Shelfari: The Site for Books & ReadersShelfari Logo

The Children's Hospital
 

The Children's Hospital

by Chris Adrian

A hospital is preserved, afloat, after the Earth is flooded beneath seven miles of water. Inside, assailed by mysterious forces, doctors and patients are left to remember the world they've lost and to imagine one to come. At the center, Jemma Claflin, a medical student, finds herself gifted with strange powers and a frightening destiny. Simultaneously epic and intimate, wildly imaginative... (read more)

Top tags: fiction,  literature,  mcsweeneys,  fantasy,  literary fiction (all tags)

Readers

Groups

  • The Southern Literary Critics Sunday School Class and Serial Killer Task Force Discussion Group
  • McSweeney's Discussion Group

Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
JenkinsElijahM
  • Rated 4 stars

“An epic unlike many others. I struggled with this book, but for all the right reasons. Yet another great one from McSweeneys.”

JenkinsElijahM’s full review »
more reviews »

Didn’t Like It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Joel B
  • Rated 1 stars

“By turns brilliant, transcending, grotesque, disgusting, boring, pretentious, baffling. Why, Chris, why? I almost feel like the author himself lost interest after a few chapters of this giant novel. Not good.”

Joel B’s full review »
more reviews »
Community:
  • Rated 3.707692 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • Adam

    adam said:

    “The first fourth of this book made me realize just what little interest I have in medical science and the endless amount of terminology that goes along with it. A bit much for me.

    As a whole, I can't say I would recommend the (very long) novel but it will stay with me none the less. The last 50ish pages were beautifully done. Jemma, the main focus was interesting enough but was left cold in regards to the side characters. Sundae, Tiller, Snood, Walnut, Sasscock, etc - They all have their little quirks introduced early on but 550 pages later that is forgotten and they all become the same annoying foil to Jemma. I did enjoy the mentally ill child, Pickie Beecher and actually found the small scattering of flashbacks a nice distraction. 3 stars.”

    posted Thursday, July 10 2008
  • Patty W

    patty w said:

    “I'm half way through The Children's Hospital, by Chris Adrian, and can't decide if I want to finish it or not. I find it somewhat confusing and am often wishing that he'd written it with fewer words. Yet, there's a part of me that's kind of interested in knowing what happens in the end. For those of you that have read it, should I continue?”

    posted Friday, July 4 2008
  • waalkwriter

    waalkwriter said:

    “This is my first first review. I must say I'm not that often stricken to write one. This book is troubling to review. On level the writing and the characters are dry, tedious, underdeveloped, almost in a biblical way. Their wasn't much sympathy or involvedness in any of the characters, and I happened to dislike the main two characters. The main protagonist is whiny almost, and seems like aready made victim. The only good character is the troubled little boy with pyshcololgical, (please forgivce for that terribly mispelled word), problems.
    I could also tell that Adrian lost interest after the first chapters and this would have been a better short story. The beginning starts off tolerable, but it gets more and more tedious, easily the most tedious book I have ever read. The structure may start to fall apart at the end, but that is where the novel salvages itself. The deaths of most of the side characters pushes focus back on the main ones, and the tragic and sad ending leaves one mentally disturbed and one keeps mulling, contemplating over it. In terms of emotionally affecting me as a reader, it's in the top three of all the books I've ever read, (which is not a huge list, but give me a break, I'm 16).

    Certain twists I saw a mile away. Her brother being her guardian angel, huh, shocker! Her brother was in fact a questionable facet of the novel. The flashbacks were by far the driest and most terrbile, and most difficult sections of the book to read, and the brother was a remote figure whom you can't figure out why his sister, (the main character) loves, idolizes, him. The semi-theology in the book is confusing, crazy, and highly merciless, bloody, and disturbing. It all revolves around this one character, her brother, who could have been so much more, but was not developed fully.

    Some of Adrian's ideas, descriptions, symbolisms, and topics of discussion in this book are brilliant, but they are not enough to make it a great book. This would get two stars, but the very fact that the book brings up so much thought, so much emotion makes it three. That you have to think really hard to decide what to say about it, or whether you liked it or not is an extremely positive attribute. Though, like I said, this whole book could have been so much more. So much symbolism is lost on me, and I am simply discombobulated by attempts to figure out what some things mean or represent, (for instance a dream she has in a flashback where a demonic, Religously condemning Santa hands her a box for answering his question right, had she been wrong, he would have killed her). But, I digress. I strongly encourage people to read this book and see for themselves. It will have a tremendous impact on you, one way or the other, and it makes you think a lot about. It's one of those books you enjoy a lot more after you've finished reading it, and it's sat in your head for a long time. So, read it, (buy it, as it's a high quality hardback made by a great company in Iceland), figure it out for yourselves.”

    posted Sunday, March 2 2008
  • Glenda F

    glenda f said:

    “I finally finished this book. I didn't find it joyful or hopeful. It was just very sad, from beginning to end. This is not a book that I will keep or recommend to friends. ”

    posted Saturday, February 2 2008
  • Glenda F

    glenda f said:

    “I am 150 pages into this book and wondering if I should continue. When does it begin to make sense? if ever? It is very depressing and horrifying, with the obvious suggestion that it will become even more "horrific". Is it worth it? ”

    posted Friday, January 11 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
© 2008 Tastemakers, Inc. | Portions of Shelfari.com are Copyright © 1996-2008 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy