Book Review: Midwives

Usually, I am a bit leery for Oprah's Book Club books. I cannot tell you why, but I typically try to stay away from them. Even though numerous people told me that this book is exceptional, I still refrained. However, when I heard the author speak at a function recently I was so taken away with his poise, insight, and humor that I picked up a copy. I was astounded by the story and ashamed that it took me this long! This book is beautiful in every way possible and I firmly believe that someday my children will be reading it in their English Literature classes as an example of "modern literature during the 1990s".

Connie Danforth is a typical teenaged girl with a best friend, a boyfriend, and a close knit family. Yet, there is one thing about Connie that is not typical...her mother is on trial for murder. Sybil Danforth, Connie's mother, is a midwife and has delivered hundreds of babies before the fateful night when one of her patients died during childbirth. While the community of local midwives rally around Sybil and her family, the rest of their quaint town turns against the Danforth's. When Sybil is brought to trial for manslaughter, she finds herself not only defending herself but also midwifery.

The aspect that truly makes this novel is Connie's voice which is completely spot on. The author moves back and forth in time between Connie as a teenager during the trial to her life as an adult living with the trial's repercussions. Some readers have found this confusing, but I think it shows how expertly Bohjalian is able to write not only in a female voice but in an adolescent female voice as well as an adult female voice. It is an enormous feat and he conquers it! Though the plot may appear simple, the characters are incredibly complex and at times shocking. In many ways, it reminded me of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD which one could say has a very basic plot in which a man is put on trial for a crime that he didn't commit. However, this is not a John Grisham novel in which the satisfaction of the book is in finding out "who dun it" or who is going to be punished. MIDWIVES is much more like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in that the true action is the development of the characters and their community; the trial is just a catalyst for that development.

I can continue to rave about this novel but it won't do any good until you read it for yourself. Savor it because there are few books out there like this one.

-DLP