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Customer Review: Hospital Sketches
This book was in great condition. The shipping was very quick just like promised.
Customer Review: apropos to current wars
As I write this, there is currently a controversy swirling in Washington DC, about the shabby treatment of some wounded American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Making the cover of Newsweek, and with the general of a veterans' hospital and the Secretary of the Army being forced to resign.
Alcott's writings take on a very contemporary tinge, under these circumstances. Of course, she wrote of a far bloodier struggle, on American soil. Her descriptions of the Union hospitals do bring forth the primitive treatments then available, and the sacrifices of the thousands injured. Her book is a reminder of the cost of wars. Though the Civil War was necessary to end slavery, while some current readers might reasonably wonder whether entering Iraq was worth it.
Customer Review: A Captivating Journal of Experiences
What aroused my interest in this book? No snazzy title. No enticing aroma of mystery or intrigue about it at all. But am I glad that I did read it? Unquestionably! From start to finish this book never falters, never flags in evoking the times, the place, and the human experience. Louisa's style may require some adjustments and patience from modern readers, and it probably will appeal to a more mature audience. (I don't see young people dropping Harry Potter for the tale Louisa tells.) As another reviewer eloquently noted, the book tears at the heart and makes you smile and laugh. Would that I could write half as good.The truth of the book cannot be denied. Read it and decide for yourself.
Customer Review: First-person account by a talented writer
This little book tells what is was like to work in a Civil War hospital. It is autobiographical, although the author changes her name in the narrative, which was considered proper in women's writing at the time.
Louisa May Alcott had an ability to tolerate chaos and laugh at herself, which lends a charm to her writing, even though it is the sometimes wordy prose that was common in the 1860's. I found the book quick to read and enjoyable.
The book would have been enhanced with a brief biography of the author, perhaps on the back cover. She is, of course, best known for her books for young people, but she had other accomplishments which are remarkable considering that she was afflicted with mercury poisoning, a result of medication given for typhoid, which she contracted in the hospital. In this book, she describes the bout with typhoid from the point of view of her becoming a patient in her room, and how kind the staff was to her. She tells that she lost her hair as an effect of the medication. Eventually her father shows up and she goes back to Massachusetts with him.
Alcott based the book on letters she wrote home while serving in the hospital. Some were hastily written and she did not edit them strenuously because she did not want to lose the immediacy of the writing. In a few places, I longed for more clarity. Also, she makes references to literary characters of the time and most of these were lost on me. Still, there is much of value in this book and it is worth reading.
Product Description
An account of Alcott's experiences as a nurse during the Civil War.
Customer Review: Hospital Sketches
This book is a classic. Wirten by Louisa May Alcott, yes the one that would later write the chlidrens classic "Little Women", tells the story of her service during the Civil War through the eyes of Nurse Tribulation Periwinkle. Although it is a short work, this edition is only 55 pages it brings to focus war and its cost and who pays the bill.
Nurse Periwinkle will have two assigments before she, her self becomes a victum of the war (Typhiod) and must leave. The first is what we would call today an Evecuation Hospital where the wounded are brought from the battle field.
We hear about a un-named soldier who asks only for a sip of wat and Nurse periwinkle has to go to a water can in another building and when she returns the soldier is dead. We hear about the long death of John, of the little Sergent who manages to survive and the Prussian who goes back to fight again.
Nurse periwinkle's final assigment is to the Armory Hospital and to "K" Ward. K Ward is Military talk for where they send those who have run out of medical options and who's fate is in some other power, a large percentage of those on K Ward, will die on K Ward. All Wars have K Wards, I was in the K Ward at letterman Army Medical center for several months during the Vietnam War. Her brief discription is perhaps the best in literature of what hopelessness is.
This book should be read by all and have a place next to Stephen Crains "Red Badge of Courage" in High School American Lit. Class.
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