Orphan Number Eight

By: Kim van Alkemade

Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Ginny Auer

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

A stunning debut novel in the vein of Sarah Waters' historical fiction and inspired by true events, it tells the fascinating story of a woman who must choose between revenge and mercy when she encounters the doctor who subjected her to dangerous medical experiments in a New York City Jewish orphanage.

In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City's Lower East Side. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother, Sam, and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans. But when she turns 15, she runs away to Colorado, hoping to find the brother she lost, and discovers a family she never knew she had.

Though Rachel believes she's shut out her painful childhood memories, years later she is confronted with her dark past when she becomes a nurse at Manhattan's Old Hebrews Home, and her patient is none other than the elderly, cancer-stricken Dr. Solomon. Rachel becomes obsessed with making Dr. Solomon acknowledge and pay for her wrongdoing. But each passing hour Rachel spends with the old doctor reveals to Rachel the complexities of her own nature. She realizes that a person's fate - to be one who inflicts harm or one who heals - is not always set in stone.

Lush in historical detail, rich in atmosphere, and based on true events, Orphan Number 8 is a powerful, affecting novel of the unexpected choices we are compelled to make that can shape our destinies.

©2015 Kim van Alkemade (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

Characters not fleshed out enough

I didn’t feel like either the current or past storyline was fleshed out enough, at times it felt disjointed and I think it was because of not knowing enough about the characters. However I did find the story fascinating I never knew anything about these test done at orphanages’ also after reading some stories on the authors website I really wish she would have went deeper into these characters I feel like she just brushed the surface and I wish I knew more.

I hated the “romance” aspect of this book every time she grabbed someone’s face and pulled them into a kiss I was no longer in the story and Rachel’s sexual orientation had absolutely nothing to do with it , if she had been grabbing men’s faces I would have felt exactly the same. To me there was no reason for these it added nothing to the story and in fact detracted from it.


I can’t put my finger on what it is I don’t like about the narration, I’m not sure if it’s the tone, cadence or accent that I don’t like but there were times when the narration really annoyed me and other times I didn’t mind it. I am not sure who narrated what either so it may be that I like one narrator over the other but I am just not sure.

This book was okay; I liked the storyline about the Orphans Home even though I wish I knew more. I guess in the end this book just fell flat for me.

2 ½ Stars

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good Story, Needs Fact Checking

Beginning is rather slow, but the story picks up nicely, knowing that the conflict will arrive eventually. I enjoyed the main premise, but as a Colorado native who knows just about everything there is to know about its history, there are some glaring errors in the research. Baby Doe Tabor is referred to as "Baby Jane", the trolley cars along Colfax were not called "streetcars". These were small details, but can be jarring and pull the reader out of the story. I also felt like the main character did some pretty crappy things (lying and stealing from them) and that most people were willing to wave it off and forgive her without a second thought. That said, it was enjoyable, overall.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good but not great

This was a good book, but I didn't love it. There were some parts that seemed to be totally unnecessary to the plot and were confusing. The characters were flat, but over all it was an adequate book. I have others I liked more, but it held my attention:

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good story.

I was carried along by the story and enjoyed the message. Beautiful writing and description. Narration was fair however and distracted from the writing. Plot, though predictable, was satisfying.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Agenda

What would have made Orphan Number Eight better?

The lesbian lover details really had nothing to do with the historical fiction part of the book.

Has Orphan Number Eight turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

What does Andi Arndt and Ginny Auer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They very much helped with switching from past to present.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

disappointment

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Interesting

So realistic. I'm not sure if this story is based on true life people or not, but it was believable and honest.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

lesbiaism, jewism, unethical medical practices

Would you try another book from Kim van Alkemade and/or Andi Arndt and Ginny Auer ?

Yes, I thought the premise of the book was a very sad realization of yet another way the Jewish people could be demeaned,

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

that what goes around may very well come around again,

What about Andi Arndt and Ginny Auer ’s performance did you like?

They played true to their characters, I'm glad they have happy ending,

Do you think Orphan Number Eight needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no follow up book things were tied up neatly enough.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Don't understand the negative reviews

So I went into this thinking it wouldn't be so good as many reviews I read suggested as much. I was so so wrong. I loved this book from beginning to end, and honestly don't understand what other reviewers didn't like about it. As for the narrators, the one that narrated the story line in the past was perfect, but the one for Rachel in the future was just ok. She wasn't terrible, but I won't be going out of my way to look for other books she reads.

Good book

Was looking for an interesting story. Something different... not heavy.. I don't personally like when story jumps too much from past to present which it did. But because it wasn't heavy I would still consider it a good book.

Sucks

Could not get into this. Listened for about 10 minutes and couldn't take anymore done