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Jill's Reviews > The Ninth Hour
The Ninth Hour
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During this cynical point of time when the words “sacrifice” and “service” have become quaint and puzzling, The Ninth Hour seems a bit of an anachronism or at the very least, historical curiosity.
Alice McDermott, however, in exquisite prose, captures the world of early twentieth century Catholic Brooklyn, with its lens on the Little Sisters of the Sick Poor, their laundress Annie and her daughter Sally.
The beauty of the novel is that it doesn’t judge, providing the nuns with humanity without elevating them to martyrdom or turning them into figures of scorn or pity. One of the most powerful passages I’ve read this year occurs when Sally, a young girl who flirts with joining them, travels to Chicago to meet with the order on a train. There, she is forced to learn “the truth of the dirty world (showing) her that her own impulse was to meet its filthy citizens not with a consoling cloth, but with a curse, a punch in the face.”She makes her decision knowing she is flawed too, and with a greater sense of self.
Is it better to elect chaos busyness, bustling…rambunctious kids, overflowing ashtrays, cloudy classes? Or is the serenity of religion, the focus on purity and sacrifice and eternal rules the more appealing way? As a non-believer, there were times while reading the book that I chafed—the pressure on an idealistic and naïve young girl to become a noviate and give up the comfort of married life, for example, or the equating of lovemaking with sin. But still, Alice McDermott’s goal is not to judge but instead, to test the limits of love and sacrifice. She does a darn good job of it.
by
During this cynical point of time when the words “sacrifice” and “service” have become quaint and puzzling, The Ninth Hour seems a bit of an anachronism or at the very least, historical curiosity.
Alice McDermott, however, in exquisite prose, captures the world of early twentieth century Catholic Brooklyn, with its lens on the Little Sisters of the Sick Poor, their laundress Annie and her daughter Sally.
The beauty of the novel is that it doesn’t judge, providing the nuns with humanity without elevating them to martyrdom or turning them into figures of scorn or pity. One of the most powerful passages I’ve read this year occurs when Sally, a young girl who flirts with joining them, travels to Chicago to meet with the order on a train. There, she is forced to learn “the truth of the dirty world (showing) her that her own impulse was to meet its filthy citizens not with a consoling cloth, but with a curse, a punch in the face.”She makes her decision knowing she is flawed too, and with a greater sense of self.
Is it better to elect chaos busyness, bustling…rambunctious kids, overflowing ashtrays, cloudy classes? Or is the serenity of religion, the focus on purity and sacrifice and eternal rules the more appealing way? As a non-believer, there were times while reading the book that I chafed—the pressure on an idealistic and naïve young girl to become a noviate and give up the comfort of married life, for example, or the equating of lovemaking with sin. But still, Alice McDermott’s goal is not to judge but instead, to test the limits of love and sacrifice. She does a darn good job of it.
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Reading Progress
July 4, 2017
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Started Reading
July 4, 2017
– Shelved
July 9, 2017
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Finished Reading
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Jeanette
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rated it 5 stars
Sep 13, 2017 07:39AM
This is an intriguing review. I wonder if I should read this. I attended H.S. at a location and core at/of the Mercy (RSM) order novitiate - closely attached in distance and with contact daily novitiate contact. 1600 girls from wide spread Chicagoland at any one time (4 years of levels). We were the 3rd rankling h.s. in the country at the time in numerous categories for being all female category. Liberal Arts and all Girls and strongly Roman Catholic. The one at Georgetown was the 1st ranked at the time. Mother McAuley is still ranked high. Still all girls too, never caved. (I am class of 1965). It was maybe 30 to 40% Irish ethnic but diverse in the other 60%. VERY- much more for the time and even more now. We were never pressured to join Holy Orders and yet many did. Maybe 20 in my year group of nearly 400. Most left order communal living in the 1970's or 1980's, but some stayed in the order itself. I find that her work, as an author, tends to strong overkill on "the Church's" negative aspects. All of them. Not just to feminine history and ideals of practice either. So some is not all. And all is not some- as in this example as you describe it. Maybe I will read this and see how this is portrayed as a lesson- this "dirty world". Not by us was the world taught as dirty or sex other than a part of life. Ever, not even in implications to sin or reactions (as you describe too). And we were TAUGHT biology in every sense of functioning, as well. So where in Chicago is she going to "meet the order"?? I'll read it. Great review! You touch exactly on the points that make her reading conflict heavy and highly attractive to non-believers in general. And others too who love that emotive anti-feminine taught self-identity conflict which connotes in her writing. Other books, as well.Less
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Great, detailed review! Thanks!
"The beauty of the novel is that it doesn’t judge, providing the nuns with humanity without elevating them to martyrdom or turning them into figures of scorn or pity." Yes, I loved this too. As a lifelong Catholic who has known many nuns, I know that they are as human as the rest of us, but with a little something special. This book does a perfect job of depicting this, and your review does a great job of describing that.
Lovely review Jill
Yes, definitely a lovely review.
