The Virgin Cure (and a bit of a Harry Potter update to follow)

"I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart."

The Virgin Cure begins in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the year 1871. A series of betrayals lead Moth, at only twelve years old, to the wild, murky world of the Bowery, where eventually she meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel simply known as "The Infant School." Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions who are "willing and clean," and the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth.

While Moth's housemates risk falling prey to the myth of the "virgin cure"--the belief that deflowering a girl can heal the incurable and tainted--her new friend Dr. Sadie warns Moth to question and observe the world around her so she won't share the same fate. Still, Moth dreams of answering to no one but herself. There's a high price for such independence, though, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.


I found that I thought this book was good, but not great. Which is also what I thought of McKay's previous work, The Birth House. I found the format of a first person narrative, with newspaper articles, letters, and comments made by another character, injected into the book made it lack flow and ease of reading. This worked somewhat to my advantage because it made me quit reading earlier in the evening, but had I read this book 5 years ago (It was just published in 2011, so completely impossible) I would have been driven nuts by these little break-ups at the end of each chapter. 

I also found that a lot of detail was put into the work, and there were lots of points and information that I was sure would be important later in the story, only to have them never referred to again. It was a bit disappointing.

Otherwise, I thought the story and characters were very compelling. The portrayal of innocence within a life of poverty was extremely enlightening and an interesting perspective on life and values, material or otherwise. I also felt I learned a bit about soothsaying and fortune telling back in it's hayday. What I really enjoyed was the direction that Moth was taken in, and how I think that ANY reader would have done the exact same thing had any of us been put into Moth's shoes. I like that genuine feel to the story. I never thought "Why on earth would she do that!?" or "that is completely illogical" or anything of the like. I suppose that also might be paying tribute to McKay's ability to create her characters. She knew Moth very well, so that the audience never questions the decisions she made.

~*~

Slight Harry Potter update:

I said that I wasn't going to read anything else until I finished reading all of my beautiful Adult Hardcovers of Harry Potter. I made an exception for The Virgin Cure because we went on a roadtrip to Alberta and one of the reasons I wanted the eReader was so that I wouldn't have to worry about damaging my books during travel. So the eReader worked well for this. I got the Virgin Cure from the library, and it was great.

So, just for the record, I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets right before I left for Alberta (isn't it pretty?... I will probably write that every time I post a picture of any of the books :P), I had to finish the Virgin Cure before I set off on reading Prisoner of Azkaban, so that will start tonight. Although I was tempted to get the eBook for The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, but I have restrained myself for the time being... but I might read that one between Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire... we'll see. I'm still checking the library website every day to see if they get any copies of the eBook. If they do, it will be my next read most definitely.