Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Birth House
by
Ami McKay (Goodreads Author)
The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of the Rare family. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing and a kitchen filled with herbs and folk remedies. During the turbulent first years of World War I, Dora becomes the midwife's a...more
ebook, 416 pages
Published
October 13th 2009
by HarperCollins e-books
(first published February 14th 2006)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Mark this down as another book that I quite enjoyed, but didn't quite love. Something kept me a bit separated from the story, kept me from falling head over heels for the characters (although the "women from away" stole my heart quite a bit.) It felt at times like I could see the story engine grinding too much behind the scenes, could see the way things were going to go.
Now, the writing is really quite lovely, so that wasn't as big a problem as it could have been in the hands of a lesser wordsmi...more
Now, the writing is really quite lovely, so that wasn't as big a problem as it could have been in the hands of a lesser wordsmi...more
I found the premise interesting, but the execution flawed. Dora's ostracism from the rest of the town felt like the author telling the audience that she was just too special for the others to understand, and that taken with the slut-shaming of Grace Hutner made it difficult for me to sympathize. Dora was also a very passive character, and while in come circumstances it made sense, she seemed to drift through the novel on other characters' steam. I also felt that McKay tried to cram too much into...more
"What can I do with all this neat feminist lore that women have just GOT to hear, like mercenary doctors wresting childbirth away from women and vibrators being the first electric appliance and Boston suffragettes who were also, get this, lesbians and herbal remedies that people are embracing again? I know, I'll write a novel and set it in the quaint town I just moved to and that I love love love."
Awwww, it was mean of me to pretend Ami McKay actually said that out loud ever, because as far as...more
Awwww, it was mean of me to pretend Ami McKay actually said that out loud ever, because as far as...more
I should have known better than to read this. One thing I am not is pro-home birth. I'm not anti- home birth, but the more I read about the "exquisite, spiritual, satisfying" birthing of their babies, the more turned off I am by the usually-not-said-but-rather-implied understanding that any other kind of birth is not.
I know it's not true. Birthing a child is exciting and scary and hard and wonderful and one of the most memorable things any woman will do in her lifetime. But, the variety in whic...more
I know it's not true. Birthing a child is exciting and scary and hard and wonderful and one of the most memorable things any woman will do in her lifetime. But, the variety in whic...more
May 09, 2008
Christi
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Christi by:
Maryann
Shelves:
2008-reads
I really loved this book. It was so well-written and a very fast read.
I was a little more than skeptical given the subject matter since I really hated The Red Tent, I don't want children and I'm a believer in hospitals, modern medicine and clinical trials over "natural" remedies.
Luckily, this book wasn't overly preachy or whiny at all. Yes, the author did set up the physician to be a complete villain to better illustrate her good = the old ways, bad = the modern ways. Seriously, given the geog...more
I was a little more than skeptical given the subject matter since I really hated The Red Tent, I don't want children and I'm a believer in hospitals, modern medicine and clinical trials over "natural" remedies.
Luckily, this book wasn't overly preachy or whiny at all. Yes, the author did set up the physician to be a complete villain to better illustrate her good = the old ways, bad = the modern ways. Seriously, given the geog...more
I really enjoyed this book. The writing was so good I found myself wanting to read slowly so I could really pay attention to her descriptions and use of language. The book is set in the early 1900s in Canada during WWI. The main character, Dora is an apprentice midwife during a time when an obstetrical center has just opened nearby and the big push is for the end of home births and midwives. The women of the town fight for their right to be involved in the birthing process. The book also has a s...more
This book was so good that I read it in a single day. I was completely captivated by the story, and even though I pretty much could see where it was going it didn't feel contrived at all. Beautifully told, and very thought-provoking.
The only reason I rated this down is because at times the narrative gets confused with the diary entries that are incorporated into the story; sometimes I got confused about what was going on in the literary present and what had happened in the past, what was actuall...more
The only reason I rated this down is because at times the narrative gets confused with the diary entries that are incorporated into the story; sometimes I got confused about what was going on in the literary present and what had happened in the past, what was actuall...more
Jan 08, 2008
Jennifer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Jennifer by:
my book group chose it
Shelves:
book-club
What I found interesting about this book it pits science against religion, and I ended up rooting for religion-mainly because it's presented as a refreshing mix of open-mindedness with a splash of mysticism and intuition, instead of the more over used portrayal of religion equaling ignorance. It starts an interesting debate in favor of midwives over doctors, mostly because the doctor in this novel is really just in it for the money, so he can easily be turned into a villain (therefore science in...more
Sep 25, 2007
Cheryl
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone
Shelves:
fiction,
nonfiction
The Birth House by Ami McKay / William Morrow / 13-978-0-016 / 400pps / $24.95
When Ami McKay and her husband bought an old farm house in Scots Bay, Nova Scotia, she had no idea the history she would peel away from the walls or dig up in her yard. Removing layers of wall paper revealed plastered newspapers, tilling her soil unearthed bottle shards, and becoming pregnant led her to a midwife who related what she knew of the World War 1 village midwife that had once inhabited her very home. Throug...more
When Ami McKay and her husband bought an old farm house in Scots Bay, Nova Scotia, she had no idea the history she would peel away from the walls or dig up in her yard. Removing layers of wall paper revealed plastered newspapers, tilling her soil unearthed bottle shards, and becoming pregnant led her to a midwife who related what she knew of the World War 1 village midwife that had once inhabited her very home. Throug...more
The Birth House is a well written novel about midwifery in Nova Scotia during the early part of the 1900's. Dora Rare struggles with the folk wisdom and herbal knowledge that have been passed down to her, versus the advent of modern medicine. The book covers alot of ground from sexuality, women's right's, banned books, the advent of electricity, domestic violence and World War I. I loved the format which included diary entries, letters, newspaper articles and advertisements. The back of the book...more
A real treat to read, and an unexpected treat at that. Found it at B & N on the Discover New Authors shelf and took a chance. Glad I did. This is the story of a midwife in Nova Scotia who finds herself in the middle of being part of the old way of doing things vs. the new way when a medical doctor establishes a women's hospital in a nearby town. But more that that, this is also a story of the connection between women in a male-driven society. The author paints the landscape so effectively yo...more
I don't think there's much I could say about this that hasn't been covered by other reviewers of this book - it's splendid.
The book centers on Dora, a midwife-in-training who learns the old ways of doing things and runs up against the new doctor in town, who wants to not only put her out of business with his new-fangled birthing methods (drugs and forceps)and see all her clients be sent down the mountain for giving birth, he also diagnoses her as histrionic and gives her a vibration treatment (g...more
The book centers on Dora, a midwife-in-training who learns the old ways of doing things and runs up against the new doctor in town, who wants to not only put her out of business with his new-fangled birthing methods (drugs and forceps)and see all her clients be sent down the mountain for giving birth, he also diagnoses her as histrionic and gives her a vibration treatment (g...more
I thought this was an interesting light read and I had fun with it.
Now to make myself hated just a little, I have to disagree with the reviewers who complained about the "confusing" combination of narration, letters, and diary entries. I thought that the arrangement was easy enough for a junior high graduate to follow. The letters and diary entries were dated, after all, and with the exception of the first . My apologies to those who disagree, but maybe you should try a book with smaller words i...more
Now to make myself hated just a little, I have to disagree with the reviewers who complained about the "confusing" combination of narration, letters, and diary entries. I thought that the arrangement was easy enough for a junior high graduate to follow. The letters and diary entries were dated, after all, and with the exception of the first . My apologies to those who disagree, but maybe you should try a book with smaller words i...more
Feb 27, 2009
Djrmel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
fiction
l checked this historical fiction out at the library after having a "Well, I've never read a book about that place or topic!" reaction to the cover flap, and I'm very glad I did. Set in Nova Scotia shortly before WWI, this is the life story of a young woman, the only girl in a large family of boys, who learns the art of midwifery, at first out of lack of any other future, but later out of love and respect for the other women in her town. This was the point in time when medical science had discov...more
==Down-to-earth historical profundity==
The author's first novel is rather unique in its presentation. There are replica newspaper articles and advertisements, as well as poems, letters, diary pages and herbal medicinal recipes included with the narrative. This creative device works well to create temporal ambiance and cultural articulation.
The story takes place in a small coastal village in Nova Scotia during World War I. Dora Rare tells how, when yet a teenager, she becomes involved with assis...more
The author's first novel is rather unique in its presentation. There are replica newspaper articles and advertisements, as well as poems, letters, diary pages and herbal medicinal recipes included with the narrative. This creative device works well to create temporal ambiance and cultural articulation.
The story takes place in a small coastal village in Nova Scotia during World War I. Dora Rare tells how, when yet a teenager, she becomes involved with assis...more
Ami McKay is originally from Indiana and moved to Nova Scotia 'for the love of a good Canadian man'. Ms McKay's book brings to life the harsh realities of life in a remote area of Nova Scotia, before and during World War I. It tells the story of Dora Rare, a young midwife who conducts her craft in a strongly patriarchal society where women have little say in what happens to their bodies and where marriage, for many, means endless babies and lives of unrelenting drudgery. Dora and her mentor dare...more
A note of caution if you're looking for images to accompany a blog post on Ami McKay's "The Birth House": do not type "home birth" into google images and eat your lunch at the same time. Particularly if you are, as I am, a 28 year old woman who spends altogether too much time thinking about babies already. I'm suddenly much less keen to be pregnant. Does it have something to do with the looks of agony of labouring face? Yes. Yes it does.
You might have thought the novel would be the thing to turn...more
You might have thought the novel would be the thing to turn...more
Where do I even begin with this book? It was so beautifully written, the themes and characters woven in with such grace that I find myself thinking about it even though I read it quite some time ago. On the surface it seems that this book is just about a young woman in constrained circumstances who ends up becoming a midwife's assistant and finding her place in the world, but its more than that. Not wanting to give the plot away, the book follows the life of Dora Rare a young woman in a Nova Sco...more
This 2007 debut novel by Canadian author Ami McKay (well, Canada claims her since she lives here now) is set in Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy, the bulk of the story taking place in the years 1916-1919.
The protagonist, Dora Rare, is befriended and mentored by the community’s midwife/herbalist. Over the course of her life, Dora’s home becomes the birth house – or the place where the women of the community go to have their babies, rather than making the sometimes dangerous trip into...more
The protagonist, Dora Rare, is befriended and mentored by the community’s midwife/herbalist. Over the course of her life, Dora’s home becomes the birth house – or the place where the women of the community go to have their babies, rather than making the sometimes dangerous trip into...more
The Birth House follows the life of Dora Rare, who lives in a small and slightly isolated village off the coast of Nova Scotia, around the time of World War I. Dora, a young adolescent, is the first girl to be born in many generations of the Rare family genealogy. This alone gives the town enough rumors to spread about her and her family. But when family circumstances force her to choose between staying with her “proper” aunt Fran or the local midwife Miss Babineau for the winter, she chooses to...more
This was a good book, an easy read and enjoyably set in early 1900's Nova Scotia. Very good insight into the sexual revolution and how women won the right to make choices regarding their own bodies. The medical insights considered modern at this time are laughable and this adds kind of an ironic and amusing tangent to the story. The pagan rituals integrated with Catholic faith practiced by the midwives is interesting. There is the aspect of faith healing and medicinal/herbal healing, but most of...more
In truth, the pretty language would have made this at least a two star read, but the fact that I have zero motivation to finish it outweighs all that.
I enjoyed The Virgin Cure and was seduced by the high rating of her other book and went with it, sure that I would love it. Well not so much. This novel is told in a similar style to TVC - we have a nondescript narrator who seems to beguile everyone for no particular reason, we have random clippings and changes of narrative which just got annoying,...more
I enjoyed The Virgin Cure and was seduced by the high rating of her other book and went with it, sure that I would love it. Well not so much. This novel is told in a similar style to TVC - we have a nondescript narrator who seems to beguile everyone for no particular reason, we have random clippings and changes of narrative which just got annoying,...more
Ami McKay takes us to the wilds of Nova Scotia, Canada, where the mysterious and elderly midwife, Miss Babineau, takes young Dora Rare in and teaches her the secretive early practices of childbirth. Dora learns to help women through difficult births, unwanted pregnancies and unfulfilling marriages.
The Birth House’ is filled with poetic detail and colourful turns of phrase that mirror the earthiness of the setting, the protagonist, and the simple effectiveness of natural medicine. If that wasn’t...more
The Birth House’ is filled with poetic detail and colourful turns of phrase that mirror the earthiness of the setting, the protagonist, and the simple effectiveness of natural medicine. If that wasn’t...more
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 ho...more
The story is told in the first person by the character of Dora Rare, who at 17 years of age becomes the apprentice and later successor of Miss Babineau, a midwife and healer practiced in herb lore. Being the only girl in five generations of the Rare family, and having been born with a caul over her eyes, Dora is not only deemed to bring good luck, but she also shows a gift for assisting women with difficult births. With the arrival of obstetrician Dr. Gilbert Thomas in town, the stage is soon se...more
Review by Cassandra Halikas
'The Birth House' follows the life of Dora Rare, the first girl born in five generations of Rares. Dora is the fourth of seven children (Albert, Borden, Charlie, Dora, Ezekiel, Forest and Gord) and often struggles with being a lady around six brothers. Dora's often called a witch, or changling, due to being the only Rare girl. The book mainly follows Dora between 1916-1918, between her being 17 and 19 but does touch on her childhood and her adult life. She and her fami...more
'The Birth House' follows the life of Dora Rare, the first girl born in five generations of Rares. Dora is the fourth of seven children (Albert, Borden, Charlie, Dora, Ezekiel, Forest and Gord) and often struggles with being a lady around six brothers. Dora's often called a witch, or changling, due to being the only Rare girl. The book mainly follows Dora between 1916-1918, between her being 17 and 19 but does touch on her childhood and her adult life. She and her fami...more
Feb 07, 2012
Tania
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those who enjoyed "The Book of Negros"
I really enjoyed this book! If you enjoyed the style of narrative by the protagonist in Laurence Hill's "Book of Negros", I firmly believe you'll enjoy the voice of Dora Rare. I'm not fond of characters that begin so naive, but luckily she grows gumption as time goes on.
Other characters I truly enjoyed are Miss Babineau and her approach to medicine, Bertine and the Occasional Knitters Society and finally Maxine who unwittingly demonstrates to Dora that their is more than one way to live a full...more
Other characters I truly enjoyed are Miss Babineau and her approach to medicine, Bertine and the Occasional Knitters Society and finally Maxine who unwittingly demonstrates to Dora that their is more than one way to live a full...more
Compelling characters light this story of Dora, a girl who trains as a midwife with a Creole woman who has been ostracized and feared as a witch among residents of a remote Bay of Fundy town. You can hear the wind howl and the fishing trawlers creak against their moorings in McKay's prose, which also deftly draws the reader into the somewhat arcane world of herbal medicine and goddess ritual. However, three quarters of the way through, the novel takes a baffling turn by throwing Dora and he rwad...more
I truly enjoyed this book. It is a great story for introducing the struggles of midwives at the turn of the last century, when "modern" medicine was maneuvering into acceptance. "The Birth House" especially describes the tension between the women and their families well as they struggle with the changing worldview, and their own native intelligence about what is best for their bodies and their unborn children. In the years that have passed, that struggle has dimmed for most women as they have ac...more
Jul 15, 2011
Kay Peers
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
have-read-multiple-times,
would-read-again
Since I bought this the first month it came out, I have read it multiple times, and I am likely to read it again.
Ami McKay paints a picture of a time when midwives were the most called upon form of doctor, not just for childbirth, but for all of the other everyday medical practices that we now go to a doctor for, but also for relationships, taboos, domestic violence and smaller, but no less interesting things such as food choices, and religious beliefs. She leads us through the life of the first...more
Ami McKay paints a picture of a time when midwives were the most called upon form of doctor, not just for childbirth, but for all of the other everyday medical practices that we now go to a doctor for, but also for relationships, taboos, domestic violence and smaller, but no less interesting things such as food choices, and religious beliefs. She leads us through the life of the first...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clouds, Coffee &a...: The Birth House | 12 | 22 | Dec 12, 2011 09:15am |
Ami McKay’s debut novel, The Birth House was a # 1 bestseller in Canada, winner of three CBA Libris Awards, nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and a book club favourite around the world.
Her new novel. The Virgin Cure, is inspired by the life of her great- great grandmother, Dr. Sarah Fonda Mackintosh, a female physician in nineteenth century New York. Born and raised in...more
More about Ami McKay...
Her new novel. The Virgin Cure, is inspired by the life of her great- great grandmother, Dr. Sarah Fonda Mackintosh, a female physician in nineteenth century New York. Born and raised in...more
Share This Book
7 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“No matter what you do, someone always knew you would.”
—
66 people liked it
“If women lose the right to say where and how they birth their children, then they will have lost something that's as dear to life as breathing.”
—
6 people liked it
More quotes…
updated Sep 08, 2008 02:13pm