Rating: 
Summary: Good story-telling.
Review: Received "Midwives" at Christmas from my daughter. I am an obstetrics nurse who had babies at home and I find the medicalization of childbirth most disturbing. This book captures with keen insight the unrelenting "tug-of-war" happening between midwives and physicians. Very perceptive. I found it made me uneasy when the author repeatedly referred to Sibyl's midwife friends in certain generalized terms, like "earth mothers in paisley or peasant skirts and big boots." But I'll get over it. I used to live in Vermont and this book brought me back to those days. The author certainly did his research. I kept wondering if a tragedy like the one in the book ever happened. I was also surprised the author was a man and wonder how he decided this particular topic. I couldn't stop laughing when I was reading about Sibyl's first delivery - the birth of Abigail Joy at the farmhouse. Hilarious!
Rating:
Summary: A book of choices and opposing forces...
Review: What makes this book so gripping is not the words the author chooses in which to convey the story through the narrator, but the order in which details are revealed. The way in which opposing forces are established. You probably won't linger over exquisitely rendered dialogue or precise prose...but you will linger over the dualities of choice--the rights and wrongs. Was the midwife's behavior right or wrong, negligent or responsible? How about the patient's decision to have a baby at home? Were the narrator's actions good or bad, defensible or not? Was the assistant's coming forward a betrayal or a measure of responsibility? Is the medical establishment infallible or flawed? Are earthy, "natural" remedies better? What limitations should bound the right of choice? You will be left with much to ponder and discuss.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book with an unsettling ending
Review: First of all, I think that the author could have cut about 25 pages of this book and had the same effect. I found some of his descriptions repetitive. He must have described the midwife "type" at least six times in their sandles and baggy dresses. I found Sybil to be an aging hippie that did not want to get the training necessary to insure the health of her patients. I could see using a person like Sybil for a delivery if I had been to a doctor and had everything checked out. But her "patients" used her for pre natal care. That was amazing to me. Although Sybil was well intentioned, it my opinion she did not want to jump through the hoops that all professionals have to go through and get the needed training. She certainly had a streak of bad luck the night of Charlotte's death, but better training could have helped. I did not like the ending although I thought that the author told the story well and mixed memories with glimeses of the future. And one minor point, as a judge, there is no way that I would let someone nurse there baby in my court room. The book is well worth reading but it left me very unsettled about midwives with the "training" that Sybil had.
Rating: 
Summary: Very suspenseful!
Review: I really liked this book. It was a real thriller. I love the way it is written from a outsider's point of view. I recommend it to anyone. Mystery, thriller, scientific...everthing! Quite interesting to learn about midwifery. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book
Review: I read this book before Oprah picked it, I bought it on a whim because nothing else appealed to me. I then went out and bought every other book I could find by Mr. Bojahlian. It was interesting, the characters were real, the plot was intriguing, and I couldn't put it it down. The last page made me wonder about the entire book all over again. Loved it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Middleground Midwives
Review: After a few successes under Oprah's guidance, I fear I made a small mistake with this text. Don't get me wrong; this book was okay and a fairly decent read, and I'll probably still check out various selections that Oprah recommends. It's just that this particular book seemed to be missing... something. I can't quite put my finger on it.Perhaps it's the knowledge that a man wrote this book and sets himself in the role of the older, female narrator as she reflects back on the time when she was fourteen and her mother -- a midwife -- is arrested and tried for involuntary manslaughter after performing an emergency C-section on an allegedly still-alive patient one wintry, icy night. However much I tried to push aside the notion that Bohjalian was a man, I still could not shake the notion that he was somehow missing the point of being a woman when he described the years when young Connie's was growing up. I suppose part of my problem was that I grew up near the same time; a teenager of the mid-80s, rather than the early-80s, but still... I wonder if a man can really know what it is like to first menstruate or explore sexuality with boys and books as a girl? Discussions with male friends tells me that teenage boys grow up differently, and I have to challenge how much "research" one could do to truly become the character. I was never quite convinced of the reality in Connie's character. Beyond that, however, the story is fairly compelling. The question of guilt or innocence is played throughout the text as Connie relays what happened that winter night. Did her mother, a former hippie and occasional user, really check one last time to see if her patient was dead or not? Did the father and midwife assistant really see blood spurt from the wound? Will Connie's mother, Sibyl, have an affair with her attorney? And will the court learn of Sibyl's private journals and use her own thoughts against her. Forced to abandon the calling to deliver babies, Sibyl insists, time and time again, that the woman was dead before she sliced open her uterus with a kitchen knife to save her unborn child, eventually named Veil by the surviving minister-husband. And as Connie struggles to stand upright on the bridge between childhood and becoming an adult, she learns things about her parents, her mother, and especially herself. Clocking in at nearly 400 pages, Midwives is a tad long for a court room drama. Bohjalian probably could have cut about fifty or so pages and still have had a great story. However, I can forgive the length because the ending -- and I'm NOT going to tell you here -- cause my jaw to drop. If you can suspend disbelief that a man can effectively write as a woman reflecting back on her teenage years, check out this book
Rating:
Summary: Sibyl - the results of the post hippie generation
Review: I am trained as a lawyer and have been a judge for the last 19 years. When I started this book, I did not know that it would result in a trial and that part of the book was well done. The book was well written, but I ended it was a very unsettled feeling about Sbyil. It just seemed to me that she wanted to be a doctor/ nurse practioner but did not want to jump through the hoops that it takes to get the proper medical training. How could she take on someone like Anne, with no training at all to be an assistant? She wanted to do what she wanted to do but did not want to rely on experts or authority. To me it was a reflection of her days in the "movement" when she was against authority. That's not to say that I'm against home births. But it seems to me that the women and the midwives would want to have the mothers checked by a trained professional before they decided to have their babies at home. I just can't understand why a woman would go to someone like Sibyl for pre natal treatment. Basically, I liked the book but I just didn't like Sibyl. The relationship with the lawyer was kind of stretched. If the story is true, the daughter had to live with a lot of guilt for a lot of years. It's a book worth reading and raises lots of issues.
Rating:
Summary: A pretty good book, easy to read and a fun page turner.
Review: I really enjoyed reading this novel. It had my attention from the very beginning and was a real page turner. I found myself easily identifying with the characters. I am a strong supporter of homebirth and found the description of midwives and homebirth realistic. I do however feel the circumstances of the women's death were highly unlikely. But, this is just a fictional book and taken as such is a fun one at that. I reccommend this book, buy it, open it and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A real page turner with a great ending.
Review: This book touched my emotions in so many ways. It is an excellent portrayal of the heartwrenching decisions which we all hope we never have to make. I found it hard to put down, and I was not at all disappointed with the surprise ending. I am surprised that a book that captures womanhood so well was written by a man. I thought that the author's first name, Chris, was short for Christine until I saw his picture on the cover.
Rating:
Summary: Like a train out of control
Review: What starts off quite slowly quickly mounts up to be one of the most intense reads I have read in recent times. Well written, involving, perhaps the only thing I found wrong with the book was that I never really warmed to Sybil. Perhaps though I was never meant to. And what stands beside TV's The Practice - when the wife sets up the Doctor husband for murder and smirks only for us at the end - as one of the most intriguing twists in the tail of a story in the last couple of years is the wonderful ending. What if? I wonder.
|
