| Wednesday, December 10, 2008 |
| Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch |
Ashes of Roses
by Mary Jane Auch
16 year old Rose Nolan and her Irish family arrive to America by a ship with high hopes and searching for a better life than back home. Her hopes are crushed when part of her family is sent back home. Her young brother, Joseph, is forced back home because of a disease, trachoma, which is an eye infection. Her father escorted him back to Ireland. After a few weeks of living in America, their mother gave up and went back to Ireland. Rose and Maureen refused to go back with their mother, so they demanded to stay in New York. Rose is stuck in New York with her younger sister Maureen, a stubborn child who later becomes into a more mature, independent young girl. The two sisters struggle to survive and fight through obstacles in America.
In this book you see the friendships that Rose forms and her progress of becoming someone. As soon as everything seemed to be fine, disaster struck. One day as Rose was working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a fire broke out. Rose is on the 9th floor and they try to find a way out. The ladders aren’t tall enough to reach the 9th floor and the doors were locked and they were stuck. Rose, Maureen, and their friends try to fight for their lives to survive. This fire killed one hundred and forty-six employees, out of five hundred. The way that the author described the fire and Rose’s emotions for losing Maureen felt real. You could really feel the fear of losing her sister and the fire was very well-researched. This event was interesting to read because the chaotic event actually happened in 1911. I had never heard of this fire before I started reading this book. This disastrous event was an eye-opener that led to better factory conditions for workers across the nation.
The beginning of the book was a slow start, since it was setting up for the middle and end. The book seemed to end a little quickly. It ended a bit quick after the fire occurred and you don’t really get to see what happened to Rose’s life afterwards. The end really just shows that Rose has more hopes for America and that she wouldn’t want to go back home to Ireland. You would see the changes in the characters throughout the book; the two sisters become very independent young women. Rose becomes a stronger person and Maureen really changes from being a very stubborn child.
I really liked how the author told the story. At some parts it really made you want to cry since it was so sad and tragic. The ending felt like as if you actually experienced it. This book shows the challenges that immigrants, or ‘greenhorns’ faced as they struggle in a new land and it also portrays of what sweatshop workers faced. This book showed the difficulties that they went through to provide themselves with a better life.
This was an inspiring and engaging book. This book makes me more thankful for the life I have now, and I’m glad that I don’t have to struggle like the characters in this book did. This book teaches many lessons and is told in a very good way. I recommend this book to teenage girls, especially if you love historical fiction. |
posted by charisse @ 9:52 AM  |
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