The Wonder
-
-
4.1 • 12 Ratings
-
-
- $19.99
-
- $19.99
Publisher Description
Now a Netflix film starring Florence Pugh: In this “old-school page turner” (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review) by the bestselling author of Room, an English nurse is brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle—a girl said to have survived without food for months—and soon finds herself fighting to save the child's life.
Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell, who believes herself to be living off manna from heaven, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl.
Written with all the propulsive tension that made Room a huge bestseller, The Wonder works beautifully on many levels -- a tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.
Acclaim for The Wonder:
"Deliciously gothic.... Dark and vivid, with complicated characters, this is a novel that lodges itself deep" (USA Today, 3/4 stars)
"Heartbreaking and transcendent"(New York Times)
"A fable as lean and discomfiting as Anna's dwindling body.... Donoghue keeps us riveted" (Chicago Tribune)
"Donoghue poses powerful questions about faith and belief" (Newsday)
Customer Reviews
The Wonder
The reader is so in love with the sound of her voice I couldn’t bear to continue. Very disappointed because the Netflix movie is wonderful. As sparse and powerful as the audio is be-ribboned and slight.
A disappointing lesson that less really is more
A Wonderful Tale, Told Cringingly
I'd never head of the 19th century "fasting girls" before, but Donoghue has created a suspenseful and enthralling story from subject matter that might at first seem anything but.
I would nearly say that I was hanging on every word, but that's where I need to explain why I can't rate this production five stars.
The voice actor's natural speaking voice is lovely and pleasant. I could have delighted in listening to this voice for the duration of the novel.
And yet. The choice to give every character a unique accent, tone, and cadence was not in itself problematic; however, the execution was deeply jarring and distracting. The constant code-switching between the scientific-minded English rose of a heroine and the overly-emotive buffoonery of the superstitious rural Irish evokes the xenophobic portrayals of Irishman-as-ape so typical of the Victorian era. I thought we as an English-speaking culture were done with that, but apparently not. At best, the villagers outside 1859 Athlone sounded like Blindboy's "drunk Limerick aunt" character. It was a disservice to the story, and would have been better handled by an Irish voice actor.