Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Amazing story of a lay midwife, narrated by her 14 year old daughter, Connie. She's doing fine at school, has great friends and a cool boyfriend. Her mother Sybil has been a midwife since before she was born, and has aided mothers birth over 500 babies. However, it only takes one instant to change all their lives forever. During an emergency Sybil decides to perform a C section to save a baby from a deceased mother. But had the mother died? Connie's mother is charged with involuntary manslaughter and has to stand trial. This is a very well written book, full of surprises and intrigiuing characters. It glides from past to present time effortlessly, and it is only when you get to the last page of this book that you are actually presented with the full story.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding book
Review: Midwives had my attention. A truelly riveting book that I purchased in audio tape was so mesmerizing that I missed my exit on the Highway and went 40 miles out of my way. Not for the faint of heart. The story of a good woman who is faced with a monumental life changing decision. Acts on it. Then has to endure the consequences that threaten her self esteem, career, credibility, marraige, and the core of her being. Midwives ripped at my heart and pulled me in all the way. I felt every characters emotions and pain. Thank you Author Chris A. Bohjalian for sharing your deep talent. Steeny Betker
Rating:
Summary: Excellent New Perspective
Review: This book provides excellent insight on the world of midwifery while telling a suspense-filled story. I read it start to finish in a weekend and loved every word. You'll feel like you know the Danforth family because the story is believable and genuine. A slice-of-life book with surprises and detail galore. A must-read!
Rating:
Summary: Page turner
Review: I just finished reading Midwives yesterday and I miss the characters already! The character development was powerful. The reader inevitably makes the Danforth family his/her own. The reader comes to understand Sybil Danforth, a midwife who grew up in the 60's and her feelings during her trial. You develop an affinity for her free spirited self and her love of people and you feel her pain as she is questioned about the death of a woman on whom she performed an emergency c-section. Bohjalian did a wonderful job telling this story through the eyes of Sybil's teenage daughter, Connie. We learn about Connie's feelings about her mother's ordeal as well as the difficulties and pleasures of growing up in a family that advocates acceptance. I enjoyed every minute of reading and I looked forward to having quiet time so I could bve reunited with "my" Danforth family.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Entertaining
Review: I thought this book was great because as I read it I kept thinking it was a true story. The author did a wonderful job in making the reader believe that this was really happening to this midwife. I also liked how the daughter told the story and gave her account on what happened and how the trial went. There was never a dull moment in this book and it was exciting to the very end. I had no idea if Sybil was going to be found guilty or innocent. I was very surprised at the end with the verdict. This was an excellent book and very well written.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book is NOT *To Kill A Mockingbird*
Review: Every now and then I just don't get it, and such is the case with the popularity of *Midwives*. Oh, yes, it's a page-turner, but I never lost a sense of unease as I turned those pages, wondering whether or not the author was consciously mocking his characters. The central midwife of the book is an ex-hippie who bears the moniker "Sibyl", who, on a Dark and Stormy Night takes it into her head to perform a C-section on one of her patients who looks pretty much dead. Pretty much dead, the prosecuting attourney points out, just might be different than really truly dead. Certainly Sibyl would not be my first choice as a midwife. Botched delivery aside, anybody who can call a contraction an "aura surge" is not high on my list of those I would like attending to my medical needs. Sibyl's daughter, Connie, whose specialty is planting clues for the reader, is traumatized by her mother's trial, and by what she knows happened on The Dark and Stormy Night of the botched C-section. Connie worries me -- I dislike her faintly superior unpleasantness and, at the same time, wonder if the author knows it's there. The trial of the mother for the events of that stormy night brings together a flock of nasty anti-midwife doctors and lawyers and a herd of ex-hippie, pro-midwife, breast-feeding earth mothers. There is no-one in-between. The court scene should have power, but doesn't -- instead, it leans on readers' conditioned reflex to material vaguely reminiscent of *To Kill a Mockingbird.* In brief, time might be better spent re-reading that classic. One last piece of advice: if you are considering using a midwife rather than a doctor (a choice I made), don't let this book worry you. It has little or nothing to do with the realities of midwifery.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all time favorites
Review: I read a lot, whenever I can, and I usually don't have a strong preference for a book either way. Usually it boils down to recommend it/not recommend it. Midwives was fantastic. Definitely in my "top ten". It is unique in that it is written from the viewpoint of a 14 year old girl and the story is captivating from page one. The story is set up exquisitely and I felt very much a part of the little Vermont town. I ended up reading this book in one sitting (despite the mounds of work I had to do). Read this book, you will be glad that you did.
Rating: 
Summary: Midwives review
Review: On a stormy, cold winter night in the small town of Reddington, Vermont, a routine home birth goes horribly wrong as midwife, Sibyl Danforth, frantically tries to safely deliver the second child of Mrs. Charlotte Fugett Bedford. The roads are slick with ice and the phone lines are down. Sibyl is led to make a critical decision in a matter of seconds. Unable to make it safely to a hospital in time, she frantically works to save both baby and mother as her inexperienced assistant, and the father of the baby watch hopelessly. Thanks to an emergency C-section performed by the midwife, the baby is saved, but the mother was not as fortunate. That is when the nightmare all began. The assistant suggests the perhaps Charlotte was not dead when Sibyl sliced her stomach with the sharp kitchen knife. Was Sibyl absolutely sure that her patient was dead when she cut into Charlotte's stomach to save the living child inside of her? Did she perform at least eight or nine cycles as she had said, or did Sibyl only perform four or five as the apprentice recalled? These sorts of questions were disputable as the court case progressed and Sibyl tried to defend her side of the story. The trial of Sibyl Danforth is not only to prosecute a medical mistake, but also to use this incident as ammunition towards the profession of midwifery in general. In 1981, the year in which the story takes place, the workings of a midwife were not legal nor did many people respect them. Some however, much preferred to have a home birth rather than have their babies in an unfamiliar hospital room with surgical instruments and strange doctors. Many women would turn to midwives to perform home births, which would best comfort them and their new child. Therefor, when Sibyl was asked to give up her profession during the court case, she was not pleased with the requirement. Throughout the trial, Sibyl along with her husband Rand and her teenage daughter, Connie, who is the narrator of the story, do their best to keep the family in tact and remain close. However, the stress of the trial and the growing closeness of Sibyl and her lawyer put pressure on both the marriage and the family. Through months and months of painful trial hearings and tedious hours in the courtroom, Sibyl and her family struggle to stay level. By the end of the trial, it's difficult to decide which was more harrowing- the delivery of the case, or its legal aftermath. Narrated by the now adult Connie, the story moves back and forth from different moments in the case fitting vital pieces of information about what happened that one night like pieces of a puzzle into its complicated plot. As Connie reflects on the events of that tragic year she is still confused about what actually happened- not on the night of the disaster- but in the months that followed. Overall, the story depicts a true-to-life plot in which family bonds are tested and truth is weighted. Chris Bohjalian did a wonderful job explaining the profession of a midwife, and how one small doubt can lead to months of agony and strenuous court cases.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting look at an unspoken world
Review: This book was very interesting, in both a realistic and fictional manner. It was written so the reader might think that it was a non - fiction piece, but it is, in fact, not. However, the accounts of Sybil Danforth as a midwife are truly provocative. The pros, cons, and politcal correctness of midwifery are contrasted and revealed throughout the story. The author does a very good job comparing both sides of the story. As I mentioned before, this book is very realistic and describes some situations graphically, so it is not for the weak of stomach.
Rating:
Summary: Not One Midwife, but Midwives
Review: I think that one of the important maxims of this novel is that this story could easily be true, as the author has done a good job of showing the reader that there are many cases where a midwife has to go to court to defend her profession. I found that one of the most interesting aspects of the novel was the real information about births, and homebirths v. hospital births. The author has added just the right amount of true information into the mix so that both fiction lovers and nonfiction readers will enjoy the book. One question the book brought up, that was never fully addressed, is why the animosity between establishment (hospitals) and midwifery exists. There is a history there, and one really good source of information is contained in Adrienne Rich's "Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution." Otherwise the novel has a good plot including a couple of well-placed turns toward the end. The fact that the author was a male and the story is told from the POV of a 14-year-old girl was of concern at first, but the author does a wonderful job of staying "in character" throughout. This is not a difficult read, but neither is it boring. The writing style is clean, clear, and not overstated. One criticism I had about the book is that the father in the story is not a well-rounded character, and instead the lawyer seems much more accessible. I really like the title of the piece, "Midwives," because although this is the story of one woman who is a midwife, readers will see how this is also a story about the prejudices and legalities that all midwives live with. Though the story comes to us through the words of a midwife's daughter, the title of the piece clearly shows the author's allegiance. I commend him for taking on this difficult topic.
| 
