My Name Is Mary Sutter: A Novel Review
Mary Sutter, a young midwife living in 1860's Albany, longs to become a surgeon. Though she has requested admittance to every medical school in her area, she has been invariably denied, a situation that frustrates and angers her. Mary is also struggling with the pain and heartache of an unrequited love, which is why she flees her home and practice when the Civil War begins in earnest and the call for nurses is put out. But Mary is not exactly welcomed with open arms into the nursing profession and soon finds herself in an inhospitable and unsanitary hotel that has been transformed into a Union hospital. Before she really knows what is happening to her, Mary begins to get the education that she has desired for so long, but it comes at a very heavy price. When Mary's mother sends a message that her skills are urgently needed at home, Mary makes a choice that will have devastating consequences for both herself and all the people she loves. After circumstances force her to briefly give up nursing, Mary, with the help and admiration of her mentor, William Stipp, plunges headfirst back into the maelstrom of war and learns that to truly become fulfilled she must decide on her future and be true to herself and her dreams. Along the pitted path of war and its aftereffects, Mary discovers not only the secrets of surgery but the secrets of her hidden heart. A dual narrative that races between the fate of Mary and her compatriots and the difficult choices that faced Lincoln and his men, My Name is Mary Sutter is a charged and action-laden debut worthy of critical acclaim and praise.
Though I have read an awful lot about various wars, I've never really read much about the Civil War. Many of the specifics eluded me, and though I do have a few books on my shelf that deal with this particular war, I have not yet read them. I was really excited to get the chance to read this book, not only for the story of Mary, a woman who wants to break past the gender boundaries of her time, but also to read and learn more about the aspects of the Civil War that I had been so ignorant of. The book did not disappoint in any way, and I found myself completely enthralled with the story it told.
In Mary, Oliveira has created a woman of substance and integrity. She is described as more plain than pretty, and it is only as the reader gets to know her that her internal beauty and mettle begin to shine forth. Mary is as headstrong and ambitious as it is possible to be. Though she has mastered the art of midwifery, she finds herself dreaming of and planning for the day she will become a surgeon and does everything in her power to hasten this outcome. Though she sometimes seems to lack the internal component for being loyal and compassionate to her family, she eventually manifests loyalty to an extreme degree that awed me. Mary is not the forgiving sort and those who land on the wrong side of her temper are often forced to live in her chilly regard for long periods of time, but it can also be argued that once you have earned her friendship she is not quick to let you go. I found Mary to be an extremely complex woman and, despite the fact that I never knew what she was going to do next, I really came to admire her. Not only for her persistence and determination but also for her hard work and scruples. Mary Sutter is a woman who trades her softness for competence and ambition, and though at first this puts her at a disadvantage, in the end it is this competence that saves many lives and touches so many people.
As I've mentioned before, this book was told in the dual narrative form. One half of the book was given over to the story of Abraham Lincoln's frustrations and difficulties with his Union Army, which was mostly filled with volunteer soldiers who hailed from various towns. In these sections, Lincoln himself graces the pages with his gentle and preoccupied laments over the war. Many of the depictions of war in these sections were frightening. Oliveira makes the reader see the futility of battle and the harrowing damage that the soldiers inflict upon each other. The dead and injured lay strewn across the fields with flyblown wounds festering in the heat. These depictions were startling in their violence and horrible to really sit and contemplate. Some of the sections in these parts of the book read like a history book and it pleased me that I was able to basically get two books in one with this story. It was half history book and half historical drama folding in upon itself in complex and thought provoking directions.
I was also very pleased with the medical complexities of this story. Oliveira doesn't dumb down the medical diagnoses and treatments, but instead explains them to the lay reader who might not be very familiar with these practices. There were some nail-biting and horrific moments when Oliveira fleshes out and describes the procedure of amputation, a technique that was in its infancy during this time period. As a reader, it was interesting to see the huge differences between medicine today and medicine in those forgotten times. Simple things we take for granted everyday were all but unheard of at that time, and despite the amazing things that were done during those furiously dangerous surgeries, the things that undid all their work seem so simple to the modern reader. I found these aspects of the story to be the most compelling and watching Mary learn, struggle and triumph through them made me cheer for her and the doctors that worked beside her.
A lot of this story speaks to the huge gulf between the sexes when it came to opportunities for advancement throughout schooling and career. According to society, Mary had reached the peak of her usefulness as a midwife. Never mind the fact that she wanted to go further and could go further. Even the woman in charge of nurses during that period discounted Mary due to her age and experience. It was a hard time to be a woman. I can't imagine not being able to pursue my dreams, to always be shut in a box of society's making and to have to go to superhuman lengths to get out of that box. There was even some conversation in the book about the accomplishments of a woman named Florence Nightingale, but even then, she was the exception and not the rule. I can imagine that it must have felt so limiting and horrible to be in Mary's position, and realistically, that was the plight of women all over the country at that time. She broke free of the chains of convention, and that in itself was reason enough to love this book.
If you can't tell by now, I really loved this book. There was a lot going on but the story never seemed to be overcrowded at all and the character creation was expert. I cherished the reading of this book because it bought me into a whole new frontier in terms of understanding the Civil War and the complexities of living in 1860's America as a woman. I think this book would be interesting to many readers for a bevy of reasons, but mostly, I would steer those interested in historical fiction towards this story. There is much to admire in the story of Mary Sutter and her experiences, and I highly recommend this book!
My Name Is Mary Sutter: A Novel Overview
An enthralling historical novel about a young woman's struggle to become a doctor during the Civil War
In this stunning first novel, Mary Sutter is a brilliant, headstrong midwife from Albany, New York, who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in medicine-and eager to run away from her recent heartbreak- Mary leaves home and travels to Washington, D.C. to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of William Stipp and James Blevens-two surgeons who fall unwittingly in love with Mary's courage, will, and stubbornness in the face of suffering-and resisting her mother's pleas to return home to help with the birth of her twin sister's baby, Mary pursues her medical career in the desperately overwhelmed hospitals of the capital.
Like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain and Robert Hicks's The Widow of the South, My Name Is Mary Sutter powerfully evokes the atmosphere of the period. Rich with historical detail (including marvelous depictions of Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, General McClellan, and John Hay among others), and full of the tragedies and challenges of wartime, My Name Is Mary Sutter is an exceptional novel. And in Mary herself, Robin Oliveira has created a truly unforgettable heroine whose unwavering determination and vulnerability will resonate with readers everywhere.
My Name Is Mary Sutter: A Novel Specifications
The following is by no means an exhaustive accounting of the myriad books that helped me to understand not only the Civil War and its effect on its participants, but also the 19th century and its transportation systems, cities, and values. If I were to inventory my bibliography it its entirety, the list would go on for pages and pages. Numerous rare books, diaries, surgeons’ manuals and government documents aided my research, including, for example, Hermann Haupt’s excellent memoirs and the surgery manual mentioned in My Name Is Mary Sutter. To compose this suggested reading list, I sampled my bookshelf. Some of these are reference books, some memoir, some great narratives of history. The books are readily available, with the exception of The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, which, however, is obtainable either through inter-library loan or in many libraries’ rare books collections. And finally, I would consider myself remiss if I did not include one very special work of fiction that influenced me tremendously as a writer, which I have listed first.
--Robin Oliveira
2) The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, all six volumes (Now available as The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War, but I used the original volumes to do my research)
3) Too Afraid to Cry: Maryland Civilians in the Antietam Campaign by Kathleen A. Ernst
4) Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (The History of New York City) by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace
5) An Albany Girlhood by Huybertie Pruyn Hamlin
6) Our Army Nurses by Mary Gardner Holland
7) Revelle in Washington, 1860-1865 by Margaret Leech
8) The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac, 1861-1865 by E. B. Long and Barbara Long
9) Mr. Lincoln’s City: An Illustrated Guide to the Civil War Sites of Washington by Richard M. Lee
10) Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War by George Worthington Adams
(Photo of Robin Oliveira © Fred Milkie, Jr.)
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Customer Reviews
A fabulous read - Serious reader - Palo Alto, CA United States
Loved reading this book about a courageous, heroic woman who lived during the early days of the Civil War. I haven't finished reading yet and not looking to this book's ending because I want it to go on and on. Powerful story, powerfully written. I find myself thinking about Mary Sutter and the other characters in this book when I'm not reading it; that's how fully drawn these character are. Don't miss this one. You will learn a lot about how it really was way back in the 1860s in Wash. D.C. Caution: This book is for adults who don't mind reading about wounded soldiers, primitive medical care, and blood and gore. Love, romance, childbirth, passion--everything!
Highly recommended.
Mary Sutter: From Midwifery to Civil War Hospital Surgery - Rea Andrew Redd - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania metropolitan region
My Name Is Mary Sutter: A Novel, Robin Oliveira, Viking Publishing, 384 pages, .95,
Well versed in the scholarship of Civil War era medicine and urban life, My Name Is Mary Sutter offers a well defined historical setting with characters that have struggles common to men and women in any era. Oliveira's novel is enjoyable for readers are looking for a medical setting, a romance, and a war story with civilians playing a major role.
There is no gratuitous battlefield violence but stark pictures of midwifery and battlefield surgery. At times the characters carry themselves forward but at other times the author gives them a shove into action. The hearts and hands of male doctors and female nurses are often in conflict in this 19th century setting. For this reader, the tour of Washington D.C. hospitals and a tragic fire were compelling episodes. My Name is Mary Sutter has both unique and stock characters described at times with a fine dramatic pace and at times with tedious slowness. Overall, My Name Is Mary Sutter repays the reader for the time invested. Graham Greene [notable British author] described his own work as primarily 'entertainments.' My Name Is Mary Sutter achieves that.
This is what historical fiction should always be - Heather O'Roark - Round Lake, Il USA
My Name is Mary Sutter is a fascinating look at one aspect of our country's history: the development of the medical field, born out of necessity because of the Civil War. I did a little research after reading this book and found out that Mary Sutter herself isn't a real person, rather a compilation of the seventeen women who became doctors after the Civil War, based upon their experiences nursing the soldiers. I have to say, though, that Mary Sutter could have easily been a real person, based on how authentic and honest her story was in Robin Oliveira's hands. She is an absolutely wonderful character and it was her character that propelled this book for me and made me continue to turn the pages late into the night.
I really, really connected with Mary Sutter. She was such a full character, and someone who I could truly admire. She was stuck on the idea of becoming a doctor, with no regard for the many obstacles that were thrown in her way, and she never once gave up on what she knew in her heart she was called to do. She was a very real person, too, and had much difficulty leaving her family in order to pursue her dreams, especially when tragedy strikes. She also put off falling in love, and doing all the other things that a woman of that time period was expected to do, in order to follow this calling. Her emotions were raw and truthful, her character flawed but so very realistic. Honestly, I just loved her. I admired her so much and would be happy to read another book about her.
This book is an excellent example of great historical fiction. The reader is treated to a snapshot of the Civil War, to an understanding of what it might have been like to live in that time period, both as a part of the war and separate from it. The book is sprinkled with historical figures - we even get a chance to get inside Abraham Lincoln's head and are treated to what he might have been thinking and feeling through different parts of the war!
My Name is Mary Sutter is a gem of a novel that fans of historical fiction should not miss. It is a tale of one woman's quest to fulfill her destiny, whatever the cost, and of a country's development in a time of crisis. This book begs to be read, so please do me a favor and read it!
Emotionally Moving, Historically Interesting - Barb Mechalke - in the lovely Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York
Ms. Oliveira is skilled at creating compelling characters and depicting complex and emotional relationships. I found myself caring for the characters she created in this story.
We meet the single minded Mary Sutter in 1860, when she is twenty years old, already an accomplished and renown midwife, she wants to become a surgeon. She has applied to the Albany Medical College and been rejected. The Civil War is about to change the course of history and Mary Sutter will find opportunity in the suffering it wreaks.
Oliveira threads interesting history together with period details that bring the past vivid and present in the readers mind. I enjoyed learning about midwifery, medicine and the overwhelming demands of an army at war.
I would have enjoyed the political and military thread more if I had gotten a greater sense of the historical figures as people. I did enjoy the characterization of President Lincoln and John Hay; Dorothea Dix was realistic and fully drawn.
Overall I found this novel well paced, well written, emotionally moving, historically interesting and satisfying. I look forward to reading Ms. Oliveira's work again.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 25, 2010 09:17:04
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