I had read Donoghue’s novel Room so I was interested to read this one. I wish I wouldn’t have left it on my shelf for so long. This was a great read with a couple of twists I did not see coming.

After watching the Netflix movie, I decided to read the book and I was not disappointed. As per usual, the book was better than the movie but it was kind of neat to have a well done movie's visual to fill in some of what my imagination failed to provide.
Excellent story of quiet desperation, longing for love as it tangles with economy and rapid religiosity.

I found this really hard to get into, a slow burner for sure. I am glad I persevered though as by the end I was gripped and really enjoying the characterisations. Can't wait to see the on screen adaptation

First, read this:
<blockquote>A fast didn't go fast; it was the slowest thing there was. Fast meant a door shut fast, firmly. A fastness, a fortress. To fast was to hold fast to emptiness, to say no and no and no again.
&ndash;and&ndash;
How could the child bear not just the hunger, but the boredom? The rest of humankind used meals to divide the day, Lib realized&mdash;as reward, as entertainment, the chiming of an inner clock. For Anna, during this watch, each day had to pass like one endless moment.</blockquote>
I dislike Author Donoghue's prior success, <I>Room</i>, a lot. I found it cynical and manipulative. I got this book thinking I'd give it a good drubbing and forget this author existed afterward.

The more fool I. This is beautifully written...so was <i>Room</i>...but also acutely observed and compassionately told. It was too long, it was very slow for two-thirds of its length, and it had a very strong anti-religion bias (which I share). More than anything else, I read and read and read to get more of this:
<blockquote>An obsession, a mania, Lib supposed it could be called. A sickness of the mind. Hysteria, as that awful doctor had named it? Anna reminded Lib of a princess under a spell in a fairy tale. What could restore the girl to ordinary life? Not a prince. A magical herb from the world's end? Some shock to jolt a poisoned bite of apple out of her throat? No, something simple as a breath of air: reason. What if Lib shook the girl awake this very minute and said, Come to your senses!

But that was part of the definition of madness, Lib supposed, the refusal to accept that one was mad. Standish's wards were full of such people.

Besides, could children ever be considered quite of sound mind? Seven was counted the age of reason, but Lib's sense of seven-year-olds was that they still brimmed over with imagination. Children lived to play. Of course they could be put to work, but in spare moments they took their games as seriously as lunatics did their delusions. Like small gods, children formed their miniature worlds out of clay, or even just words. To them, the truth was never simple.</blockquote>
That insight alone was worth five stars! But it came swaddled, hidden, in much too much waffle for me to give even close to all five stars.

** spoiler alert ** Very much an interesting and enjoyable read! Lib is a Nightingale-trained nurse who is enlisted to watch a "fasting girl," which is a term I just learned from this novel. This book had some slow parts, but the author made the jaunt worthwhile. Not only was I hooked and couldn't put the book down, but I am also a sucker for a happy ending.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this one. It never pulled me in. I had zero connection with the characters. And the pace...It only picks up the last 40%. Slow burn doesn’t even describe it.

This historical novel was a five star read for me. Set in Ireland in the late 1850’s, a nurse ( trained by Florence Nightengale) by the name of Lib is hired to observe a child who is purported not to have eaten for over a year. Is it a miracle? Is the child a saint? Donoghue has written an Unforgettable story which showcases her luminous writing.

Since reading The Wonder and Frog Music, Emma Donoghue has become one of my favorite historical fiction authors. The Wonder was initially a difficult book for me to find captivating, but the last hundred pages were mindblowing. It's a book that I still contemplate and revisit long after reading it. Please see the attached video for my initial review of The Wonder (skip to 7:30): https://youtu.be/UbNrVf-Z-G0

I really, really love Emma Donoghue. She weaves these incredible worlds that draw you in and create emotional responses that you aren't expecting. Read everything she writes!!

4.5 stars.
Anna O’Donnell has not eaten for 4 months - or so her family claims. The committee has been established to follow the case, and 2 trained nurses have been invited to observe 11-year-old Anna.
Englishwoman Lib Wright, a higly trained Nightingale nurse, is sure that this is simply a scam. Having no religious background, she is not keen to listen to the backward blabbering of the superstitious Irishmen. She is going to solve this fraud quickly.
Or not.

This book has made me thinking about the listening and really trying to connect with the others with an open, interested mind - and more importantly - with the open heart. Because this is the saving grace for Lib - she needs to let go of her many prejudices and her own pride to really solve the mystery of Anna’ s fasting. Because there is a mystery of sorts, the reason the little girl is refusing the food. And I am happy to report that this is not the first-plan book, attacking the logic with the simple reasonings. The internal logic is strong - and the signs for solving this are already waiting in the open, they just need a heart with no preconceived ideas, but with the eyes of love. Truly, the old story about the boy who found the lost horse is true (when the boy was asked about how he found the horse, he answered he simply had thought as if he was the said horse. Smart? Yes. But smart is not enough. Empathetic? Very much THIS!).
As a practicing Catholic, this was not an easy book to read (but the better for it. I like my books to be raw and honest, to offer me some food for thought, not just a simple agreement). My guess is that Ms Donoghue is not a Catholic, but acquainted with the religion. She offers a fair critique, but some of the most interesting (and kindest) characters are Catholics: William Byrne, the hot-headed journalist fighting the right fight, or Anna O’Donnell herself - and she is the purest soul and a total sweetheart (even capable of opening the heart of a very professional nurse) - or Sister Michael, who, when we understand her background, is a champion of compassion at last.
The authoress is trying for fairness in general - and I see and appreciate that. There is no truly wrong (or good) character here - and this makes for compelling read!

This is my first Donoghue book. I would say that, after this read, I would not be particularly interested in reading another book by her but I have heard a few good (and bad) things about Room so I may be picking that one up in the future to give her another chance.
This is a slow burn. A lot of time is spent setting the stage; descriptions of the weather the food and the landscape dominate 80% of the story. I felt like the characters received, relatively, little attention in comparison.
Lib, our main character, is a very somber woman. She is focused on doing her job which she perceived to be very simple, to watch. My attention was held by the slow revelation of a moral dilemma as details behind Anna's fast are slowly drug into the light.
With the amount of build up, I expected a stronger ending than I received. I do give her credit for holding my attention with a story that, for the most part, took place in just a few rooms and consisted of watching a young waif slowly fade away.
I was not surprised to learn that this story was based on similar accounts of young girls fasting for months at a time, with varying results.
I would recommend this to people with a passion for historical fiction or an interest in religion/morality.
I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

Very well done extended character study from author of The Room. Donoghue has a knack for close pov. She pulls the reader into the cloistered and claustrophbic world.

Literary-wise, I think this book was very well written. The plot was unique and it came full circle for a nice, tidy conclusion. On a more personal note, it had a little too much religion for my likes. I know that was a huge part of the book, but I didn't need to be quoted Scripture at every turn. It was just ok for me overall.

3.5 stars. In the late 1800’s, an Irish village reports a miracle . . . an 11 year old girl that hasn’t eaten in 4 months and is still alive and healthy. A nun and a Nightingale nurse are sent to keep watch over her and verify this claim. A decent book, bound to be highly emotional for some. Interesting, well defined characters . . . some likeable and others not at all. Very good descriptions of the Irish countryside and the superstitions of that time. The product description calls it a powerful psychological thriller. It is not. It is somewhat of a mystery in so far as does Anna eat or not, and the nurse can been called the detective. Recommended it to my book club and should provide for a good discussion.

"The Wonder" has been chosen at The Marvelous Site's Marvelous Novel of the Month for the month of March. The following review is a reviewaka based on an ancient Japanese poetry form.

The Wonder
by Emma Donoghue
c2017

old Irish village
observes fasting miracle
faith, trust, & the truth

unsettling look at ethics
and perils of assumptions

MM

A really unusual book, very well written as you would expect from Emma O'Donoghue. However there was something about it that didn't quite do it for me, and I wasn't convinced about the authenticity of some of the characters.

RATING: 4.5 STARS

(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY in exchange for an honest review.)
(Review Not on Blog)

I meant to read one, maybe two chapters before bed...2 hours later I am glued to this book. This was so well written that I could not stop reading. The plot was intriguing and different but the characters were well drawn out. Even a year later, as I finally write this review, I can still see some scenes and characters so clear in my head. This book was a lot like her other novel, Room, in that I was up and down in emotions and found myself disliking some characters more than I should, lol. Unlike Room, the subject matter is a bit easier to read so I recommend this to any reader.

A distinguished nurse is handpicked for a two week mission to attest that an eleven year old girl hasn't eaten for four months and to confirm of this crazy miracle. She is engulfed in a small town that is completely God fearing and wants this miracle to be true and wants this miracle child in their midst.

What a book. Having a love for historical fiction and combining that with religious fanatics is just up my alley! I was a religious studies major so I am completely intrigued by how religion influences society and how society influences religion and this book is completely in the weeds of it all.

I love how the reader is informed as to why the girl has refrained and what the nurse does about it all. The way Emma Donoghue put this book together is just spot on. It is completely different than her book Room so if you are hesitant because of that you can put that worry aside!

Emma Donoghue’s new book, titled The Wonder, tells the story of Lib Wright, a nurse mentored by Florence Nightingale, is sent to a small Irish village to investigate the “wee wonder” living there, Anna O’Donnell, who is allegedly living on “manna from heaven.” Visitors are flocking to the house to witness this miracle of a child who has had nothing but spoonfuls of water for four months. Libby, along with another nurse, are tasked with watching Anna to make sure she isn’t sneaking food in somehow, but as Anna’s conditions worsens, Libby finds it harder and harder to be an objective observer and begins to question her own beliefs.

This book takes place during a time when the line between science and magic was still very much blurred, and people often distrusted those who did not believe the same way they did. How could a nurse relate to people who still believed in fairies? Emotionally, how could Lib, as a nurse, merely monitor a girl who is, by all appearances, barely living at all?

Emma Donoghue is a wonderful storyteller. But while Room packed such a powerful punch, this book fell flat for me. In the majority of books, if a crime occurs, the book is about that crime. But in the case of Room, the crime is the background to this beautiful, horrifying story of the love of a mother and her son, with letting go of pain and anger, and learning how to live in a world you don't know. In The Wonder, there isn't that emotional punch. I didn't feel connected to the protagonist at all. The story seemed very linear and I don't think that an entire book was needed for this. It's filled with descriptions of Ireland down to very minute details. If that's your cup of tea, then this is for you. However, I enjoy books where I feel a connection and want to move along the timeline with the characters. With this book, I just wanted to skip to the end and answer the one question the book asked: is she faking or not?

I could not connect with this title. I was unable to finish this title after giving it several attempts.