Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Harcourt
Manufacturer: Harcourt
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: June 15, 2001
Publishing house: Harcourt
Sale Popularity Level: 1089102
Studio: Harcourt
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Slammerkin: A loose gown; a loose woman.
Born to rough cloth in Hogarth's London, but longing for silk, Mary Saunders's eye for a shiny blue ribbon leads her to prostitution at a young age. A dangerous misstep sends her fleeing to Monmouth, and the position of household seamstress, the ordinary life of an ordinary girl with no expectations. But Mary has known freedom, and having never known love, it is freedom that motivates her. Mary asks herself if the prostitute who hires out her body is more or less free than the 'honest woman' locked into marriage, or the servant who runs a household not her own? And is either as free as a man? Ultimately, Mary remains true only to the three rules she learned on the streets: Never give up your liberty. Clothes make the woman. Clothes are the greatest lie ever told.
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Rated by buyers -
Mary Saunders, the main character of "Slammerkin" is thirteen years old at the beginning of the story. She lives in London in the middle of 18th century, with her seamstress mother, Susan Digot, her stepfather and baby stepbrother. Mary's mother, who regrets coming to London from her homtown, Monmouth, is poor but honest, and wants to carry out Mary's father's wish - to give the girl her education. Mary goes to school, but she is bored and restless. She is hopelessly attracted to the superficial beauty of clothes, and her desire for a ribbon marks the beginning of her fast descent into darkness.
Kicked out of her family home, Mary becomes a prostitute and befriends the girl she often admired, Doll Higgins, who, at 21, is cynical and hardened by her "harlot" life.
During less than two years Mary has left of her short life, she learns more of the world than many other people ever do. When ill, she enters the Magdalene hospital for lost and ruined girls, who are expected to be reformed in exchange for medical care. Unfortunately, the simple life and future of hard work that the nuns offer to the women, do not appeal to Mary, who still dreams of grandeur and beauty. She leaves and after a strange chain of events (and lies) finds herself a servant-apprentice of her mother's childhood friend, Jane Jones, a fine dressmaker in Monmouth on the border with Wales. There she has a chance to start life anew... but the chance is lost forever.
"Slammerkin" is a good character study: Mary, although intelligent in an instinctive way (she despises bookish knowledge and laughs at Daffy Cadwaladyr, another servant in a Jones household, for being fond of them), and very good with handiwork, has emotional intelligence of a baby (only survival matters, no sympathy for others) combined with uncurable dreams of wealth (strangely, she mistakes it for liberty and personal freedom) without any foundation to achieve even a part of it, which trumps even her survival instinct. He thinks a lot of herself, and truly sees the limits of others - but she is limited herself, so much she is doomed from the beginning of her adult life.
The historical background is amazingly depicted - I felt the cold, smelly dampness of London streets Mary walked, and the fresh air around Monmouth, which she almost learned to appreciate. The cast of characters is also superb - all of them are flawed, weak, and pathetic - but very human with their imperfections. I especially liked the character of Abi, a former slave girl whose notions of personal freedom are in sharp contrast to Mary's.
This dark, depressing novel is interesting and well written, but the as a moral tale it is rather superficial: the notion of all people being corrupt in one way or the other is nothing new, and Mary's lack of redemption, although sad, is to be expected, despite the authors' attempts to deceive the reader by giving Mary several chances for honest, happy life. The ending (based on a true story of a girl of the same name) gives no hope.
The class constraints and limitations are obviously a theme here, as well as personal freedom, but the depth is lost in the details of a good story. The book is engrossing, but ultimately offers not much more than good, cleverly crafted story. Not a bad thing per se, but it had a potential to be much more than that.
Rated by buyers 
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I read the whole thing, to my shock. In the author's defense, there was a vast and rather intriguing group of characters, but none of them were likeable. There is the bitter mother that rues the day she gave birth to a worthless girl, prostitute whose life was utterly pointless, the tailour lady that thought it ok to have a slave, the minister that was also a pimp on the side, the disloyal husband, the religious but hateful fanatic, and last, but certainly not least, an incredible spoiled brat, which is the heroine in this story. The closest I came to feeling sorry or feeling anything at all for any of these characters was the slave. Every other character in this book is a hypocrit. The jolly prostitute may be the only exception. She at least was honest about what she was and held her up and drank and was cheerful. She did not feel the need to kill, steal, or hurt others to rise above her "station" in life. All in all, this book disgusted me. There was a little too much detail about the "cullies" (male customers) and the actual acts. However, it was interesting to get a look at the non royal life. I have read so much about the rich royal family, that it was interesting to get a feel for what went on outside the palaces in that time. Thus, I gave it two stars. However, this book is not memorable and will not enrich your life in any way.
Rated by buyers -
Applying objective standards, I judge "Slammerkin" to be a very well-written book with an imaginative plot and interesting historical detail. What bothered me is my completely subjective and very negative response to the almost unrelenting downward spiral that the life of the main character followed. I don't believe that a novel has to be all sweetness and light, or have a "happy ending," but I had to put "Slammerkin" aside before the end because I couldn't take anymore sadness and dashed hopes. I am puzzled as to why Emma Donoghue made the choices she did with respect to the way Mary Saunders's life plays out. Did she want to communicate to us that life was nasty, brutish and short for the poor and those cast out of their families in 18th century England? I think that most people are aware of that fact. Did she wish to tell us that the misfortunes that befall us damage us so completely that we are fated to act in ways that ensure that they will be repeated until we're no longer alive? In any event, Mary's story was way too depressing for me to contemplate over the course of 400 (or was it more?) pages. One last note, despite what several of the other reader reviews have reported, there really isn't very much sex in "Slammerkin" and what there is certainly isn't erotic.
Rated by buyers -
I saw this book on several Listmania's, and still wasn't very interested in it. But on a whim, I added it to my wishlist and checked it out of my library. Well.
Mary Saunders owns nothing of any color- and therefore lusts after a bright, shining ribbon she sees woven through a whore's silvery hair. Her lust causes her to trade sex for such a ribbon, and when her mother discovers Mary is pregnant, she throws Mary out of the house. Rescued by the same whore (named Doll) whose ribbon led Mary to do what she has, Mary is taught the ways of prostitution. It is only when Doll dies during a very cold winter that Mary decides to venture to Monmoth, her parent's hometown. There she becomes a seamstress, but her troubles follow her, leaving her to do the unthinkable.
The only problem I had with the story was its slight cliche. The author, Emma Donoghue, based the story on a few facts about the real Mary Saunders, and bascially had to think up the rest of the story. I found it cliche how Doll dies- it seems in many books, movies and such the mentor that teaches ends up dying in some way. I thought Donoghue did not nessessarily have to get rid of Doll, but thinking again, maybe she did to give Mary an excuse to go to Monmouth.
Overall, it was a good book and a very interesting bit of historical fiction.
Rated by buyers 
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Do yourself a favor and read this book. As an academic specializing in Regency period literature, I find Donoghue's descriptions of 19th century London flawless and her storytelling ability top notch. This is a unique story of a poor, young woman navigating through London and its environs, utilizing all the opportunities (or lack thereof) offered to someone of her class. In the end, you will wonder if she is truly responsible for the choices she has made. This would make an excellent book group choice.
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