Genre Fiction
![Jennifer Haigh - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001ITYY04.jpg)
Mercy Street: A Novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of the Year by the Washington Post, the New Yorker, and the Boston Globe
"Ms. Haigh is an expertly nuanced storyteller long overdue for major attention. Her work is gripping, real, and totally immersive, akin to that of writers as different as Richard Price, Richard Ford, and Richard Russo."-Janet Maslin, New York Times
The highly praised, "extraordinary" (New York Times Book Review) novel about the disparate lives that intersect at a women's clinic in Boston, by New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh
For almost a decade, Claudia has counseled patients at Mercy Street, a clinic in the heart of the city. The work is consuming, the unending dramas of women in crisis. For its patients, Mercy Street offers more than health care; for many, it is a second chance.
But outside the clinic, the reality is different. Anonymous threats are frequent. A small, determined group of anti-abortion demonstrators appears each morning at its door. As the protests intensify, fear creeps into Claudia's days, a humming anxiety she manages with frequent visits to Timmy, an affable pot dealer in the midst of his own existential crisis. At Timmy's, she encounters a random assortment of customers, including Anthony, a lost soul who spends most of his life online, chatting with the mysterious Excelsior11-the screenname of Victor Prine, an anti-abortion crusader who has set his sights on Mercy Street and is ready to risk it all for his beliefs.
Mercy Street is a novel for right now, a story of the polarized American present. Jennifer Haigh, "an expert natural storyteller with a keen sense of her characters' humanity" (New York Times), has written a groundbreaking novel, a fearless examination of one of the most divisive issues of our time.
Named a Best Book of the Year by the Washington Post, the New Yorker, and the Boston Globe
"Ms. Haigh is an expertly nuanced storyteller long overdue for major attention. Her work is gripping, real, and totally immersive, akin to that of writers as different as Richard Price, Richard Ford, and Richard Russo."-Janet Maslin, New York Times
The highly praised, "extraordinary" (New York Times Book Review) novel about the disparate lives that intersect at a women's clinic in Boston, by New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh
For almost a decade, Claudia has counseled patients at Mercy Street, a clinic in the heart of the city. The work is consuming, the unending dramas of women in crisis. For its patients, Mercy Street offers more than health care; for many, it is a second chance.
But outside the clinic, the reality is different. Anonymous threats are frequent. A small, determined group of anti-abortion demonstrators appears each morning at its door. As the protests intensify, fear creeps into Claudia's days, a humming anxiety she manages with frequent visits to Timmy, an affable pot dealer in the midst of his own existential crisis. At Timmy's, she encounters a random assortment of customers, including Anthony, a lost soul who spends most of his life online, chatting with the mysterious Excelsior11-the screenname of Victor Prine, an anti-abortion crusader who has set his sights on Mercy Street and is ready to risk it all for his beliefs.
Mercy Street is a novel for right now, a story of the polarized American present. Jennifer Haigh, "an expert natural storyteller with a keen sense of her characters' humanity" (New York Times), has written a groundbreaking novel, a fearless examination of one of the most divisive issues of our time.
Editorial Reviews
"Extraordinary . . . Wonderfully entertaining, boasting a large, varied cast of vividly drawn characters whose company readers will find deeply rewarding, in no small part because lurking in their shadows is the devastatingly wry humor of their creator. . . . [Haigh is] paying close attention to their choices, large and small. That's not artifice, it's art. And I was gobsmacked." - Richard Russo, New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
"[Haigh is] a superb unsung novelist hovering just under the radar. . . Abortion, guns, vigilantism, drug dealing, white supremacy, bitter misogyny and online fetishism all figure in the tableau Haigh expertly details. . . . Her books might feel traditional if she relied on simple structure, but she likes Altmanesque ways of weaving characters together. . . . She's largely not interested in destruction here: These people have seen enough of it already. She's interested in what makes them human." - Janet Maslin, New York Times
"Haigh deftly walks across the fault line of one of the most divisive issues of our age, peeling back ideology and revealing what all ideology refuses to recognize: an individual's humanity. . . . Mercy Street argues, both in form and content, that compassion is a powerful counterpoint to the conflict-driven stories that dominate our news cycles, our news feeds and our Netflix queues. In Haigh's world, in other words, mercy may no longer be fashionable, but it sure is necessary." - San Francisco Chronicle
"Terrifically readable." - Wall Street Journal
"Perceptive. . . . In Haigh's expert hands, [Mercy Street] explores how we arrive at the beliefs we hold." - Real Simple
"Fiction is often a more alluring vessel of truth than nonfiction, and in her recently lauded novel centered on a Boston abortion clinic in 2015, Haigh depicts lives that intersect publicly as her characters grapple with the most intimate of decisions. From a clinic hotline manager to a gaggle of anti-abortion protestors, Haigh boldly seeks out moral nuance, melding crystalline language to a topical story that twists and turns toward a stunning crescendo." - Oprah Daily
"[Haigh is] a superb unsung novelist hovering just under the radar. . . Abortion, guns, vigilantism, drug dealing, white supremacy, bitter misogyny and online fetishism all figure in the tableau Haigh expertly details. . . . Her books might feel traditional if she relied on simple structure, but she likes Altmanesque ways of weaving characters together. . . . She's largely not interested in destruction here: These people have seen enough of it already. She's interested in what makes them human." - Janet Maslin, New York Times
"Haigh deftly walks across the fault line of one of the most divisive issues of our age, peeling back ideology and revealing what all ideology refuses to recognize: an individual's humanity. . . . Mercy Street argues, both in form and content, that compassion is a powerful counterpoint to the conflict-driven stories that dominate our news cycles, our news feeds and our Netflix queues. In Haigh's world, in other words, mercy may no longer be fashionable, but it sure is necessary." - San Francisco Chronicle
"Terrifically readable." - Wall Street Journal
"Perceptive. . . . In Haigh's expert hands, [Mercy Street] explores how we arrive at the beliefs we hold." - Real Simple
"Fiction is often a more alluring vessel of truth than nonfiction, and in her recently lauded novel centered on a Boston abortion clinic in 2015, Haigh depicts lives that intersect publicly as her characters grapple with the most intimate of decisions. From a clinic hotline manager to a gaggle of anti-abortion protestors, Haigh boldly seeks out moral nuance, melding crystalline language to a topical story that twists and turns toward a stunning crescendo." - Oprah Daily
Readers Top Reviews
ReaderWriter
Jennifer Haigh is one of my favourite authors and Mercy Street did not disappoint. The book explores the abortion issue from both sides; pro-choice and pro-life. Claudia, the main character, works at a clinic in Boston that offers women abortions. On the street outside the pro-life protesters stand in judgement with their banners, and one of their contingent photographs women as they attend appointments. At a time when Roe v Wade is under threat and the American religious right is demanding (successfully in several states) an end to a woman's right to choose, this is a very timely book. The anti-abortionists in the story are pitiful characters - lonely single men with inferiority complexes and no life beyond their obsession with the bodily autonomy of women. Victor's crusade is driven by racism, certain that white women are not producing enough babies and America will be taken over by Blacks and Hispanics. (Interestingly, the challenge to Roe v Wade references 'the domestic supply of infants'.) Like the other anti-abortionists, he hides behind the anonymity of his keyboard alias and has weapons stockpiled for the end of days. It's easy to laugh at these people and their paranoid, backward views, until you realise how powerful they are in America, their uneducated minds fuelled by conspiracy theories stoked by the Republican party. In Haigh's skilled hands Mercy Street is an absorbing and prescient read earning each one of its 5 stars.
Michael SpielmanHemb
The excellent review here by Brez should be seconded because almost all the other reviewers have ignored the key element. Ms. Haigh is a fine writer but while I have never read any of her short stories I’m willing to bet that they are not stories at all but of the “Slice of Life” school. That is, interesting characters but no plot. And that is exactly what she has rendered here: interesting characters on both sides of the abortion issue but virtually no interaction between the two sides. Almost nothing changes from the situation at the start of the book to the end. So while I enjoyed her descriptions of her characters’ lives I really wished she would have written a story.
BooksRBrainFood
I found the author’s approach to the subject of a woman’s health clinic that provides gyn services, including abortion to be refreshing. The various sides of the topic were well expressed and the interaction between the characters was interesting. Overall an interesting read.
BrezRobert J. Stone
***Spoiler Alert! ***I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed "Heat and Light" except for the wind-down ending, but that was pretty much how the fracking petered out. So, pass. I expected greatness from Mercy Street. The author is a brilliant writer, masterful at metaphor and simile, and analogies. The book is character-driven, to an extreme, and her ability tp put one into the angst of each character is brilliant. Also, her advocacy for Choice is irrefutable, as is mine. But, But, there is no plot! There were several good threads that I believed would lead to a rational denouement. Unfortunately, after the characters had become tedious, and the themes redundant, Ms. Haigh just seemed to get tired of writing, put her typewriter away, mailed in the script, and went to lunch or whatever. How very sad that she turned such brilliance into such disappointment. Three stars for the themes and writing genius. Absent that, I would have given one for turning what could have been a great novel (if it only had a plot) into a semi-biographical roman a clef. I won't be reading any more of her stuff.
Kindle MefCharliep
Great topic. The story felt a little disjointed as it skipped around a lot. The dilemmas of pregnant women and the problems so many faced was clear and important.
