While this novel was on a subject that I usually find rather interesting, I found the work itself to be lacking. The "whisperings" in the margins only distract the reader and provide little to no substance to the work. Additionally, the subplot involving the origin of the popular soda recipe could have been better developed. Overall, I would not recommend this book unless you really are sick and stuck on the couch, but even then it won't make you feel much better.

I am ambivalent about Wickett's Remedy. (I read the paperback. I understand she rewrote it from the hard cover edition.) I enjoyed the historical setting. Myla Godberg did a good job of evoking the period of the Influenza epidemic. I got a good sense for the setting as well and could well accept her premise. The margin notes were, I thought, one of the most clever and effective literary devices I've encountered. Wish I'd thought of it!

However, there was something about the way the threads of this story were woven together that was unsatisfying. Or perhaps it is that they weren't, in fact, woven together very well. I wonder if, having set the stage for this complicated novel, she struggled to make it work. And then, suddenly, it was just over. As I said - unsatisfying. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't all that great.

I won't repeat the story, but the flu epidemic does make for an interesting background. The characters are believeable, the plot is fairly strong, the setting is well described, but yet it just lacks in places. It's almost as if the author was trying to tell two stories: one about the epidemic and the other about the stealing of the formula for Wickett's remedy which never really rings true. It's too bad because I feel that could have helped develop Lydia's character so much more.

It took me a while to get used to the marginal notes, but I did find them interesting. Shows that what one person sees could be quite different than what another sees. The other "additions" of newspaper articles, newsletters, etc. I found to be quite annoying at times.

Overall, it was a good read but sometimes more effort than it should have been.

I won't repeat the story, but the flu epidemic does make for an interesting background. The characters are believeable, the plot is fairly strong, the setting is well described, but yet it just lacks in places. It's almost as if the author was trying to tell two stories: one about the epidemic and the other about the stealing of the formula for Wickett's remedy which never really rings true. It's too bad because I feel that could have helped develop Lydia's character so much more.

It took me a while to get used to the marginal notes, but I did find them interesting. Shows that what one person sees could be quite different than what another sees. The other "additions" of newspaper articles, newsletters, etc. I found to be quite annoying at times.

Overall, it was a good read but sometimes more effort than it should have been.

It's lovely, with an inventive narrative. The whisperers are charming, funny, and heartbreaking. A beautiful novel, especially for those who love historical fiction.

Wickett's Remedy represents an idea that had a lot of potential but which never fully evolved into the novel it might have been. I have to give Goldberg credit for attempting some very ambitious narrative techniques (the marginal voices of the dead, the epistolary interludes from the present, while most of the novel proper takes place in the past), but they never fully mesh, and consequently, they feel more like a gimmick than a groundbreaking new narrative style.

For me, the novel proper (following the story of Lydia and the 1918 influenza epidemic) was FAR more interesting than the present-day story of how Wickett's Remedy was stolen and developed into a successful soda product. And the marginal voices of the dead were just that -- marginal. I never could make up my mind what I thought of that, which in itself is probably a sign that whatever Goldberg intended was never completely successful. At least, for me.

I understand that Ms. Goldberg substantially rewrote the novel for the paperback edition -- a rather daring choice -- but I can't speak to that edition. My comments pertain to the original hardcover. And for my money, it's nowhere close to her first novel, Bee Season, which I absolutely loved! Wicket's Remedy was interesting, but it never quite came together, and I never felt fully invested in the outcome of the story. A pity.

While "Wickett's Remedey" was very readable and engaging, I found myself wondering when the book was going to come into focus. It seemed to have no ending, just an end. I was very dissapointed. I did; however, enjoy the marginal comments by the dead. I thought that was very original and insightful. I would try another of her books.

"The 1918 influenza epidemic-whose cause is still a matter of debate-killed more Americans in ten months than died in all twentieth century wars combined and killed well over 20 million people worldwide. Gallups Island, now known as Gallop Island, in Boston Harbor was in November and December of 1918 the site of a United States Public Health Service study designed to determine the cause and mode of the spread of the illness. The subjects were prisoners; inmates of Deer Island Naval Prison were subjected to the testing." Myla Goldberg

Lydia Kilkenny was from South Boston. She journeyed over the bridge that separated Southie from Boston, and found a world she wanted to join. She met a young man, Henry Wickett, studying to become a physician, and someone who wrote the most beautiful letters to her. He was of the world she longed to join. They married; Henry became disillusioned with his life and quit medicine, and started to sell a family elixir, Wickett's Remedy. At this time, in 1918 an unknown illness was spreading in Boston, and took the life of Henry. Lydia went home to South Boston, and began to care for the people who were dying from this 'flu'. In a world turned almost unrecognizable by swift and sudden tragedy, Lydia finds herself working as a nurse in an experimental ward dedicated to understanding the raging epidemic -- through the use of human subjects. These volunteers, prisoners of the local naval prison, were injected with phelgm and blood from someone who had the influenza, and luckily only one young service man died.

The 1918 Influenza Epidemic is told in great detail, and spelled out in the form of a story of what happened. The dead also have a part of this story. From the margins come their words. At times, this form of narrative is off-putting, but for the most part, their words gave impetus to the story that is being told. 20 million people died of the Influenza in 1918, and my grandfather was one of them. My grandmother told a tale of suffering and fear. No one knew who would be next. How would she care for her family? She had 4 little children to care for, and she met and married a man who had also lost his mate to the influenza.
While the story of Lydia and her courage in caring for men who were so ill, and the chances she took with her own life is a 'telling' one. I found the addition of the Wickett's Remedy, and its tale to be unsatisfying and not needed in this context. It did not add to the story, and while I understand that these unknown and untested elixirs were popular during this time, a mere mention would have sufficed. Yet as well-researched and polished as the book is, I did not find that I understood or knew the characters' mindsets. While I admire Lydia, I did not feel that I ever truly knew her.

"Two hurdles confront a novelist who writes about epidemic disease. The first is the Yuck Factor -- as in, "Yuck, who wants to read a book about phlegm?" The second is that the writer will have to kill off a number of characters, and it can be tricky to find the balance between making a character important enough to engage the reader but not so important that her or his demise will destroy the narrative momentum." Geraldine Brooks. Geraldine Brooks in the title of her critique calls this book 'Love In the Time of Influenza', how simply perfect. Wish I had thought of it.

Recommended for the historical and literary senses. prisrob 11/19/06