Hospital Sketches

Tribulation Periwinkle has gone from her home in the North to Washington D.C. to be a nurse for the wounded soldiers of the Army of the Potomac. She describes, in what reads like a diary of recollections, her trip from home to D.C., her arrival at the understaffed hospital, where she is thrown into the care of dying men, and her own subsequent illness that takes her back to her home again.<br /><br />Several of the vignettes are quite poignant, recounting the suffering and dying around her. She also tackles the attitudes and treatment of the black servants that work in and around the hospital, and who receive as harsh a rejection from these Northerners as they might have expected from the South, which gives Alcott a forum to advocate for more than Abolition, but also for fair treatment of these newly freed men.<br /><br />This is a quick read and an important one. Louisa May Alcott writes fiction, but it is informed by personal experience, and her own nursing of soldiers during the Civil War makes this a very realistic depiction. An early advocate for rights for both women and blacks, Alcott is a voice of the future and a glimpse into the past.<br />

3.5 This is going to be a short review, since I just reviewed [book:Louisa on the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War|40537448 a few days ago. I was surprised at how much of that book was directly quoted from this one. Though I did like reading this, since it was wholly Louisas thoughts without authors comments. This book was mentioned several time in the Civil War book which is what piqued my interest in this one.

I like this because reading about Alcott’s firsthand experiences being a nurse during the Civil War is just plain interesting. How many such accounts written by acclaimed authors could there be? What we are told feels very real and honest. Secondly, I like it because you et a grip on Alcott’s personality. Thirdly, I like it because she weaves in humor. As she states at the end, it is important “to look well after the cheerfulness in life”. Without this attitude a book such as this could easily become dark and dreary. However, do not think that she shies away from that which sad and grisly<br /><br />Alcott is outspoken, alternately criticizing and praising. She is determined and intelligent. She has spunk. Her personal attributes come through in the text.<br /><br />Be warned, Alcott does not express herself as we do today. She uses words, idioms and manners of speech less frequently employed nowadays. To appreciate the elegance of her lines a reader must pay attention. It is not wrong to state that her writing is somewhat dated, but this doesn’t matter if you are willing to make an effort to understand.<br /><br />Alcott had intended a three month stint as a nurse at Hurly Burly House in Washington. She became ill and had to go home sooner. <br /><br />So why not more stars? It is not a wow book, even if I am glad to have read it.<br /><br />Anne Hancock narrates the audiobook. I didn’t like her narration at all. Her tone is too light and sweet. She reads too fast. Prose that is dated must be read at a slower pace. She catches the levity in the author’s lines but lacks the ability to properly alter her intonation for lines of serious portent. <br /><br />*************************<br /><br />Interested in other nurse memoirs? Check out this: <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/8005437.The_Backwash_of_War_The_Human_Wreckage_of_the_Battlefield_as_Witnessed_by_an_American_Hospital_Nurse" title="The Backwash of War The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nurse by Ellen N. La Motte" rel="noopener">The Backwash of War: The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nurse</a> (5 stars) <br />It is for the First World War, not the Civil War.<br /><br />Cynda pointed out these two books <br />1.<a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1223381.A_Black_Woman_s_Civil_War_Memiors" title="A Black Woman's Civil War Memiors by Susie King Taylor" rel="noopener">A Black Woman's Civil War Memiors</a> by <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/347234.Susie_King_Taylor" title="Susie King Taylor" rel="noopener">Susie King Taylor</a><br />2.<a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1467112.Memoranda_during_the_War" title="Memoranda during the War by Walt Whitman" rel="noopener">Memoranda during the War</a> by <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/1438.Walt_Whitman" title="Walt Whitman" rel="noopener">Walt Whitman</a><br />which could be of interest too!

I read this concurrently with <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/11506880.Becoming_Dickens_The_Invention_of_a_Novelist" title="Becoming Dickens The Invention of a Novelist by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst" rel="noopener">Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist</a> -- unintentionally, but appropriately -- as not only was Dickens one of Alcott's favorite writers, but this fictionalized memoir of Alcott’s could be said to have led to her “becoming Louisa May Alcott”.<br /><br />Similar to the start of the Dickens phenomenon with <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/229432.The_Pickwick_Papers" title="The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens" rel="noopener">The Pickwick Papers</a> being published under the name of “Boz”, Alcott gained her first bout of fame with this work, writing under the pseudonym of "Tribulation Periwinkle" (one sees the Dickens influence immediately). Her short time as a Civil War nurse in a Union hospital is expressed in humorous, sensitive, ironic and impassioned prose. Like her literary hero, she captures the telling details. <br /><br />Nurse Trib P., reflecting on her life-changing experiences ministering to the wounded and dying under adverse conditions, discovers a philosophy of life, and her own writing style. In much the same way the sketches of <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/229432.The_Pickwick_Papers" title="The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens" rel="noopener">The Pickwick Papers</a> led to Dickens’ development of <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/18254.Oliver_Twist" title="Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens" rel="noopener">Oliver Twist</a>, Alcott's hospital sketches paved her way toward <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1934.Little_Women__Little_Women___1_" title="Little Women (Little Women, #1) by Louisa May Alcott" rel="noopener">Little Women</a>.<br /><br />All of which has me wondering, again, if I would’ve become the Dickens fan I am without my childhood reading of Alcott.<br /><br /><i>"I'd rather laugh than cry, when I must sing out anyhow, so just say that bit from Dickens again, please, and I'll stand it like a man." He did; for "Mrs. Cluppins," "Chadband," and "Sam Weller," always helped him through; thereby causing me to lay another offering of love and admiration on the shrine of the god of my idolatry, though he does wear too much jewelry and talk slang.</i>

Chafing at not being able to march off to war because a woman, Alcott decided on her 30th birthday in 1862 to volunteer to be an Army nurse. She served at a hospital in Georgetown for six weeks, caring for casualties of the Battle of Fredericksburg, before contracting typhoid fever.<br /><br />At the urging of family and friends, she later lightly fictionalized the letters she wrote home describing her experiences, and they appeared to acclaim in newspapers before being collected into this book, which provided her with her first literary success and fame.<br /><br />She was aware of the humorous tone of most of her sketches, and defended it from some contemporary critics who thought it inappropriate, saying "it is a part of my religion to look well after the cheerfulnesses of life, and let the dismals shift for themselves". Certainly, there are poignant, moving scenes of suffering, sadness and death that are described touchingly, as well.<br /><br />She was a member of a staunch Abolitionist family and believed fiercely in the cause herself, but it is striking how clearly this coexisted with a sense of white supremacy even as she takes more overt racism to task.<br /><br />A short read and well worth the time.<br /><br /><br />

Many people don't know about this book, since the one and only Ms. Louisa May Alcott is known more for <i>Little Women</i>and its sequel <i>Little Men</i>, but for history buffs, of the Civil War especially, this is a must read. <br /><br />Being a woman permitted to help your fellow beings as a money earning career option when you weren't allowed to before is quite an excitable choice to make. Throughout this book I was told some sad and happy tales of being a Union hospital nurse during the war that divided families, friends, business associates, etc. At times I found this book a bit to wordy, which made it longer than I would have liked it. Since these are memories from different people it makes sense and even respectable to keep them as lengthy to respect the sacrifices being made by men and women at this time. Ms. Alcott's experiences during her own time as a Union nurse helps to give this book a very realistic feel. It was hard to read at times but it was worth it in the end.

5+ stars &amp; 6/10 hearts. Oh my. I enjoyed this little book so much. It was really hilarious. Louisa May Alcott outdid herself this time. It was all so sarcastic and ridiculous, and yet, it was obvious that there was a foundation of truth and that Nurse Periwinkle was strongly based off Alcott! I don’t agree with everything in this story, but it’s full of sweet anecdotes and little lessons. Definitely a favourite book from one of my favourite authors! <br /><br />A Favourite Quote: “[T]hough a stranger, John was beloved by all. Each man there had wondered at his patience, respected his piety, admired his fortitude, and now lamented his hard death; for the influence of an upright nature had made itself deeply felt, even in one little week.”<br />A Favourite Humorous Quote: “...certain printed papers, necessary to be filled out, were given a young gentleman—no, I prefer to say Boy, with a scornful emphasis upon the word, as the only means of revenge now left me. This Boy, instead of doing his duty with the diligence so charming in the young, loitered and lounged, in a manner which proved his education to have been sadly neglected in the—"How doth the little busy bee," direction. He stared at me, gaped out of the window, ate peanuts, and gossiped with his neighbors—Boys, like himself, and all penned in a row, like colts at a Cattle Show. I don't imagine he knew the anguish he was inflicting; for it was nearly three, the train left at five, and I had my ticket to get, my dinner to eat, my blessed sister to see, and the depot to reach, if I didn't die of apoplexy. Meanwhile, Patience certainly had her perfect work that day, and I hope she enjoyed the job more than I did.”

Most people know Louisa May Alcott's name for <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1934.Little_Women" title="Little Women by Louisa May Alcott" rel="noopener">Little Women</a>. They may know her name in relation to her father, Bronson Alcott, and his friendship with dudes like Ralph Waldo Emerson and H.D. Thoreau, and the Transcendentalist movement. Not as many people knew she also went to war.<br><br>Alcott spent six weeks working as a nurse in Washington, DC during the Civil War. She went home after a nasty bout of typhoid fever, but those six weeks made quite an impression on her. She turned her experiences there into a short series of "sketches" which eventually were put together into <i>Hospital Sketches</i>. The character Tribulation Periwinkle is based on Louisa's experiences herself. Had she been able to stay longer and seen more, I wonder what the "sketches" would have potentially turned into.<br><br>This was a quick read, pretty charming actually. The introduction to my edition was 38 pages long, almost as long as <i>Hospital Sketches</i> itself, and I was surprised that the first part of Alcott's account had to do with the travel to DC; very little actually focused on the hospital scene at all. In a totally selfish way I have to admit I was a bit bugged by that. I also would have preferred if Alcott hadn't made it a fictionalized story - certainly her experiences in those six weeks alone would have been for an interesting read, but it is what it is. Hospitals at that time were pretty grungy from what I understand - body parts lying around in the yard, no sterilization, not much as far as anesthetization, dead bodies hanging around in the middle of summer. Alcott touches on some of those issues, and these stories would certainly open readers' eyes to the reality behind a lot of the other war stories they may have heard.<br><br>Interesting to note that the role of women as nurses in hospitals during the Civil War was not to assist the surgeons in their operations - in fact, women weren't often allowed in to witness the operations unless they specifically asked to be a part of it. The role of the nurses was to comfort the soldiers after the surgery. Their role was quite controversial it seems as many thought it imprudent to have women in the rooms at all. 'Cause, y'know, women just want to have sex with anything possessing a penis, and clearly their desire to help the wounded had nothing to do with actually helping the wounded. Pshaw.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380341159i/697403.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br>(Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine)

It's hard to believe this is one of Louisa May Alcott's earliest published works. Over the course of just a few chapters, she had me both laughing out loud at her inimitable humor and sobbing outright at the pathos of her descriptions. The deathbed scene of a man we hadn't met until we knew he was dying affected me as much as those of any of her better-known and loved characters and had me berating her through my tears for breaking down my guard with her hilarious accounts of the preparations for and accomplishment of her journey.<br /><br />Content: a few instances of profanity from the soldiers (although most of it is hinted, not written); some attitudes toward black people that might be considered racist by today's standards, although far ahead of much of the thought of the time.

I love Little Women, but it would never have occurred to me to read this had I not been putting through an order from the PS Books (Postscript) catalogue and spotted it.<br /><br />This is a very small book (112 pages in my edition) and there is not a wasted word or thought it in. A lightly fictionalised account of Alcott's time as a nurse in Washington DC during the American Civil War, the publication of these vignettes was the real beginning of her successful writing career. <br /><br />So many of these stories are poignant. I teared up at the death of a Virginian blacksmith called John, and was pleased by Alcott's use of this work to promote fairer treatment of black people. There is also humour in this book and she writes that "it is a part of my religion to look well after the cheerfulnesses of life, and let the dismals shift for themselves". A beautiful work.