Midwives: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Excellent writing.
Review: I think Midwives was an amazingly well-written work. I was a bit disappointed in the ending. I don't think forgiveness comes that easy for most people--even for a minister. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed this novel; I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had difficulty putting it down. I thought the author did a commendable job of writing from a woman's perspective. The author leaves the final judgement up to the reader. An excellent read!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but I wasn't sympathetic
Review: I thought this would be a great book, because my mother is a nurse midwife. While it was an enjoyable read, I have to admit that I developed little sympathy with either Sibyl or Connie. Home birth is a disaster waiting to happen, and this woman was (in my opinion) culpable for the death of the Bedford woman. But the Bedford woman was just as responsible, no one forced her to have the baby at home. What these "back to nature" people don't seem to realize is that up until the begining of the 20th century, pregnancy was viewed as the last nine months of a woman's life since so many died either in childbirth or as a result of complications later. Women's life expectancy was about 35 years. Why on earth anyone wants to go back to that is beyond me! It would have been a much better book, if Sibyl's struggle to cope with her mistake had been explored from Sibyl's point of view and not recounted by her then teenaged daughter, who in my opinion, was way too involved in her mother's life to begin with. After all, Sibyl had to admit that there was no stroke. Still, what she did was not criminal, it was just wreckless. I never understood why she just didn't train at a medical schoool and practice in a hospital as a registered nurse midwife. I felt that she shouldn't have been allowed to continue to deliver babies, but she was no criminal and shouldn't have been treated as one. I was disappointed with the outcome of the trial. It was an entertaining book regardless of my criticisms.

Rating:
Summary: A good piece of work.
Review: I truly thought this was an excellent written book, and waht makes it so go is the fact that a man wrote it so well from a womans viewpoint.

Rating:
Summary: Good story, little slow at times but a great ending!
Review: I enjoyed this book. I thought some of the court scenes got a little slow at times. Overall, i thought it was pretty gripping. I loved the ending.

Rating:
Summary: An incredible read
Review: I bought this book whilst on holiday in the US and I could not put it down. It is a beautifully woven tale combining emotions, suspense and fantastic characters. I look forward to reading more of Chris Bohjalian's books.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of potential, but ultimately disappointing
Review: This book had the potential to be a good read - birth and death, court room drama, etc. However, it turned out to be a major disappointment. The daughter as narrator totally failed. I would have rather heard about what was going on in her mother's head than about all that meaningless information about her goofy boyfirend. Don't waste your time with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo, Mr. Bohjalian!
Review: It has been a while since a book has grabbed me the way "Midwives" did. I couldn't put it down. Then once I did put it down it haunted me for days. What a treat!!

Rating:
Summary: Held me captivated throughout!
Review: From the first sentence to the last I was captived. The characters seemed very real to me, the story was fascinating, and the greyness in both law and medicine kept this story intriguing. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: An easy summer read, revealing and ultimately surprising
Review: I picked up "Midwives" casually, I needed a lighter read at that point. It held my interest from the first page on. Being a mother of 4, and grandmother of 8, babies, birth, life always held a special fascination to me. I was not disappointed, there was a lot of graphic detail about childbirth - this was expected from the title. But there was also a beautiful new world revealed, of the caring women who deliver babies for the sheer joy of helping mothers at their most vulnerable, the bonding of females, at the most earthy, primitive level. It was also a good courtroom drama, and the two narrators: the midwife's journals and the precocious teenager's very believable thoughts and voice made this a much better book than I first expected. No literary masterpiece, but a "behind-the-scenes" look at an ancient profession, or may I pun? a "right of passage".