The Ninth Hour: A Novel

This is a sensational piece of storytelling. The pacing is terrific and the book just zooms along. It's one of those rare novels where you want to find the time to read it cover-to-cover without interruption. The atmospherics of early 20th century Brooklyn are superbly drawn and all the characters ring true and believable. A very HUMAN story with so many sensational parts to it that it is hard to pick a favorite section. Particularly gripping is the telling of a young girl's train journey when she is heading from New York to Chicago. The reader feels immersed in the entire experience from the young woman's perspective and the writing is extremely skillful here in this particular section. I honestly really prefer the "old classics" ala Dickens, James and Austen and I VERY rarely enjoy any of the "new" writers but Ms. McDermott is on a highly elevated plane. One is simply awestruck by her wonderful writing. I highly recommend this to anyone who adores great writing and the book is very appealing to both men and women readers. At the end of this wonderful book the reader will come away with a feeling of hope and anyone with a heart will fall in love with many of the characters in here. This book is a true rarity and a real gem. I simply loved it!!!! ASTONISHING!! GREAT!!!!

I often wander out of my preferred genres in the hope that I will discover a new vein of literary gold. In this case I found a very competent read by a highly accomplished author, but not the excitement of discovery I had hoped for.The story unfolds in Brooklyn in the early 20th century, bouncing around, but in an organized way, between three generations of well-developed and interesting characters. At the center of it all are the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor who live in the gritty neighborhood and administer to its needs.The characters are skillfully filled out but a little packaged, much like the subjects of a Normal Rockwell painting, but with a lot more gravitas. A few are stereotypical but never clichéd. And the main characters ultimately prove to be multi-faceted and fairly complex, giving the story a mystery that is unexpected early on.It is a book of descriptive storytelling and the author creates scene after scene that instill a down to earth familiarity akin to that created by Jan Karon in the deservedly beloved Mitford series.The book is written from the feminine perspective but does not play gender favorites. There are many different takes on issues of morality, perhaps best summed up by the Sister Jeanne perspective: “Sister Jeanne believed that fairness demanded this chaos [the suffering that is life] be righted. Fairness demanded that grief should find succor, that wounds should heal, insult and confusion find recompense and certainty, that every living person God had made should not, willy-nilly, be forever unmade.” Life, in the end, is difficult, but ultimately reasoned.That perspective of morality does, however, lead to some actions and their aftermath, or lack thereof, that stretch the reader’s ability to suspend disbelief. Or at least mine. My own life hasn’t been harder, but it has been messier.There is also a strong theme of love and, as in the case of morality, it takes many shapes and forms. All, however, are candidly honest and not romanticized into fantasy. Solid, down to earth, and the kinds of love every reader can relate to.The story starts very slowly and takes some time to build up steam. To some extent, however, I think that is common to the brand of descriptive narrative employed. By the finish you’re reading along at a brisk trot.In the end I gave the book a four not because I enjoyed it that much but because fans of this author surely will. The writing is very strong. It didn’t tickle my own literary fancy but that’s okay. It was a good read nonetheless.

In The Ninth Hour’s last chapter Sister Jeanne opens with a paragraph on the ill effects of wearing an itchy old coat and the freedom one finds in casting it aside when indoors-a metaphor for heaven. It is told whimsically, and I could imagine a Sister Jeanne telling the story to the family of Sally, who spent her youth, with her mother Anne, working at a local Catholic convent after the tragic death of Anne’s husband. The paragraph, rich in description, reminded me of the joy of reading the book, a wealth of rich prose that helps carry the unwinding plot which takes one over a generation and introduces us to Sally’s grandparents, brings in a Civil War story, while ending with her son.The novel deftly explores the inner thoughts of the nuns of the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor who walk the streets of Brooklyn aiding the distressed Irish Catholic population. Their decisions, superstitions, fears and pasts are presented in such a way that one values their kindness and dying breed. It is a quiet novel but not a shallow one.Throughout I felt I was watching these nuns and those they served, but could not enter in. Humorously I watched a community theater production of Sister Act in-between chapters and thought of this: I watched the characters dream, grow and make decisions affecting others, but remained an outsider.The book is narrated by both Sally’s son and an omniscient narrator, which works for the story although is a bit disjointed at the end, and I didn’t think the book ended strongly. These are moving stories of flawed people taking care of flawed others in a heroic manner, but I wanted more from the story; after all, I read it all as if it were on stage.

Excellent book.

Excellent livre qui mérite vraiment son prix Femina du meilleurs livre étranger. Il est traduit en français sous le titre "la neuvième heure" et la traduction est excellente. C'est une œuvre originale, le cadre du couvent de femmes est peu courant. Ne pas se laisser décourager par un début plutôt noir !

The unnamed "we" of the narrator are the adult children of Sally and Patrick Tiernan, recalling in vivid depth the lives of Sally, the Tiernans, and Sally's mother Annie, who was widowed while Sally was still in the womb. It's also the story of the heroic nuns who nursed the sick poor way back when in Brooklyn: of their kindness to Annie and Sally, their care of the embittered Mrs Costello who is minus half a leg, and others. Priests are described as "mama's boys", a greedy bishop has his eye on the nuns' convent, and we hear the story of the lying French priest who claimed he had set up the ministry for outcast women that was in fact founded by a woman. The narrator notes that even then, the kind of service that the nuns gave, relying on "sacrifice and delusion", was on its way out. The novel ends with Sister Jeanne describing heaven with a lyrical Irish simile, while mysteriously declaring that she won't be going there. A beautiful window on a time gone by, with thoughts on what life is, and is for, that will always be true. Alice McDermott is a top class author.

While this book wasn't a "gripping, compelling read", it was interesting. I could "see" and "hear" all the main characters easily in my mind. I thought it was very educational about that particular time in our history.

La mère de l'auteur ,orpheline à Brooklyn au début du 20eme siècle,a été protégée,voire élevée, par les religieuses d'une des nombreuses communautés catholiques de l'époque en Amérique . Indispensables dans une société où la misère cotoyait la détresse des veuves,des Italiens ,des Irlandais sans ressources ,elles savaient souvent se montrer généreuses et compréhensives. Ici,soeur Jeanne fait preuve d'une grande ouverture d'esprit et de modernité dans sa sagesse:taire le suicide du jeune mari pour lui éviter la relégation en terre non religieuse ,fermer les yeux sur le geste final de la jeune fille qu'elle aime comme sa fille qui fait ce qu'elle pense être le meilleur pour sa mère et une femme qui appelle la mort. La 9eme heure est celle où le Christ sur la croix a pardonné comme Dieu seul peut le faire (pour les croyants).Un beau roman ,peinture sociale de cette Amérique où il était possible ,d'après la "légende" de se construire une vie . Des personnages bons ,ou mauvais ,doux ou durs,tout y est représenté avec délicatesse et style .Je l'ai lu en anglais ,j'espère que la traduction est aussi bonne .