Rating: 
Summary: Slow start
Review: I read the jacket of this book, and my curiousity was immediately piqued. I like historical fiction, and the plot description seemed to contain all the elements of a page turner. Essentially, Mary is kicked out of her meager home by her mother when she is 15, after she learns Mary is pregnant. Mary sacrificed her virginity to a slimy street merchant who offered to give her a ribbon in exchange for the use of her body. Once on the streets, Mary became a full-time prostitute and was befriended by Doll Higgins, a beautiful but scarred, worldly prostitute of 20.Unfortunately, the beginning of this book left me flat. The character of Mary's mother and even the character of Doll were not well-developed. I felt as though Donoghue was telling rather than showing what these characters were like. There is no indication of why Mary's mother is so hardened and cruel. Likewise, why is the hard-as-nails prostitute, whose motto is "Every girl for herself" suddenly downright motherly to Mary? When Mary becomes ill, she seeks shelter in a house of penitence on the advice of Doll. This part of the book drags as well, as Mary expresses boredom and outrage with the hypocricy and monotony of the shelter. I could relate to her boredom. Fortunately, the book takes a dramatic turn for the better when Mary escapes to Monmouth and enters the service of Jane Jones, a former friend of her mother's. Mrs. Jones takes an immediate liking to the girl, and ignores all the signs of Mary's past (and present.) The characters in Monmouth were much more developed than those of London. Mrs. Jones had led a lonely, disappointing life, and longed for a confidante. Things begin well in Monmouth, but as expected, take a serious downward spiral into corruption and murder. By the end of the book, I finally had a sense of why Mary acted as she did. All in all, I wouldn't reread this book, but it was enjoyable once I got past the slow start.
Rating:
Summary: engaging and descriptive, but...
Review: if my mistress/owner took the money i "worked" so hard for and gave it to the poor box, among other condescending things she's done to me, you bet i'd kill her.
Rating: 
Summary: The shattered life of a "working girl"....
Review: This gritty account of the short life of Mary Saunders proposes a likely scenario for this ill-fated young woman. On the streets of 1760's London and pregnant at 14, Mary does what desperate women have done since the beginning of recorded time. While the facts may differ, Mary's short life as a street hustler, befriended by Doll, another prostitute, is an old one. By circumstance and the imminence of violence, Mary finds herself on the road to distant rural Monmouth, offering her services as a maid/seamstress to her mother's former schoolmate, Jane Jones. Finding acceptance in the household, there is a great moral cataclysm for Mary as she struggles to define her daily life in this remote area. Mrs. Jones, for her part, has an inexplicable fondness for the simple girl, her country naivete allowing Jane to overlook the obvious. And Mary is strangely drawn to the comfort of "family" of a sort, but unable to relinquish her obsession to save money for an unknown future, clandestinely servicing travelers. Under the weighty yoke of womanhood forced through the body of an adolescent, Mary trusts only her intimate knowledge of life's bitter hazards. With one hand groping for security and safe harbor, the other reaches instinctively toward devastation and the annihilation of her own small spark of life. Mary spends her final days waiting for the hangman, feeling the fetid breath of Death upon her neck: "Mary knew now that death moved through the crowd wearing the face of an ordinary stranger, and tapped you on the shoulder with no warning. Better to run into his embrace." Much like THE DRESS LODGER, SLAMMERKIN is richly detailed and profoundly disturbing. How many women have passed without note, in a world where their only worth is judged by the usefulness of flesh and transient value to the natural needs of man? At Mary's hanging, a fellow servant and one-time suitor muses, "how easily the worst in oneself could rise up and strike a blow. How even the most enlightened man had little power over his own darkness." And how fortunate we are, those of us who have the luxury of reading this haunting tale, freed from the necessity of living its brutal reality
Rating: 
Summary: Aspiring to the unattainable
Review: This extremely compelling plot is set in the 1600's--a story of a young woman educated just enough to aspire to what she cannot have. Mary is 13 or so when the book opens; she finds herself in incredibly poor circumstances, but, as we learn from the detailed historical re-creation Donohue gives us, not the worst. She has been educated in accordance with the wishes of her dead father, but having reached "adulthood" she has no choice other than to be a seamstress like her mother, sewing all day in a dark cellar until her eyes give out. Mary is cursed with a love of pretty things, and innocently loses her "virtue" and becomes pregnant for want of a pretty red ribbon. Thrown out of the house, with no alternative but prostitution, Mary tastes freedom and loves the costumes that are necessary to her trade. Once having known these things, Mary finds it impossible to abandon the prostitute's life, despite two very good chances she is given to do so. Mary is a tragic figure--she is like an alcoholic who falls off the wagon despite the most sincere attempts to stop drinking. The author has done a fine job in recreating London of the 17th century, especially the nuances of class. Little things--the ability to buy candles for extra light, the absence of holes in a dress, regular meals, no matter how meager--all distinguish the poor from one another. And the issue of slavery is presented with a most interesting twist. This is not an intellectually challenging book, but a very vivid page-turner--well worth your while if you're a lover of historical fiction.
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: Kudos to Emma D. She has combined the elements of a sociological treatise, a murder mystery and a love affair--love of liberty--in a single novel. Some achievement! It is literature and deserving of a place on a bookshelf with Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment. Book collectors would do well to get a copy, in particular a British first edition. I did.
And a pox on the misguided few who yap at this young writer's heels; they show an incapacity to recognize literary worth.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and thought provoking
Review: First and foremost, it is definately one of those books you stay up far into the night reading. Emma Donoghue is an expert writer. He attention to detail in setting, and mood, added to great characterization, and insight into human frailities and social values created a story well worth reading What really struck me is how I was left with lingering thoughts about liberty. My favorite part of the book was the way Donoghue really aimed at the world the heroine moved it; it's intransience, it's rigidity. I think an overwhelming theme of the novel is the concept of liberty. Something we take for granted as an inalienable right hasn't always been. Additionally, there really is no reward for goodness, and that makes you rather sad. You want to root for the heroine even though you know it is pretty hopeless from the get-go. I loved this book! It was both thought-provoking and a good read!
Rating: 
Summary: How bad can this GET?
Review: I have read much historical fiction -- not to mention fiction from the period here abused, but never before ha the period seemed boring to me. But this time! Even "sex among the whores" read like 3-day-old bread: dry, musty, stale, flat, boring. Characters? Well...Why did I have to finish reading this book (it took me long enough too . . .)? If one must complain, one at least must know of what one complains. Now I do know. In spades. Leave this one on the shelf!
Rating:
Summary: I Couldn't put it down! Slammerkin is a page-turner!!!
Review: I was up until 2:30 in the morning finishing this fantastic book - reading about the life of Mary Saunders in 18th Century England was absolutely astonishing! Her survival, her attempts to support herself, make her a complex character, sometimes drawing pity, empathy, and then dislike at some of her antics. This is one you can't put down - I wish every book I read could be as compelling as this one! 5 Stars!!!
Rating:
Summary: 4 & 1/2 if I could...
Review: Set in England in a much different time and place, Slammerkin is a dark read. Emma Donaghue does an excellent job placing us in England in the 18th Century, with all of its societal rules and roles. We meet Mary, a young girl, and follow her, as she begins a descent into the darker side of old London. Based on true personages from this time period, Donaghue captures characters that are true to life, mysterious, and surprising. With each twist and turn, one wonders where the novel will go next. Impulsive, and immature, Mary takes us on a dark adventure through the time period.
Her escapades are never-ending, and her character will stick by you, whether or not you'd like her to be there.
Exploring significant characters often ignored by history books, and those wishing to push certain unmentionable events under the rug, Slammerkin provides for an insightful and intriguing read.
Although a very somber novel, it is very much worthwhile. It sat on my shelf much too long, before being read. Once I finally picked it up, I couldn't stop reading. I was intrigued and at times disgusted, but glued to the book, nonetheless. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great read but very depressing
Review: Slammerkin really pulls you in. I read it all in one sitting and could not put it down. The author does a wonderful job of making the time period and location come alive, and Mary is a very three dimensional character whom I rooted for while knowing that she was not an all together nice person. I kept hoping that Mary would indeed find all that her heart desired, and the first half of the book has the feeling of Moll Flanders. I felt that Mary's cheekiness might end up serving her well, and I imagined that the book would become a romp. Alas, not so. The story turns quite somber, and I felt very depressed after reading it. This is not a flaw of the book, which is very well written, but readers should be aware that this is not a happy day kind of novel.
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