I am still undecided about my feelings for this book. I read it quickly, but that was more from my desire to finish it and move on to something else rather than any compelling need to see what happened in the end.
For starters, I found the author's message confusing. Is he for home birth, or against it? Is he intentionally stereotyping the home birthing community, or trying to show solidarity with them? There was so much conflict in his approach and conclusion that I am still unsure what the true "take home message" was really supposed to be.
I was also not impressed with the characters or the character development. Bohjalian's main character is a 12-year-old girl, but the story is told as a flashback from that girl as an adult. Perhaps the author had to run the story through too many filters, but I never really felt like that the main character every really found her voice. Sadly, the majority of the remaining characters were very flat and forgettable as well.
One positive of this book is its ability to generate lively discussions regarding the opinions of home birth vs hospital birth. Outside of that, there is not much in this book that I found worth recommending.
For starters, I found the author's message confusing. Is he for home birth, or against it? Is he intentionally stereotyping the home birthing community, or trying to show solidarity with them? There was so much conflict in his approach and conclusion that I am still unsure what the true "take home message" was really supposed to be.
I was also not impressed with the characters or the character development. Bohjalian's main character is a 12-year-old girl, but the story is told as a flashback from that girl as an adult. Perhaps the author had to run the story through too many filters, but I never really felt like that the main character every really found her voice. Sadly, the majority of the remaining characters were very flat and forgettable as well.
One positive of this book is its ability to generate lively discussions regarding the opinions of home birth vs hospital birth. Outside of that, there is not much in this book that I found worth recommending.
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