Rating: 
Summary: great book - even for those in the medical field!
Review: I enjoyed this book for a number of reasons. As most have stated I was simply amazed that a male wrote so well from the "female perspective". The story was tantilizing and thrilling, and although assessment of the character development has been plus/minus by the readers, I found them more than adequately developed.Moreover, as a health care provider and having worked with obs and midwives first hand, I thought the author did a wonderful job of portraying the conflicts and quandries providers can find themselves in, in what feels like "one moment" (ask any provider who has been sued!). The story line itself may seem improbable (although it did not seem so to me), but the bigger lesson is how circumstances can affect decision making; how someone who has had a wonderful career can have it destroyed with "one bad case" (our society unrealistically demands providers be infallible); and how human most providers are. This book is not an indictment against midwives - its a story of life - the mostly good, the sometimes bad, and sometimes, quite ugly. I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: An Intriguing Story
Review: Chris Bojalian has written a novel that combines courtroom drama, family dynamics and the unique world of the contemporary midwife. Having spent 4 years in Vermont, Chris has created a portrait of Vermont small town life that is both realistic and brings back fond memories. Keep them coming. :)
Rating:
Summary: One of the better recommended books I have read lately
Review: This book is imaginative and interesting. The story was a definite page turner and after reading many books recommended from the NY Times bestseller and Oprah's book Club lists, this is one of the most enjoyable ones, respectively. Even though there were some moments, particularly the C-section depiction, that was a bit graphic and troubled my stomach, it was a very important part of the book that made it gripping and seem more vivid and real. It's an easy read and well worth it. Although this book may not be a book for everyone, it is for MANY and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: A very thought provoking novel, artfully depicted!!
Review: I had heard nothing about this book when a friend lent it to me to read. As I kept reading into the book, I thought to myself, how nice to read a book by someone who is really knowledgable about Vermont! (I had spent 38 years in the state.) I then looked at the author's name and bio again and it hit me that I did indeed know of this man! He lived in Lincoln, Vt and wrote a very amusing column for the Burlington Free Press. It is so nice to read true facts about a state which you know so well. Midwifery is very prevelant in Vermont and I found this to be a totally absorbing book and it leaves one really thinking about the practice, right or wrong. I would recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: A Midwive's Daughter
Review: As a midwive's daughter, reading Midwives was an incredible experience. I was able put real faces to so many of the midwives described. I laughed at and understood Connie's familiarity with the birthing process. At one point I, too, wanted to become an OB-GYN in order to make the world safe for home birth. Midwives tells the story of a highly-skilled and caring midwife who encounters her worst nightmare. This was not an easy book. It raises so many difficult questions with no clear cut answers. But I do not think that this book portrays midwives in general or Sybil specifically in an ill-light. These are issues that all midwives have to face either in reality or in their deepest fears. As a person who is intricately familiar with and passionately supportive of midwifery and home-birth, I found the story to be heart-wrenching. My mom read the book first and when I finished, we cried together. I would recommend this book to anyone who is familiar with midwifery but would say that this is not a good introduction to home birth or midwifery. The book is frightening and real and could easily lead a person to believe that birth is "dangerous." But this was a story that had to be told. People need to know that there are safe options to the so-called traditional hospital birth, but that many people in the medical establishment and political system, through prosecution or persecution of midwives, are trying to rob women of their right to choose how to have their babies.
Rating:
Summary: Chris Bohjalian is among the best writers of our time.
Review: What amazes me most about the novel is that Bohjalian writes from the perspective of a teenage girl with an accuracy and poignance I have never seen before or since. The plot gripped me the moment I picked the book up and kept me completely captivated, even beyond the last page. The writing is such that I found myself feeling like I knew the characters, and then I wished that I actually did know them so that I could talk to them. That, to me, is good writing.
Rating: 
Summary: What's all the fuss about?
Review: It's been about a month since I finished reading "Midwives" and unlike many of the other reviewers I have practically forgotten everything about the book. Where some have seen an absolutely heart-wrenching tale of family suffering and the bond that keeps them together in the face of hardship, I found only a marginal sense of anything. Where some found a tightly written courtroom drama that kept you guessing I found an ordinary, repetitious did-she, didn't she tale. Don't get me wrong, I think "Midwives" is an okay read but not a masterpiece as some would proclaim it. And to read some of the reviews that identify that a reader has proclaimed it as anything like "To Kill A Mockingbird" shows what people will do to get their name and place of work on the front or back cover of a book. Besides the fact that "Midwives" centres on a young female character and incorporates a court scene, "Midwives" is nothing like "To Kill A Mockingbird". How could one even consider relating a modern masterpiece to this mediocre tale? What sets them apart is the difference in the ability to accurately and sincerely convey the feelings of a young girl. Continually I had to remind myself that Connie was only in her early teens and not in her mid-twenties, and as for Sybil well how much more one-dimensional can you get? The characters in "Midwives" are nothing like those in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and unfortunately are what let this story down. Sure it is an interesting concept and one that probably should be investigated in this day and age - I can see that midwives might be threatened but I don't think that this is particularly a negative portrayal of midwifery - but it is just that it needs to be done with more fervor and a better sense of what needs to be said and what doesn't.
Rating:
Summary: I Loooooooved this book.
Review: At first I did not think that this book would be for me, but as soon as I started the book I could not put the book down. I just wanted more and more and I was very pleased with the ending. I still long for more.
Rating: 
Summary: Very emotional
Review: This book brings excitement and emotion. It shows the hardships of being a midwife in the world some years ago. I enjoyed the book and thought it to be one of the best I have read. I recommend it to women across the country.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing and real
Review: As an experienced trial lawyer, I avoid court room dramas, which rarely, if ever, depict reality. However, this book is surprisingly realistic and portrays the court room drama in a believably authentic manner. The human factor and the uncertainty of trial work are not left ignored by the wayside. Rather than tie up the loose ends of the issues raised in this book and leave the reader with characters who live happily ever after, the end mirrors life in that many of the issues raised are left to be resolved by the reader. This is a fantastically well written book on several levels, not the least of which is midwifery. It's difficult to believe that a man wrote this book, it's that sensitively written.
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