Who Would Like This Book:
If you love gorgeously written, character-driven literary fiction, The Ninth Hour is a winner. This novel paints a vivid portrait of early 20th-century Brooklyn among Irish Catholic immigrants, seen through the intertwined lives of a brave widow, her daughter, and a compassionate - yet flawed - group of nursing nuns. McDermott’s ability to delve into the complexity of faith, sacrifice, and human frailty stands out, making it a perfect pick for readers drawn to immersive historical settings and nuanced reflections on morality, love, and community. If you appreciate novels that ask big, timeless questions and aren’t afraid of exploring life’s darker realities, you’ll find plenty to sink your teeth into here.
Who May Not Like This Book:
This book isn’t for everyone. Some readers will find the pace slow and the shifting perspectives confusing. Those hoping for a tightly plotted story or clear, likable heroes may be let down - the characters here are messy, deeply human, and not always easy to root for. The novel’s gritty, unfiltered look at illness and bodily realities, plus its honest views on religion (especially Catholicism), can be off-putting if you prefer lighter, more straightforward reads or want a more reverent depiction of faith. If you don’t enjoy stories centered on convents or nuns, this one will probably test your patience.
About:
'The Ninth Hour' by Alice McDermott is a novel set in early 20th-century Brooklyn, focusing on the lives of an Irish immigrant family, particularly the pregnant widow Anne and her daughter Sally, after the suicide of Anne's husband. The story unfolds within the realm of the Catholic Church, exploring themes of faith, sacrifice, relationships, and the influence of the church on individuals' lives. Through the lens of the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor, the book delves into the complexities of morality, compassion, and the intergenerational impact of personal choices.
The narrative style of 'The Ninth Hour' intricately weaves together multiple perspectives, offering insights into the characters' inner lives and the historical context of Catholic Brooklyn. McDermott's writing skillfully captures the nuances of the characters, their relationships, and the challenges they face, creating a rich and immersive portrayal of a bygone era marked by faith, love, and loss.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Triggers include suicide, mental illness, infidelity, and graphic depictions of illness, which may be distressing to some readers.
Has Romance?
The book contains elements of romance, specifically with Annie's affair, but it is not the central focus of the story.
From The Publisher:
A magnificent new novel from one of America’s finest writers—a powerfully affecting story spanning the twentieth century of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Irish-American community in Brooklyn.
On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens the gas taps in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove—to the subway bosses who have recently fired him, to his badgering, pregnant wife—“that the hours of his life belong to himself alone.” In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St.
Savior, an aging nun appears, unbidden, to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child. We begin deep inside Catholic Brooklyn, in the early part of the twentieth century. Decorum, superstition, and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence. Yet his suicide, although never spoken of, reverberates through many lives and over the decades testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations.
The characters we meet, from Sally, the unborn baby at the beginning of the novel, who becomes the center of the story to the nuns whose personalities we come to know and love to the neighborhood families with whose lives they are entwined, are all rendered with extraordinary sympathy and McDermott’s trademark lucidity and intelligence.
Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour is a crowning achievement by one of the premiere writers at work in America today.
Ratings (6)
Loved It (2) | |
Liked It (1) | |
It Was OK (3) |
Reader Stats (12):
Read It (6) | |
Want To Read (5) | |
Not Interested (1) |
What can you read after
The Ninth Hour?
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
