Book of the Week #8: The Virgin Cure

This week, I read The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay. I had previously read her novel The Birth House, which, while critically acclaimed, I hated.  I thought I would give her a second chance with her second novel. I’d like to say that it is very rare when I do not finish a book I have started. When I start reading, I plow through to the end, no matter what. Unfortunately, this was one of the ones that I struggled to get through. I am definitely not a fan.

It’s about a young girl named Moth, growing up in New York in the 1870s. She gets sold by her destitute mother to a woman as a servant, and then later begins working for a whorehouse. The story behind the title is that men suffering from STIs in the age of o penicillin choose to have sex with virgins to cure themselves. (Note: For those of you who don’t understand the finer points of medicine, that doesn’t work.) The whole book just follows Moth around on her adventures through life, including meeting a rare female doctor who wants her to have a better life than she does.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a virgin or a virgout, this book is really unappealing. The story is rather boring, and the characters lack any real depth. There is definitely a real premise to the story, but it isn’t built upon in a realistic or interesting way. Throughout the novel, Moth’s storyline is punctuated by that of her lady doctor friend, Dr. Sadie. The way that it’s placed in the book is very awkward and detracts from the fluidity of the story, which is something that I really can’t stand. As well, from a technical point, on my eReader, the text for both parts of the story was the same, so it was difficult to say when the story had shifted narrators at all. That’s not entirely the author’s fault though. This book had so much promise, but ultimately couldn’t deliver. It was a definite disappointment.

I’ve been reading a lot of reviews from others who have said that this book isn’t as good as Birth House. Given that I hated that one, I suppose my opinion is easily given away. I would rate it 3/10.