Author: Makiia Lucier
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Rating: WORTHY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration of any kind for this review.
Errata:
p142 "Don’t be made at him for keeps, Cleo" should be "Don’t be mad at him for keeps, Cleo"
p174 "…and the lines were bogged done." should be "…and the lines were bogged down."
I'm not exactly sure about Lucier's choice of title for this novel, but I was really interested in reading it because I have a real interest in the 1918 influenza pandemic, especially after having read Gina Kolata's excellent report on the outbreak.
This novel centers on Chloe Berry, a seventeen-year-old girl who unfortunately tells this story in first person, which I detest (but which didn't turn out too badly at all for a pleasant change!). She's a flighty thing who worries about the flu coming to Portland, but is convinced that she's safe because that kind of nonsense is all on the east cost. That is, until her much older brother (and guardian), goes away for a second honeymoon, leaving Chloe at her boarding school - which she hates (not so much the school as the boarding which she normally doesn't have to do). And then things start going downhill.
When the flu suddenly arrives in Portland, she's supposed to stay at the school until her guardian can get her, but she refuses to do this, and she sneaks out, heading home. It's very close by and she has a key. Once ensconced, she decides she should volunteer for the Red Cross's efforts to help inform the populace about the flu and identify people who are sick and in need of medical attention. She drives an old family car around handing out paper face masks and information leaflets door-to-door, and it's now that she's out of school, that she really gets an education. I can identify with her there! But there is such a thing as too much of an education, and as Chloe sees people growing sick and sicker, and as she witnesses, first-hand, families being torn apart (as her own family was), and is wrenched by so many perfectly innocent people dying in choking pain, things turn out to be far more grave than she can handle.
I can also identify with the horrible things which are happening around Chloe. I've worked in a couple of hospitals, not as a care-giver but as support staff, and I saw some sad, depressing, angering, frustrating, and horrible things too. I gained a real admiration for many of the doctors and nurses, particularly the nurses, and I can readily see through Chloe's eyes, especially with Lucier's excellent writing. It's really hard now for anyone to understand what it must have been like then, with no treatment or cure in sight, and with people dying by the tens, then the scores, then the hundreds, and then the thousands. It must have seemed like the end of times.
Lucier tells the story realistically and practically. She tells it with heart, with inventiveness, and with passion. She brings these people out and makes them real, and she forces you to care, and she makes you choke up and your eyes moisten. You really have no choice in this matter. Anyone who wants to know how to write a good young-adult story needs to read this. Anyone whoever imagined portraying a YA romance needs to learn from this how it's done without the cheapness and glitz, and without the cheap frills, stupid lines, and bone-headed interactions. If you want a relationship with life and backbone, you want one like this, one which grows naturally and is never forced, and which you know, even as you discover it, is real and lasting.
I cannot recommend this highly enough, but I'll try: I highly recommend this! You should put it way up near the top of your reading list.
