Book Review: The Resurrectionist by Matthew Guinn

The Resurrectionist

Author: Matthew Guinn

Publication: W. W. Norton & Company (July 8, 2013)

Description: A young doctor wrestles with the legacy of a slave “resurrectionist” owned by his South Carolina medical school.

"Dog days and the fresh bodies are arriving once again." So begins the fall term at South Carolina Medical College, where Dr. Jacob Thacker is on probation for Xanax abuse. His interim career—working public relations for the dean—takes an unnerving detour into the past when the bones of African American slaves, over a century old, are unearthed on campus. Out of the college’s dark past, these bones threaten to rise and condemn the present.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Dr. Frederick Augustus Johnston, one of the school’s founders, had purchased a slave for his unusual knife skills. This slave, Nemo ("no man") would become an unacknowledged member of the surgical faculty by day—and by night, a "resurrectionist," responsible for procuring bodies for medical study. An unforgettable character, by turns apparently insouciant, tormented, and brilliant, and seen by some as almost supernatural, Nemo will seize his self-respect in ways no reader can anticipate.

With exceptional storytelling pacing and skill, Matthew Guinn weaves together past and present to relate a Southern Gothic tale of shocking crimes and exquisite revenge, a riveting and satisfying moral parable of the South.

My Thoughts: This was a fascinating book that talks about the early practices at medical schools and current political cover ups when those practices are brought to light. 

In the 1999 portion of the story, Jacob Thacker is working PR for his medical school as he serves out a suspension for drug abuse when bones are discovered in the basement. The bones of those of primarily black people who were used for teaching of the medical students in the pre and post Civil War era. Their existence is a PR nightmare for the Dean of the school for whom the school's untarnished image is paramount. 

The second part of the story tells the story of the early days of the medical school and the black man named Nemo Johnston who was purchased to be the school's janitor, butler, and resurrectionist. He was charged with raiding the black cemeteries to supply the cadavers the medical students needed to learn anatomy and surgery. His portion of the story gives great insight into what it was like for a black slave in that time period. Nemo was atypical in that he was educated and knowledgeable. He even taught the anatomy classes but still did all the menial work too. 

Jacob learns a lot, even about his own family, when he begins to research the history of the school. He has lots of pressure on him to do the cover up. In fact, his future in medicine depends on it. This parallels the pressure put on Nemo Johnston in earlier times. 

The story was well-written and engaging and it was in interesting look at a time with attitudes much different than now. 

Favorite Quote:

The wooden spade slid into the earth soundlessly, worming into the newly turned soil like a hungry thing. Then rose, its blade full, and swung a swift half circle to the tarpaulin laid across the foot of the grave, where it shook its burden gently onto the canvas. Thus began the second coming of Quash Jones.

I got this finished copy for review at ALA. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Resurrectionist by Matthew Guinn

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

This week I am spotlighting a book a friend chose for me at ALA. The Resurrectionist by Matthew Guinn is a Southern Gothic mystery and thriller. Here is the description of this July 8 release:

A young doctor wrestles with the legacy of a slave “resurrectionist” owned by his South Carolina medical school.

"Dog days and the fresh bodies are arriving once again." So begins the fall term at South Carolina Medical College, where Dr. Jacob Thacker is on probation for Xanax abuse. His interim career—working public relations for the dean—takes an unnerving detour into the past when the bones of African American slaves, over a century old, are unearthed on campus. Out of the college’s dark past, these bones threaten to rise and condemn the present.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Dr. Frederick Augustus Johnston, one of the school’s founders, had purchased a slave for his unusual knife skills. This slave, Nemo ("no man") would become an unacknowledged member of the surgical faculty by day—and by night, a "resurrectionist," responsible for procuring bodies for medical study. An unforgettable character, by turns apparently insouciant, tormented, and brilliant, and seen by some as almost supernatural, Nemo will seize his self-respect in ways no reader can anticipate.

With exceptional storytelling pacing and skill, Matthew Guinn weaves together past and present to relate a Southern Gothic tale of shocking crimes and exquisite revenge, a riveting and satisfying moral parable of the South.

Beginning:

Dog days and the fresh bodies are arriving once again. Always, Jacob feels the old stir of anticipation when the baked stillness of August us broken by their return to campus, these young people crackling with energy in the last sullen days of summer.

Friday 56:

"It is. We named our man Henry. Not very imaginative, I know. I used to have dreams of old naked Henry climbing off the table and chasing me with a scalpel." 

ARC Review: The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

The White Princess

Author: Philippa Gregory

Publication: Touchstone (July 23, 2013)

Description: Caught between loyalties, the mother of the Tudors must choose between the red rose and the white.

Philippa Gregory, #1 New York Times best­selling author and “the queen of royal fiction” (USA Today), presents the latest Cousins’ War novel, the remarkable story of Elizabeth of York, daughter of the White Queen.

When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of Bosworth field, he knows he must marry the princess of the enemy house—Elizabeth of York—to unify a country divided by war for nearly two decades.

But his bride is still in love with his slain enemy, Richard III—and her mother and half of England dream of a missing heir, sent into the unknown by the White Queen. While the new monarchy can win power, it cannot win hearts in an England that plots for the triumphant return of the House of York.

Henry’s greatest fear is that somewhere a prince is waiting to invade and reclaim the throne. When a young man who would be king leads his army and invades England, Elizabeth has to choose between the new husband she is coming to love and the boy who claims to be her beloved lost brother: the rose of York come home at last.

My Thoughts: I was a little concerned when I began this fifth book in the Cousins' War series because I had not read any of the previous books. However, Gregory's writing style sucked me right into this story of Princess Elizabeth of York who was the lover of her uncle Richard III and the bride of Henry Tudor. I was drawn into the worldview of this young woman who knew from the beginning that she was a pawn to be played out as those in power wanted. 

Elizabeth was torn between her mother who was constantly scheming to bring a York prince to power and her new loyalty to her Tudor husband and her own Tudor children. While I didn't at all like Henry Tudor who was suspicious and paranoid, I could understand how he came to be that way. He seemed to think of himself as a usurper and surrounded by enemies (and his actions acted as a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy as he created even more enemies due to his suspicions and harsh penalties). Elizabeth tried to guide him to be a better king but couldn't overcome the influence of his mother. 

Henry's obsession with eliminating any York heir to the throne dominated the book. While Elizabeth's brothers Edward and Richard were assumed to have died in the Tower, no bodies were found and the pretenders were constant. Adding to the confusion, Elizabeth's mother might have been able to smuggle her younger son Richard out of the Tower and send him to safety making the possibility of a real York prince a reality. Elizabeth is torn between her vows to Henry and her heart's desire to have her younger brother be alive. 

The writing was exquisite and the story was compelling. I couldn't stop reading. Fans of historical fiction are right to have made Philippa Gregory's books so popular. This won't be the last that I read. 

Favorite Quote:

"Your side lost at Bosworth," he reminds me. "You are the spoils of war."

I got this ARC at ALA. You can buy your copy here.

Teaser Tuesday: The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I picked up this ARC of The White Princess by Philippa Gregory at ALA. I was familiar with her name as a noted writer of historical fiction but I have never read any of her books. Here is the description of this July 23 release:

Caught between loyalties, the mother of the Tudors must choose between the red rose and the white.

Philippa Gregory, #1 New York Times best­selling author and “the queen of royal fiction” (USA Today), presents the latest Cousins’ War novel, the remarkable story of Elizabeth of York, daughter of the White Queen.

When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of Bosworth field, he knows he must marry the princess of the enemy house—Elizabeth of York—to unify a country divided by war for nearly two decades.

But his bride is still in love with his slain enemy, Richard III—and her mother and half of England dream of a missing heir, sent into the unknown by the White Queen. While the new monarchy can win power, it cannot win hearts in an England that plots for the triumphant return of the House of York.

Henry’s greatest fear is that somewhere a prince is waiting to invade and reclaim the throne. When a young man who would be king leads his army and invades England, Elizabeth has to choose between the new husband she is coming to love and the boy who claims to be her beloved lost brother: the rose of York come home at last.

Teaser:

I stare at his brown head for a moment and think that his dumb animal grief is just like mine. Except I am ordered to talk all the time, and to smile all the day.

Book Review: Enemy Within by Marcella Burnard

Enemy Within

Author: Marcella Burnard

Publication: Berkley Trade; Original edition (November 2, 2010)

Description: An intergalactic cold war-and some heated passion- from an inventive new voice in futuristic romance. 

After a stint in an alien prison, Captain Ari Rose wonders why she even bothered to survive. Stripped of her command and banished to her father's scientific expedition to finish a Ph.D. she doesn't want, Ari never planned to languish quietly behind a desk. She wasn't built for it, either. But when pirates commandeer her father's ship, Ari once again becomes a prisoner.

As far as pirate leader Cullin is concerned, Ari's past imprisonment puts her dead center in Cullin's sights. If she hasn't been brainwashed and returned as a spy, then he's convinced she must be part of a traitorous alliance endangering billions of lives. Cullin can't afford the desire she fires within him and he'll stop at nothing, including destroying her, to uncover the truth.

My Thoughts: ENEMY WITHIN was an intense futuristic romance. Alexandria Rose Idylle has survived torture by aliens who captured her and then months of medical rehabilitation. She has lost command of her ship and confidence in her own mind. She is working on her father's research ship when it is taken by pirates.  These pirates are from a rival humanoid empire and they have come looking for Ari. 

In this universe, the aliens engineer plagues to keep the humans in check. Now it looks like someone from the human world is working with the aliens. Ari doesn't know if it is someone on her side or on the pirate's side. But she has to find out fast so that she can protect the people she swore to serve. 

The hero of this story is Cullin Seaghdh who is the cousin of the queen of the Claugh nib Dovvyth and who acts as the queen's spymaster and protector. He has admired Ari since he first heard of her as a student who mastered a sport using energy blades. She is second best in all the know worlds but doesn't know that he is the best.

The intensity in this story comes from the descriptions of the torture that our heroine received at the hands of the alien Chekydran. Further intensity comes from watching Ari deal with flashbacks and deal with not knowing if she has been programmed in some way that will be harmful to her people.

The story was well written and the world building well done. The romance builds nicely as Ari and Cullin learn to trust each other despite huge reasons not to do so. The story was fast-paced and engaging. I recommend it to fans who like epic science fiction with a touch of romance. 

Favorite Quote:

No internal injuries, just one hell of a bruise. He'd risked death to find her and serious injury so that she wouldn't be alone in the midst of memory.

She squeezed her eyes shut and realized how badly she wanted to gamble on trusting Cullin Seaghdh. Opening her eyes, she smoother a palm over the bruise. He shivered at her touch. 

A friend chose this one for me at ALA. You can buy your copy here.