True Story

3. 
Title: [Life Below Stairs: True Lives of Edwardian Servants]
Author: Alison Maloney
Genre: Wikipedia television Nonfiction
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: January 20, 2014
Rating: **

Alison Maloney's Life Below Stairs has one goal: to capitalize on the popularity of "Downton Abbey."  Not only does Highclere Castle grace the cover of the book, but she frequently cites the show as a source.  For anyone who has neither seen the show nor read anything related to Victorian and Edwardian servitude, this book may hold some new insight.  However, the book is neither "full" nor "complete" as the back cover suggests, and one would likely find greater research from a tertiary encyclopedia.  Not recommended. 

4. 
Title: [The Ghost Map]
Author: Steven Johnson
Genre: Nonfiction
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: January 20, 2014
Rating: ***

 
I desperately wanted to love this account of cholera outbreaks in Victorian England; nineteenth-century science and medicine fascinate me, and the book comes very highly recommended from readers I trust. I desperately wanted to lose myself in this book, but I couldn't. There are, in fact, several chapters I find very engaging and interesting, most notably the accounts of Dr. Snow and his efforts to thwart the miasmists. Unfortunately, distractions come in the form of purple prose, which ultimately render my response fairly neutral. The weakest moments are when Johnson strays from the history, and waxes eloquently about imagined lives, which do not always logically follow. Long passages describe the aggressive, malignant, and sentient decisions of bacteria, which read as a lack of focus and unity for the whole as opposed to bolstering the romance of the subject. When passages like these become arduous to the reader, other errors become more prominently irritating, including one which I am very guilty of myself: unnecessary repetition. The same purple prose or anecdotal associations are repeated verbatim over a few pages, detracting from the writing.

The research certainly seems strong, and Johnson demonstrates great interest in his subject, but I wasn't able to rise to the same jubilation. It is, however, far superior to the other nonfiction book I've just completed - Life Below Stairs - and the comparison works to show the superior research and integrity of Johnson, adding a star to my initial review.  Ultimately, recommended.