Rating: 
Summary: May be the next To Kill a Mockingbird
Review: This is one of the most superb novels I have ever read. The characters are beautifully drawn, the prose flows, and the story is absolutely gripping. Choosing to tell this tale from the perspective of a 14 year old girl was a wonderful idea. This is a courtroom drama at its best-- but more importantly, it is a poignant story that emphasizes how fragile we all are.Everyone makes mistakes-- most of us don't have to give up the profession we love because of those mistakes. The topic was absolutely fascinating. The author really captures the beauty and miracle of childbirth-- while exposing a lot of prejudices that the medical community holds. This is a novel of depth that I was touched by in a most intelligent way. This book explores a lot of relatioonshiips-- mother and daughter-- husband and wife-- midwife and patient. I think people may be misled by the title- but they shouldn't be. This is a beautiful book that says a lot about the human condition, beyond the mere story of a midwife on trial.
Rating: 
Summary: Pass the Pitocin
Review: This book was a good, fast read--the kind of story that will absorb you while you're waiting for a train or sitting in the dentist office. The book, told from the point of view of the midwife's adult daughter, who was 14 when the events took place, is about a midwife who performs an emergency C-section on a woman she believes is dead. She saves the baby...but later, doubts arise as to whether the patient was REALLY dead and a criminal trial ensues. You have to kind of overlook some of the artsy-craftsy-kooky-spooky elements of the home birth movement, to which the author seems really sympathetic. Not all midwives are such out-there Earth Mothers as the one in this novel. Still, Sibyl and her family--and her lawyer--are likaeable enough (so too is the family of the deceased). You can have the best intentions and a fair amount of expertise, and one mistake--or perceived mistake--can destroy the lives of so many people. That's pretty scary, and that tension is what drives this book. I might mention that I would never have been considered for the jury in this case. Seven years ago, my sister and her firstborn almost died because the midwives attending her birth refused to call in the doctor despite extreme fetal distress. But she wasn't at home during an ice storm. She was in a state-of-the-art hospital in downtown Minneapolis. She probably would have been in more compassionate hands if she had been in a taxi and had to rely on the driver to catch the baby.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, haunting and thought provoking!
Review: Midwives is a wonderful book any way you look at it. The subject matter is definitely hard to swallow, but the reader gets a lot of insight into the birthing process -- perhaps a little too much information about the whole thing. The characters are very well written. And I find it amazing that a man was able to write from a young girl's perspective and be so dead on about it. Chris Bohjalian is a brilliant storyteller. I couldn't put this book down. Some of the descriptions disturbed me as much as they enthralled me. This is a great book about love and family. The plot is also filled with twists that really keep the reader on his or her feet. I'm glad I gave this book a whirl and I cannot recommend it enough.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting depiction of how tragedy affects everyone involved.
Review: A midwife is charged with murder after performing an emergency C-section on a woman she believes is already dead, in order to save the life of the baby. The story is written from the viewpoint of her young daughter, and neatly captures details of the lifestyle of midwifery and the constant conflict between midwives and the medical community, especially as the story unfolds and people in the surrounding community take sides. Very rarely have I read a book written by a man, from a woman's point of view, that actually works as well as this one does. The story itself is compelling, and it will force you to question your own beliefs about "safe" childbirth. I highly recommend reading it, especially if you've been through the experience of birth yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Oprah again picks a fine book!!
Review: Chris Bohjalian's 1997 novel Midwives was recently chosen for Oprah's book club of the air. Once again, she has shown good judgment. The premise of this chilling novel is simple: Sibyl, a lay midwife, out to deliver a baby on a night when a severe blizzard makes roads impassible, believes her patient has died and performs an emergency C-section with a kitchen knife to deliver the child. Later, her assistant reports to the police her belief that the mother was not dead, and homicide charges are brought against Sibyl. As a trial lawyer, I can say that Bohjalian handled the legal parts of this courtroom drama very well. He also makes a very wise choice in telling the story in the first person voice of Sibyl's teenage daughter, with excerpts from Sibyl's diary interspersed. The diary itself proves a decisive piece of evidence at the trial, and the daughter's knowledge of its contents her dilemma. This is a fine novel.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Read!!
Review: I don't understand the negative reviews for this book! Mr. Bohjalian writes from a female POV and on top of that manages to do a fair job on it. Who says a male can't understand the female mind? The writing was a bit simplistic but I feel that this was due to the fact that at times we were looking on at the events of the story from a child and then eventually a teenagers POV. They are not going to be as articulate as an adult. In this I feel that Mr. Bohjalian is true to the character. This story as stated earlier is from the POV of Connie. Connie is an adult that looks back on a situation that effected who she was and would become not only as a woman but as a professional. Connie's mom is arrested and tried after a home-birth that ends in the death of the laboring mother. What follows is a little look at one side of this tragic event that was not only thought provoking but moving. I found myself pulled in from the very beginning and as a result I read this book in one day. This book doesn't beat up on Midwives or the choice of home-birthing. Nor is this book scary or overly graphic in nature. Mr. Bohjalian is a very talented author and I feel that he has done justice to this topic. The characters that make up this story are just as important as the storyline itself. I must admit that I'm not much of a book club reader instead I read books that interst me so I have not jumped on the "bookclub bandwagon" but I found this book to really be the exception.
Rating: 
Summary: I think that Oprah was a little off on this one.
Review: I bought this book because it had the Oprah book club sign of approval. This book taught me to be weary of this sign. I found this book to be very slow and boring. It had little to no action and I did not find myslef attached to any of the characters. I often wondered why I kept turing the page. My only motivation was that at some point it would get better. To my dismay, the book never got better and I wasted endless hours nearly asleep trying to read this poor attempt at a book.
Rating: 
Summary: fell short
Review: This book fell totally short of all I hoped and dreamed. I don't know if it is because I had such high expectations to read this book. The first few chapters were fine, then the book started to slip my attention span causing me to lose interest.
Rating:
Summary: ah. pass it over
Review: the story idea are good, and i liked that the daughter told her version but it just fell short, actually, it was too heartwarming, too depthful...just too too..
Rating:
Summary: Destined to Become a Classic
Review: This quiet, suspenseful drama almost takes one by surprise at how entertaining and readable this novel is. The back of the book describes the story of Sibyl Danforth: a lay-midwife who, in the early 1980s, performs a Cesarean section on a possible living woman to save her unborn child. The story, however, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter, Connie, (Constance) and so the book really becomes both their stories.
While her mother stands trial for involuntary manslaughter, faces antagonism from the traditional medical community, and her own doubting mind, young Connie grows up, experiencing most things a fourteen year old girl would: boys, friends, school, boys...
This book is touted as a mix of suspense/court-room drama/feminist fiction (even though, inexplicably it was penned by a man!) and a score of other familiar themes. However, this book is unique and unlike anything I've read before. This is a truly human story, and can be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys a good story.
In one review, People magazine likened Chris Bohjalian's novel to To Kill a Mockingbird. And while, only time will tell if Bohjalian's novel has the essence, scope, or vision of a true classic, I have reason to believe that that comparison is not far off the mark.
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