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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A great novel for making you feel what the narrator does but the ending ruins it, March 16, 2009
Of its surface "The Rose of Sebastopol" is an adventure story-the tale of a cousin gone missing and a young woman searching for her in the battlefields of the Crimea. But really it's much more. It's a tale of suspense, of family secrets and unknown strength, of how we fall into traps of believing the very worst of people because they have come somewhere near to taking what is deemed ours. It's a very interesting book for two reasons-one, it's a good story and two, the timeline in the book is in no way linear so the continues back and forth of about twelve years gradually revels secrets until the very end.
The author of "The Rose of Sebastopol" is a master at the kind of manipulation any writer needs to be able to use in order to make readers think the way the main character is. So it's no surprise that I identified with Mariella (the main character) and saw in little nuances how her cousin Rosa (who came to live with Mariella's family in London) was gradually stealing, bewitching, Mariella's fiancé.
But not everything is how it seems. Rosa is determined to make something of her life and she wants it to be in medicine. But at this point in history a female doctor is practically unheard of-even female nurses are rare enough. So when Rosa has a chance to meet Mariella's beloved Henry-a doctor-she jumps at it.
But war is about to break out and soon Henry is gone-doctoring soldiers in the Crimea. Then Florence Nightingale's team of nurses is dispatched to help with the terribly planned war and Rosa is determined to go. Mariella is soon left all alone with her sewing, waiting for letters from the two people she loves most.
But then Rosa stops writing and Henry turns up sick in Italy. On a mission to rescue her fiancé Mariella learns that he saw Rosa during the war-and is now obsessed with her. Seeking to help his troubled mind she decides to go find Rosa.
But the battlefield is no place for Mariella, who has never been anything but perfectly dressed and proper. Soon she learns her unknown strength in the face of terror and emerges from the cocoon she has been swaddled in her whole life. But can she find her cousin?
A great deal of this book is descriptions of what the characters are wearing but seeing that the narrator is a needlewoman that makes sense. The back and forth in the time line can get a little confusing-especially since the chapters are so short, but in the end it does make sense. I was unable to put this book down once I made it past about page 20. Unfortunately, the ending in no way lives up to the rest of the book.
Three stars.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fatal Magnetism, June 13, 2009
Mariella Lingwood and Rosa Barr seem like total opposites in personality, yet there's an alter ego quality readers will slowly begin to appreciate in these complex characters. Mariella thinks of Rosa as possessing "fatal magnetism," and Rosa finds peace in the stability and hidden courage waiting to emerge in her best friend, Mariella. The story begins innocently enough in Mariella's staid, peaceful home where Rosa and her companion, Nora, come to live after being banished by her late stepfather. Mariella is an expert seamstress who gradually is forced to accompany Rosa on her wild, adventurous journeys, to see the uglier side of English factories and their polluted environment where poor laborers are forced to reside. Rosa's goal is to become a nurse, a brave quest in light of the social constraints on such a profession for females in the mid-1800s. She initially attempts to engage Mariella's fiance, Henry Thewell, to teach her all she needs to learn, but her first impulsive, uninvited visit to watch an amputation surgery repulses him and that avenue seems doomed to failure. Romance evolves with several characters, sometimes with the most engaging, innocent progress and others with suggestions of most inappropriate character.
The story builds to a crescendo when Henry and Rosa's brother, Max Stukeley leave for service in the Crimean War. While the press is reporting fabulous victories, Rosa realizes it is her mission to follow them into battle. Rejected by Florence Nightingale's group for lack of training and significant experience, Rosa decides to journey to Europe on her own and find a place for her "destiny." After a very short time, Mariella learns that Henry is very ill and travels to Italy to nurse and comfort him. Her initial visit is shocking in the extreme as she hears something she never would have imagined in a million years. Now Mariella has a new quest, to find Rosa. As she proceeds on this enigmatic search, she serves the British Army with her seamstress skills, keeping accounts of linens and supplies and finally is called to nurse wounded soldiers. The graphic descriptions within this novel of the casualties, deaths, disease and horrors of the British, French, Slovakian and Russian troops is realistically described, giving the reader a brutally honest picture of the Crimean War which gets very little coverage in present media accounts of notable historic battles. The author demonstrates considerable talent in the way she paces the conflicts and reactions to a crescendo. The ending of the novel leaves room for a follow-up as the reader learns what happens to only one of the many characters in dire straits by the last page turned.
An international bestseller since its publication, The Rose of Sebastopol deserves broader publicity and appreciation for this moving account of a significant historical period and its celebration of love and purpose in characters who struggle against and surmount the barriers of social constraints in mid-19th century England and Europe.
Very nicely done, Ms. McMahon!
Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on June 13, 2009
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent, November 1, 2009
I spent about 3/4 of this book waiting for the plot to pick up, and then realized with some disappointment that it wasn't going to. It was all right, in the sense that it was well-reserached (almost to a fault; some details seem added in to superfluously underscore this point or make sure nothing was left out). I didn't find the main character (Mariella) to be compelling at all, and her foil (her cousin Rosa) was a bit too extreme in the opposite direction, a relentlessly virtuous, doe-eyed hippie even by modern standards, let alone Victorian conventions. She just seemed out of place in the setting. Mariella also has very little personal development in spite of the book's nearly 400 pages spanning nations and wars; she seems to hesitantly adapt to her surroundings as opposed to bravely confront them--expanding her comfort zone rather than leaving it. And when she does leave her comfort zone, it is only after chapters' worth of fluttering indecision and then assistance from a guide to prevent her from taking too much responsibility for herself. Of her two love interests, one is dull and the other, though passionate, only reveals itself within the very last chapters and even seems kind of sudden. The plot dragged often, over-loaded with detail, and then jarred to a contrastingly nondescript halt. But I need to say that it also had its good points, like thoughtful period perspectives, characters who are [generally] true to their time period, and a unique friendship.
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