book as then I just wanted the book to be finished, it was too far in to DNF it so i read the rest of it quickly and that was that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death