Midwives (Oprah's Book Club)
by Chris Bohjalian

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Book Reviews of Midwives (Oprah's Book Club)

Book Review: Bohjalian creates a world inside the reader's imagination.
Summary: 5 Stars

After reading the first few chapters, the reader understands the basic background of the story, but the actual theme of the novel does not clearly surface until mid-way through the book. Through the eyes of a midwife's daughter, Bohjalian conveys the personal experiences of midwifery and of the court system. Using the daughter (Connie Danforth) as a guide, the author demonstrates the prejudice unorthodoxy faces and the non-equality of justice.

To succeed in putting the reader on a personal level with Connie and Sibyl (the midwife on trial) Danforth, Bohjalian uses "real-life" facts, experiences, and truth in his fiction. Midwives, attorneys, and investigators were all used by Bohjalian to help make his novel a truthful fiction. Through his work, it is apparent that he asked many questions and reflected the answers in his novel.

Straightforward yet eloquent passages fill the fiction. Bohjalian's book is superbly written, as the passages flow from the book into the reader's imagination. The book is well argued and the author clearly articulates the questions and answers raised in the novel. As a result of Bohjalian's unusual point of view and captivating narrative, his points and themes come across to the reader in streams of clarity. Although this book uses a few technical terms, it is quite accessible to the intelligent reader.

Readers' responses support Bohjalian's best seller as a novel that creates a world inside the reader's imagination. One of the great strengths of this work manifests itself in the ability of Bohjalian to pull the reader into the story. This gives the reader a sense of personal connection with the characters, as if they were the reader's family.

Point of view, author values, and intense dialog give this novel its spellbinding charm. Justice, unorthodoxy, and family bonds continually recycle themselves and resurface throughout the novel, until the final chapter. The family-felt resolution ties everything together in the novel, as forgiveness prevails: "...we stood at the screen for a long moment and then he hugged me, patted my back, and wished me peace."

Summary of Midwives (Oprah's Book Club)

Did she perform at least eight or nine cycles as my mother said, or four or five as Asa recalled? That is the sort of detail that was disputable. But at some point within minutes of what my mother believed had been a stroke, after my mother concluded the cardiopulmonary resuscitation had failed to generate a pulse or a breath, she screamed for Asa and Anne to find her the sharpest knife in the house.

Narrated by a now adult Connie, Midwives moves back and forth in time, fitting vital pieces of information about what happened that night like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle into its complicated plot. As Connie looks back on her mother's trial, she is still trying to understand what happened--not on the night of the disaster--but in the months and years that followed. --Margaret Prior

Genre Fiction Books

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