This is a hard book for me to review. I was attracted to the story by two elements: first, I really liked the writing in the sample I read; and second, I wanted to know how the author would resolve so challenging a premise. Sadly, by the end of the book I had somewhat soured on both.
As for the writing, it was continually good, but the author's use of short, incomplete sentences began to wear on me. At first I loved them. She used them to open a scene--sort of a transition device--and as a way to quickly and succinctly give the reader the "lay of the land". It did work well in some cases, but not in all; and I tend to feel that as a device it would be better served being utilized in action scenes only.
As for the premise, I loved it in the beginning until it became more obviously a veiled attack on the Catholic Church. Before I proceed, let me make it VERY CLEAR that I am not Catholic and I do condemn those crimes, past and present, that have been committed by priests and others of that faith. My complaint is strictly from a story standpoint. As a story, this attack on mainstream religion has been done ad nauseam, to the point that it has a become a tired cliche. I have read far too many books (and seen far too many movies) in which the broken, hardhearted agnostic (or occasionally atheist) confronts evil, corrupt religious people and in the end finds some sort of righteous redemption.
The author mentions in her postscript that she had been inspired by reading accounts of "fasting children" from the past. I do not question whether horrific events like this took place, I just wish someone would write the opposite--how someone of faith reveals the bankruptcy of agnosticism. Both types of books are valuable, but over the last hundred years or so, more of one has been written than the other. In fairness, there probably was a time in which we saw more books in the latter vent than the former, and why that has changed I will leave for others to analyse. My point is that as a reader, I would like to see more balance in literature.
Now, a warning: If you have not read THE WONDER and intend to, skip the rest of this review as it contains spoilers.
As I said earlier, I loved the premise and the writing and that sustained the book for me for a few chapters. After that the events in the story became monotonous. Of course the events themselves were monotonous for our protagonist--one "watch" after another with no change in Anna's condition--but that does not forgive the author from boring her readers. Stories are not real life. They are literary depictions of real life, meaning a good story should never bore its reader. The author must find a creative way of depicting those slow times.
Part of the issue was that the premise became like a one-joke movie--a film where the premise was great, but it never went anywhere. THE WONDER does finally pick up some momentum once Anna turns down her mother's illusive feedings and begins to truly die. At that point I was really championing Lib, hoping she could find some way to reach this poor, disillusioned girl. But when Lib confronted the village priest and the other members of the committee with the evidence of Anna's imminent demise and they turned a blind eye, all of this fell apart for me. These people would have never responded that way upon seeing Anna's wasted condition. The author tried to hedge this negative response by placing her story in the mid-1800s when people in Ireland were supposedly more superstitious and pigheaded. Whether that was true, I don't know. All I know is that as a story it didn't work because I couldn't bring myself to believe people in their situation would react so callously. Here I think perhaps the author was trying too hard to show her disdain for Catholicism, and she let it impact her storytelling.
But what hurt the story more than anything for me was after spending the whole novel showing how determined Anna was to move her brother from hell to heaven via her death, she suddenly and inexplicably allowed Lib to talk her out of it at the point of finally achieving that goal. The author had built such a strong character in Anna that she painted herself into a corner where her only way out was a type of deus ex machina. I'm sorry, but after months of suffering, people like Anna don't change their minds at the last possible second. They die.
Then there were the practical sides of the story. If Anna had died in the fire, she would have left behind bones. Everyone from the police to the townspeople would have known that. And since all of these religious zealots were willing to let Anna die so they would have a martyr to draw pilgrims to their tiny village, they would have zealously excavated her bones to put on display. And then there was Anna's physical condition. Again, this is where the author did her job far too well. Her description of Anna's condition at the end of her life was so horrific I found it impossible to believe she would have survived her escape, much less gone on to flourish. And finally there was Lib's love interest--Byrne. Why? Why do men and women working together to achieve a worthy goal have to fall in love? My guess is some publisher told the author that you can't have a successful novel these days without a love interest, and if that is so, then so be it. But I just wish once in awhile two people of the opposite sex would work together without it being a romance.
So, after all of this criticism, why did I give THE WONDER three stars and not something less? Because the writing was excellent, the characters well defined, the settings were expertly painted, and the premise was intriguing. Would I recommend it? That's hard for me to say. THE WONDER was one of those books that had a lot going for it, it was just not for me. That's not to say others will be willing to overlook those things that bothered me. One of "the wonders" (excuse me, I couldn't help myself!) of literature is that we're all different, and what doesn't work for one of us, will undoubtedly work for another. This diversity is what makes the world a more interesting place.
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Char Louise
and I found her unnecessarily haughty and offhand with the locals of the village
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