Clare Beams

'A modern scream of female outrage. A masterpiece' ELIZABETH GILBERT 'Astoundingly original . . . belongs on the shelf with your Margaret Atwood' NEW YORK TIMES Haunting, intense and irresistible, The Illness Lesson is an extraordinary debut about women's minds and bodies, and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both. In 1871, at an elite new school designed to shape the minds of young women, the inscrutable and defiant Eliza Bell has been overwhelmed by an inexplicable illness. Before long, the other girls start to succumb to its peculiar symptoms - rashes, tics, night wanderings and fits. As the disease takes hold, teacher Caroline Hood tries desperately to hide her own symptoms, but the powers-that-be turn to a sinister physician with dubious methods. Does Caroline have the courage to confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities of her world and protect the young women in her care? 'You want to know how horrifying things happened while decent people looked on and did nothing? Read this novel' MARY BETH KEANE 'Subtle, clever, suspenseful . . . builds to a shocking climax' DIANE SETTERFIELD 'A Sunday Times Book to Read in 2020: A classic ghost story for fans of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Deborah Levy, Jeffrey Eugenides' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE

The Illness Lesson

Lacy W

Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

tw: child abuse, parental death, epilepsy, disordered eating, sexual assault (multiple times), cheating 

A special thank you goes to Netgalley and Doubleday publishing for allowing me to read this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I requested this book because it reminded me of the Water Cure with the cover and the synopsis. Upon reading this book, I discovered it was written in a similar way too. It was very prosey and descriptive. But that kind of hindered me from truly understanding what was going on for the first 100 pages or so. Once I got used to the writing, I was able to enjoy the book more. 

But I am a bit disappointed. I expected something different. I mean, I kind of got what I wanted but I wanted more of it. It didn’t go far enough with the creep and sinister factor. I wanted more fits from the girls. I wanted confusion and despair of what was happening to the girls. I wanted this to go a lot further than what it did. 

I did enjoy having Caroline as a narrator. She was so unreliable and I liked it. I never knew what to believe and that upped the creep factor by a lot. I truly couldn’t trust her at all. I never knew whether she had the girls’ best interest in her heart or if she had something more sinister up her sleeve. She made it hard to sympathize with her but I still rooted for her. While Caroline wasn’t my most favorite MC, I enjoyed her nonetheless. 

I have to mention one part that truly disturbed me and will probably disturb a lot of others. So take caution while reading this particular part. It goes on for several pages. In the 1800’s, the “cure” for hysteria was bringing females to orgasm. Doctors did this by hand. I don’t think I need to go into any more detail. So there's a part where underage girls were subjected to this treatment multiple times. 

Overall, this was a good book even though it had some flaws. Like I mentioned above, I wish it had gone more sinister. I would have easily rated this 4 (four) stars had the author just upped the creep factor. Besides that little issue, I did enjoy this book and am read more by this author.

Named a most anticipated book of 2020 by Time, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, BookRiot, Domino, and LitHub "Brilliant, suspenseful...A masterpiece."--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls "A brainy page-turner that's gorgeous and frightening in equal measure."--Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks A searing novel which probes the world's approach to women's bodies and women's minds, and the time-honored tradition of doubting both. At their newly founded school, Samuel Hood and his daughter Caroline promise a groundbreaking education for young women. But Caroline has grave misgivings. After all, her own unconventional education has left her unmarriageable and isolated, unsuited to the narrow roles afforded women in 19th century New England. When a mysterious flock of red birds descends on the town, Caroline alone seems to find them unsettling. But it's not long before the assembled students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms: Rashes, seizures, headaches, verbal tics, night wanderings. One by one, they sicken. Fearing ruin for the school, Samuel overrules Caroline's pleas to inform the girls' parents and turns instead to a noted physician, a man whose sinister ministrations--based on a shocking historic treatment--horrify Caroline. As the men around her continue to dictate, disastrously, all terms of the girls' experience, Caroline's body too begins to betray her. To save herself and her young charges, she will have to defy every rule that has governed her life, her mind, her body, and her world. Clare Beams's extraordinary debut story collection We Show What We Have Learned earned comparisons to Shirley Jackson, Karen Russell and Aimee Bender, and established Beams as a writer who "creates magical-realist pieces that often calculate the high cost of being a woman" (The Rumpus). Precisely observed, hauntingly atmospheric, as fiercely defiant as it is triumphant, The Illness Lesson is a spellbinding piece of storytelling.

edith w.

"Feels like both a classical ghost story and like a modern (and very timely) scream of female outrage. A masterpiece" ELIZABETH GILBERT "You want to know how horrifying things happened while decent people looked on and did nothing? Read this novel" MARY BETH KEANE "A Sunday Times Book to Read in 2020: A classic ghost story for fans of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Deborah Levy, Jeffrey Eugenides" SUNDAY TIMES STYLE It is 1871. At the farm of Samuel Hood and his daughter, Caroline, a mysterious flock of red birds has descended. Samuel, whose fame as a philosopher is waning, takes the birds' appearance as an omen that the time is ripe for his newest venture. He will start a school for young women, guiding their intellectual development as he has so carefully guided his daughter's. Despite Caroline's misgivings, Samuel's vision - revolutionary, as always; noble, as always; full of holes, as always - takes shape. It's not long before the students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms: rashes, seizures, verbal tics, night wanderings. In desperate, the school turns to the ministering of a sinister physician - just as Caroline's body, too, begins its betrayal. As the girls' condition worsens, Caroline must confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities of her world, the ones who insist the voices of the sufferers are unreliable. Written in intensely vivid prose and brimming with insight, The Illness Lesson is a powerful exploration of women's bodies, women's minds and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both.

The Illness Lesson

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