Mercy Street

This book is about Claudia, who has run the clinic on Mercy Street for years, during the winter Boston was hit by snowstorm after snowstorm. She's never been afraid and sometimes argues with the protestors who stake out the entrance and yell at the women attempting to access the clinic's many services. She has a weed dealer named Timmy she visits now and again. Timmy fell into the job a long time ago and now that his son is a teenager, he's thinking that it's past time for him to start a legitimate business and make a life where his son could come and live with him. Anthony also visits Timmy. He hasn't been the same since a workplace accident put him on disability, but the weed helps with the vertigo and the headaches. Anthony found a show more place to belong in his local church and a priest has him running an anti-abortion website for him. He has a friend he only knows by his internet name, and who has asked him to take pictures of women entering the clinic on Mercy Street for him.

Haigh does a great job with the structure of taking unconnected characters and gradually showing how they relate to one another and putting those characters on a collision course. And while the novel centers on a women's clinic and the people it serves, this isn't a book that exists to drive home a political point. The characters are all so believable and human, from the drug dealer to the guy with very unfortunate views about women. I've read a few of Haigh's novels now and I've enjoyed the thoughtful way she approaches polarizing subject matter in every one. show less

This book just so flat out blew me away that I'm at a loss for words. MERCY STREET, Jennifer Haigh's latest, is a bullseye look at the way America is today, with all its nastiness, pettiness, division, hate, small mindedness hypocrisy and more. In it, Haigh once again takes aim at one of her favorite targets, the Church, specifically its antiabortion stance. But she also tackles white male supremacy, online porn, far right talk radio, gun nuts, survivalists, our health care system mess and the eternal plight of the marginalized poor and ignorant. Yeah, really. It's all in there, just like a giant jar of Prego. And it all converges on a Boston health center for women, which too many see only as "an abortion clinic." The central character show more is Claudia Birch, a divorced, forty-plus worker at the Mercy Street clinic, who grew up as "trailer trash" in rural Maine, but escaped to college and a somewhat better, if lonely, life. On a daily basis, she fights her way to work through crowds of obnoxious pro-life protesters. One of these is Anthony, a traumatic brain injury victim on disability who lives in his mother's basement and attends daily mass with an odd assortment of old people faithful. As a cradle Catholic, I found myself chortling and even guffawing in the initial Anthony chapter with its descriptions of Catholic rituals, education and brainwashing. And it takes place at the (fictional) parish of St Dymphna, patron saint of mental illness. Claudia doesn't know Anthony but they both know Timmy Flynn, the friendly local pot dealer, another important player here, with an angry ex-wife and teenage son down in Florida. And finally there is Victor Prine, Vietnam vet and retired long haul trucker, deeply influenced by years of white supremacy talk radio, and now waging a one-man antiabortion crusade, planting handmade signs across the country. (And, incidentally, he is from the former coaltown of Bakerton, Haigh's setting for her best-selling trilogy.) These four fascinating characters' lives all begin to merge in a riveting narrative that kept me turning pages deep into the wee hours, finally culminating in a conclusion that took me totally by surprise - but I liked it.

Well, I guess I found words after all. And in case you haven't guessed, I loved this book. It gets my very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

In Jennifer Haigh’s novel, Heat and Light, we got a great portrait of the question of fracking as seen by multiple characters with different perspectives. She now takes on the question of abortion in a wintry Boston where the snow and the desperation keep accumulating. The main character Claudia is an intake counselor who provides the sympathy and information needed to women and girls during desperate times. She and her clients have to pass through a crowd of anti-abortion protesters, one of whom is sending pictures to an online white supremacist who creates a wall of shame website. Claudia is a great portrait of a knowledgeable dedicated counselor who grew up in a trailer with a mother who took on foster children for an income. show more She’s divorced and interacts with two men, one for convenient sex, the other for weed. interestingly the three other main characters are men: one is Timothy who sells weed, and another Anthony, who was injured in a construction site accident and seeks the consolation of community that he finds in a dwindling Catholic Parish. Lastly we have Victor Prime, who after serving in Vietnam and after being jailed for domestic abuse, fears that the white race is losing its power, its majority. The answer is to prevent white women from having abortions.
The writing is wonderful and provides a picture of poverty that’s important to see.
Richard Russo “the book is 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”
Highly recommend this and will look to continue to explore her works.

Lines:

Drug addiction and alcoholism, depression and anxiety, accidental pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. These conditions are believed to share a common etiology, the failure of virtue. Whatever their diagnosis, all Wellways patients have this in common: their troubles are seen to be, in part or in full, their own goddamn fault.

The name-calling was more disturbing. Not so much the word itself as the way he said it: triumphantly, as though winning an argument. For a certain type of man, cunt was a concealed weapon—discreet, portable, always at the ready.

Tara’s life was a burning building with a fire on each floor. Which fire did you put out first?

The food stamps were blue or purple, to make absolutely certain no one would ever mistake them for actual money. It was important to make them look like what they were: government handouts for poor people. They were designed for maximum embarrassment.

The world was full of discarded people, sickly old ones and damaged young ones, and she was a paid caretaker. It said something about the world that this was the worst-paying job around.

Claudia excelled at this type of dating. Like a city gardener who grows tiny tomatoes in clay pots, she had realistic expectations. There was a natural limit on how big such plants could grow.

He wore no coat, just the standard Boston street uniform: nylon track pants, wool watch cap, a short-sleeved T-shirt over a long-sleeved one.

The owner was a throwback in every way: his hair slick with Brylcreem, the novelty bowling shirts he wore to hide his high belly, which began at the sternum.

wedlock rhymed with headlock,

“It’s the snow,” said Claudia. “Storm babies. It accounts for half the population of New England.”

Back then Phil had a full beard and a nimbus of curly hair—packing material, she thought, to protect his outsized brain. Now he had life insurance and acid reflux and a spreading bald spot, yarmulke-sized, on top of his head.

Married life was like walking around in shoes that almost fit. She wore them every day for two years, and still they gave her blisters. Like most shoes designed for women, they were not foot-shaped.

St. Dymphna was the patroness of incest survivors, children raped by fathers. Her subspecialties were neurological disorders, depression, and anxiety. The modern saint was expected to multitask.

In the sad B movie that was life in Grantham, actors were recast periodically, replaced with younger models, but the script itself never changed. It was that kind of town.

The paternal resemblance existed for one reason only: to prove that the female was not a whore.

The kitchen clock had a jerky second hand, like an old man with a tremor. show less

Trigger warning: This is not an easy read and deals with issues of abortion, poverty, opinions on government, religion, and other heavy topics.

In 2015 on Ash Wednesday, a major Nor'easter was predicted for the Boston area of Massachusetts which isn't an unusual occurrence but the angry protestors outside of the Mercy Street Women's Clinic rises to a fearful level. Being from Boston I could visually imagine the scene which she depicts pretty accurately in the Chinatown and Charlestown districts of Boston. The neighborhoods have historically not been densely populated with diverse cultures. Beliefs and judgements tend to be strongly ingrained from birth so tensions run high on a religious day in particular at an abortion clinic.

Claudia show more Birch has worked as a counselor for many years mostly ignoring the determined anti-abortion protesters each morning and the frequent anonymous death threats that littered the clinic. Aside from the stress of her job she also has the responsibility of checking on her childhood "house" in Maine. She grew up with her mother, Deb, in a trailer where her mother took in many foster kids for the money provided for their care. She went to Boston where she obtained a degree in social work most likely as a result of growing up in poverty. She hasn't elevated her status as she often finds herself visiting Tim Flynn for weed to alleviate her anxiety. There are a few memorable characters in this novel representative of the stereotypical extremes on social issues.

Anthony Blanchard is a traditional Catholic who suffering a brain injury on site at his construction job. He lives in his mother's basement surviving with the help of marijuana and maintaining a schedule of daily Mass and visits to the clinic. He spends time online focusing on abortion although his brain injury makes it difficult for him to make any sound explanations for the protests against abortion. He finds solace being in the company of other people so feels drawn to be accepted by others.

Victor Prine is the catalyst of violence in the story with his misogynist, racist opinions shaped from being raised in poverty by a prostitute mother. He listens to Doug Straight who has a radio show spewing his doomsday, racist theories. Victor also holds a strong position online sharing his angry white supremist views which evolves into full-blown anti-government ideology where he begins stockpiling weapons. He is clearly the most unstable of characters depicted which eventually leads to a confrontation at Mercy Clinic which has everyone considering their lives and what matters most in life.

Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book. This review is my unbiased and voluntary opinion. show less

Jennifer Haigh has once again proven her talent as a gifted writer in this timely, aptly-named novel set in Boston during a very harsh winter. The characters include Claudia, working as a counselor in a women's healthcare clinic in Boston; Anthony, living on disability in his mother's basement due to a traumatic brain injury; Timmy, a local drug dealer; and Victor, a far-right Vietnam veteran obsessed with white supremacy and the self-imposed need to stop abortions at any cost. The protestors who meet daily outside the clinic are seemingly unaware that the clinic provides health care for women that goes beyond termination of pregnancies. These self-righteous people feel entitled to confront women with scripture and hate. There is show more apparently no need for them to recognize or understand the factors that lead women to the difficult decision of abortion. Where are these people when unwanted children are born?

Haigh does a deep dive into all the factors that lead to a currently deeply-divided country. She explores the issues around abortion, gun control, racism, the Catholic church's unremitting stance on abortion, children in foster care, and the angry people living on the fringes of society. These seemingly-unrelated characters are all meant to meet with an unexpected, perhaps hopeful, ending.

I applaud Jennifer Haigh for another noteworthy book. One of her previous novels, Faith, is also thought-provoking. She is definitely an author to follow. show less

OK, wow. Mercy Street is Jennifer Haigh’s best book yet, and that’s saying a lot. Just finished listening to this on audio. Narrated perfectly by Stacey Glembosky, who doesn’t overdo the accents for the characters in Boston, Maine, and Midwest. You might think a book set in and around a women's health clinic that provides abortions would be grim and message-y but the author has fully developed, believable characters with close and distant connections to the Mercy Street clinic and makes the motivations of even the whacko extremists on the anti-abortionist side understandable.

Highly recommended: Suspenseful, read-aloud writing, incredible characterizations, and as prescient as possible given its theme of a woman who works as a counselor in an abortion clinic. As Ron Charles wrote in the Washington Post, "[b:Mercy Street|58006995|Mercy Street|Jennifer Haigh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1626718788l/58006995._SY75_.jpg|90897808] carefully sketches out the geography of poverty, that invisible realm that lies just beyond the horizon of middle-class life. Without condescension or sentimentality, [a:Jennifer Haigh|41209|Jennifer Haigh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1623875593p2/41209.jpg] describes people who aspire to live in a double-wide trailer, who must decide show more between paying the water bill and the cable bill, who feel the humiliation of using food stamps. Indeed, that life was Claudia’s adolescence, a background that makes her particularly attuned to the logic of the clinic’s poorer clients."

He goes on "Claudia’s mother, who had no particular interest in parenting, took in foster kids expressly to get extra cash from the state. Haigh never pushes on this theme, but she doesn’t need to: It’s clear that Claudia’s early exposure to the multitude of children unwanted by anyone and carelessly warehoused by the government has made her determined to present women with real reproductive choices."

The descriptions of snowy NE weather and roads, and conversations among the wildly varied cast of characters were on the mark, as, I imagine, were the strange mental meanderings of the gun freak haunting the Internet. Reminded me a bit of [b:The Beans of Egypt, Maine|263862|The Beans of Egypt, Maine|Carolyn Chute|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389141854l/263862._SY75_.jpg|464869] Fine work. show less