Louisa May Alcott's semiautobiographical story of a nurse's experiences in the Civil War. Alcott, most famous for her "Little Women" novel, weaves a light but fulfilling story.
Hospital Sketches
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About the Author
ALICE FAHS is associate professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. Her book The Imagined Civil War: Popular Literature of the North and South, 1861-1865 (2001) was awarded Honorable Mention for the 2002 Lincoln Prize. She has also published articles on Civil War history, gender history, popular culture, and popular literature.
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First Sentence
"I WANT something to do." Read the first page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
"I WANT something to do." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By cheeto1
Format:Paperback
The main character of Hospital Sketches is Nurse Tribulation Periwinkle. The book is about her experiences as a nurse at a Washington D.C. hospital during the civil war. The theme is cheerful despite the wounded men. One man showed his gratitude for the way she helped him stay cheerful by offering "I've got a pair of earbobs and a handkerchief pin I'm a-goin' to give you"(Alcott 69). Cheerfulness is shown when a nurse says, "Bless their hearts..."(Alcott 75) because she is so proud of the soldiers. The Author makes everything more confusing than it has to be. For instance, "as we quitted them, followed by grateful glances that lighted us to bed"(Alcott 75). She uses this sentence to say that people smiled at the nurses as they went to bed. She often switches from one subject to another without making any indication of it, leaving you confused. "At the beginning of my reign, dumps and dismals prevailed"(Alcott 77). She says this while she is telling you about the breakfast she is eating. That has nothing to do with breakfast. She is unclear about what she is referring to. The main Conflict doesn't come until the end. She gets sick and needs to decide whether to keep on working there, or go home and try to get better. She decides to go home because her father says, "Come home." I think this book was poorly written, and I don't recommend it to anyone.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
At first when I got the book I was expecting stories about the soldiers and Civil War more then a first time nurse. The book starts with two really boring first chapters that tell about her trip to the hospital, and then finally starts up with her time spent helping patients. Though it never tells in depth anything about the wounded. It is more about how Lousia May Alcott and other nurses handled the jobs given them. I was expecting something that would make you sympathize more with the soldiers then a nurse, and something that would bring you into the time and setting. I learned nearly nothing about what it was like for the soldiers from this book, I only learned I don't like Louisa May Alcotts writing style.
By Caitlin
Format:Paperback
I loved "Hospital Skeches" by Louisa May Alcott. It tells of many wounded soldiers that Louisa actually met in her nursing period at the Georgetown Hospital. It tells of Sergeant Bane and his "Dearest Jane", Doctor P., the 'quiet sleeper', who "would like a drink of water, if you ain't too busy", Billy, Kit, and many others. The only things that I didn't absolutly love about "Hospital Sketches was the font, which was difficult to read, and the fact that Louisa herself isn't the exact main character, name and all. However, Nurse Periwinkle, who replaces Louisa, is an almost carbon copy of Alcott, so I can't really complain. People just don't write books that are as good and as true as this anymore. As I said in my title, this is a truly vivid account of the wounded men and the nurses in the Civil War.
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