Author:Ami Mckay
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Pages:382
Price: Rs 877
Genre: Fiction/ woman's writing
ISBN: 0061135879
Ratings:3.5 out of 5
Source: Personal
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Summary:
Dora belongs to stranger side of life, she considers herself not beautiful, and lives an isolated island,though wise she considers herself not so good, with no friends only brothers for company..She is first daughter born in five generations.. She is drawn to Miss B or Babineu a midwife and a healer becoming Miss B's apprentice, she learns more about childbirth, together they see through a lot of complicated labors..As Dora thinks she has almost had a good life discovering her real talent, everything falls apart when Gilbert Thomas comes up with his scientific method of treatment..Dora is left alone to hold things falling apart as everyone questions the long tradition that she is responsible to hold high..
Review:
Protagonist Dora has nothing going her way she is not beautiful nor she has friends often she ends being lonely, moody swayed away as witch, away from the buzz of people..Luckily she finally finds herself drawn to Miss B who is a compassionate midwife, she also maintains an enigmatic journal "The willow book", it is this book that helps her out when she is own her own...I haven't read many books were the protagonist stays passive all through the book, this was a welcome change even though she holds on a fight against prejudice., but the same passiveness drove me out of the book many a times..The book goes for a debated topic midwife vs doctor assisted treatments.. Though this is still a point to be debated, in this novel doctor Gilbert Thomas is portrayed more of a fraud than a good obstetrician..Certain plots were emotional, the still childbirth, a friendship that develops between the patient and the midwife... I got irritated with Dora when she puts up with a sad tale of her marriage for the sake of having a child..But I guess that was the main point of Mckay in portraying her character that way.. I expected the book to be an all rounder about childbirth and thankfully it wasn't, there are multiple layers that forms the story plot... I loved the book in many ways and disliked it with certain things..Childbirth could be scary and a memorable for a woman and that is appealingly essayed and the part of midwife assisted labor is positively given, I would have loved if the character of Gilbert was positively noted thereby bringing out the importance of midwife, I also liked the details of the traditional midwife's cures...This books also roots for the feminine rights to choose birth control methods rather gong for an abortion....Household abuse are written as a known secret..Oh yes I felt blessed to be born in an era were there are much more advanced treatments available... The book is a mix of first person account, diary entries,dialogues, letters that might be a bit difficult to gather on but as you read through everything just fits in.. Another book that goes well with describing war ,in this book it is world war-I and a feminine point of view is recorded...I felt that author was sprinting away to end the book...The book was an enjoyable read for me but I wouldn't say that its everybody's read...
My 9th book on new author challenge
Hi VB - The passivity that you mention in the main character struck a chord with me. Like yourself I find it difficult to read or watch movies about such people. I actually feel a sense a frustration and I want to jump into the book and move them.
ReplyDeleteLike the previous book that that you reviewed, this also sounds like an interesting character study.