strange and random happenstance: Resurrection Man

Stiff by Mary Roach
Published by: W. W. Norton Company
Publication Date: April 17th, 2003
Format: Paperback, 303 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

What happens to us when we die? That is what Mary Roach is interested in. And not the big philosophical questions, those are reserved for her second book, Spook. Here she delves into the meat of the question. What happens to our bodies when we die? And she means bodies. When we are no more than a corpse. The thing is, corpses are a very valuable tool. There are things that can't be learned about the human body while we're alive and therefore bodies are quite prized. Research and experimentation are key to knowing how to help us live and live longer and live better and live safer. But due to cultural beliefs experimentation on human remains has been a taboo for a long time and in some cases still is. This led to a lucrative rise of body snatchers. Bodies were in demand and medical students needed access to bodies, therefore these rather odious resurrection men were in high demand. Thankfully over time people have realized the importance of leaving their bodies to science. And Mary Roach was touched by the respect the students at the University of California, San Francisco, had in their gross anatomy lab towards their assigned cadavers. In fact much of Mary Roach's investigations revolved around institutes for research and therefore she spent a lot of time at universities. At Wayne State University they use bodies to test crash impact. Many view this as beyond what is acceptable to do to a corpse. But how are we to survive crashes unless we have some way of knowing how they affect the human body? These bodies and the scientists behind the studies should be commended for their work. And how about the research of human decay? This is invaluable to the study of forensics and in catching killers. The University of Tennessee does field research on just this subject. And by field, it's literally a field with corpses in different states of decay in different situations. It's like Disneyland for people who love CSI. And then there's the Harvard Brain Bank, where they study neurological diseases. This kind of research will be necessary to the understanding of Parkinson's. The human body can tell us so much, the question is, can you help in that study? Because people handle grief in their own ways and at the end of the day it's what those you leave behind need as well as your own wishes.

There was a time when I thought I would totally be a pathologist. It was medicine but without having to deal with the living and instead dealing with the mysteries of the dead. This career path was spurred on by watching way too much CSI and reading Michael Crichton's early works. So, given this possible career path I thought I would love this book. I didn't. And I didn't like Mary Roach's Spook which I had previously read and should have loved. I mean, come on, it's all about the supernatural and faking ecoplasm and giving birth to rabbits. I'm pretty sure that book talked about the rabbit lady. I double checked and yes, Mary Toft is mentioned in Spook if you need to learn about this famous hoax which I believe is even mentioned on an episode of What We Do in the Shadows. I can't confirm that right at this moment but I'm willing to go rewatch that entire show if you really need to know. Leaving the rabbits alone, what all this has done is it has led me to the conclusion that Mary Roach is not for me. I just don't like her writing style. It's inconsistent section to section, making it feel more like a short story collection by various authors, which as you should know by now, I'm not a fan of. The corpse research station was interesting. As was the Harvard Brain Bank. Which I really was interested in given that my mother had Parkinson's and that perhaps her suffering could help find better methods of care because if not just for me this needs to be assiduously studied for future generations. But then that Harvard morgue scandal broke, but the AI overlords are telling me that the brain bank isn't associated with the morgue... But that doesn't mean I trust them. But I wouldn't really trust any university with my money let alone my brain because stewardship is out the window at the moment and it's all about appropriating funds for pet projects and their own glory. And again I have become sidetracked. Yet that is fitting for this book, it's a common theme disjointedly told. Also is this really supposed to be humorous? I mean really!?! And to say the book is both "lively and fresh" ugh no. At least this is one author I can write off. She's just not for me.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Body, Body Snatcher, Cadaver, Corpse, CSI, For the Love of Book Clubs, Harvard, Mary Roach, Mary Toft, Michael Crichton, Parkinson's, Research, Resurrection Man, Spook, Stiff, Universities, What We Do in the Shadows

Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: September 6th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Enola Holmes currently has it all. She no longer has to sklunk about in the shadows as a perditorian hoping that her famous brothers won't catch her and send her off to a finishing school when all she wants to do is make a name for herself as a finder of the lost. She has her place in the world, a safe roof over her head at the Professional Women's Club, and the chance of an education at the London Women's Academy. But she is a rare case. Most women in Victorian London are nothing more than chattel to their male relatives, be they fathers, or as was the case for Enola, brothers. By showing Sherlock and Mycroft what she is capable of she broke out of the cage her contemporaries live in. But a girl whom Enola has viewed as a dear friend from the first moment they met is trapped in this cage. Lady Cecily Alastair hasn't had the best of luck. First she was hypnotized and abducted, then because of her abduction her family, in particular her father, Sir Eustace Alastair, viewed her as spoiled goods and tried to force her into an arranged marriage. Both times Enola saved Cecily. And now Cecily needs saving again. Sir Eustace has locked Cecily in her room making her a literal prisoner. Enola hears about this and rushes to Cecily's aid, breaking her out of her prison cell and secreting her away. The only problem is Cecily's family hires Sherlock to find her. Things have been going so well between Enola and Sherlock and it hurts her to have to lie to him to protect her friend, but he just doesn't know what it's like to be a woman. Thankfully Cecily isn't as helpless as she seems, at least some of the time, fleeing Enola's office before Sherlock discovers her hide-hole. The danger is Cecily's upbringing has split her personality between the left-handed and her right-handed selves. Her right-handed is the woman her father and society wants her to be, her left-handed is her true self, brave, resilient, and capable. The only problem is who knows when she will be which. And when Cecily fled Enola's protection because she worried that Sherlock would discover her will she thrive or will she barely survive? One thing is clear, Cecily needs Enola and now Enola is working against the clock and her own brother. Again.

The world that Nancy Springer has created with Enola Holmes is just a pure delight with her innovative use of language and worldbuilding. I could read a further eight volumes and never grow tired of Enola's adventures, though perhaps poor Cecily is tired... That poor girl deserves a break. And while yes, this book is an escapade from beginning to end I have questions. Now these questions are spoilers, so look away if you haven't read about Enola's elegant escapade yet. OK you have been warned and if you are still reading this I assume that you know what happens or are willing to be spoiled. So the "big reveal" that frees Cecily from the clutches of her father's machinations is that he has made his fortune as a resurrection man. Well a more refined resurrection man in that he's only selling off the corpses of his dead employees. And I have so many questions. Mainly, how does he have so many dead employees? I mean it's heavily implied they have all died of natural causes so he's not doing a Burke and Hare, so how can this be a guaranteed income? At the time this book takes place it was basically a dead end job, pun fully intended. Cecily's father would have actually made more money selling off the hair and teeth separately. But would this have been enough to support a family with eight kids in luxury? I think not! This story, more than any of the others, relies on a heavy suspension of disbelief, at least from my point of view. The crime that Sir Eustace Alastair commits is so horrific that you are meant to recoil at the crime and not question it. Not question the economic logistics. But I did. Burke and Hare made about £8 a corpse in 1828 and that was in Edinburgh where corpses were in high demand because it was the center of medical study and research when they committed their crimes. This book takes place in 1889 and the pounds purchasing power had declined so if the price of a corpse stayed the same he'd only be making £6.77. And it's not mentioned if he had a lucrative side business in articulated skeletons like H.H. Holmes did. To be middle class, which a Baronet definitely is above, he'd have to make more than about £150 per year. So a middle class person would have to sell twenty-two plus corpses a year if that was there job. How the hell could he get that many? What's more that doesn't take into account the Anatomy Act of 1832 which came about as a result of the London Burkers. It made it easier to obtain corpses for medical research due to the strictures of medical cadavers only being criminals being lifted and licensing of teachers. So we're to believe that fifty-seven years later a Baronet is making his fortune doing this? As Conan Doyle himself said; "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." And the truth is that this twist doesn't work.