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Jul 07, 2008

Sarah rated it:

"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 More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2008

Lucy rated it:

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 More...

12 comments like (8 people liked it)

May 09, 2008

Christi rated it:

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 mode More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 05, 2011

Joanie rated it:

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 ha More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 05, 2008

Paula rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 08, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 25, 2007

Cheryl rated it:

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 ver More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2008

Kelly rated it:

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 y More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2008

daysgoby rated it:

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 treatm More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 27, 2009

Djrmel rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Tania rated it:

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 t More...

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Nov 06, 2011

Glenda rated it:

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 rwa More...

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Aug 06, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

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 w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2011

Kay rated it:

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 More...

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Feb 02, 2011

Christie rated it:

"One of the first books I read this year and easily the best novel I encountered in 2006, this account of a midwife in turn-of-the-(20th)-century Nova Scotia is everything a novel should be: funny and tragic, joyful and sorrowful, filled with rich, carefully drawn characters and experiences that linger long in the mind.

The Birth House spent most of the year on bestseller lists and marked the arrival of a splendid new talent. I can’t wait to see what Ami McKay does next." – More...

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Sep 28, 2010

Lauren rated it:

The Birth House is an interesting look at village in Nova Scotia during World War I. Scots Bay is not quite modern. There is no electricity, everyone knows everyone, and there is no local doctor. The nearest doctor is in the larger town of Canning. The story opens with Dora Rare, the first daughter in generations of a family that is not supposed to have any girls. For this reason (and the fact that Dora was born in a caul), villagers are a bit suspicious of Dora, wondering if she has magica More...

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Sep 25, 2010

Katrina rated it:

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in about two days. It is very engrossing. Part of its attraction for me is undoubtedly because I am very interested in birth. This is a fascinating look at birth practices during WWI era Canada. Rural midwives had been the norm but newly trained OBs were attempting to convince women to birth in modern hospitals.

The story is a fictionalized account of a young girl who is trained to be a midwife rather by default. It is at its heart a coming of ag More...

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Sep 13, 2010

Kendal rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 01, 2010

megan rated it:

An early 20th century book set in Canada essentially depicting the dichotomy between midwifery and emerging medical science. At the core is Dora, a woman trained by the local midwife "Miss B" to continue her midwifery work when she is unable to. This occurs right as a new doctor moves to a neighboring town and develops a maternity home for women to go to when they are in labor and give birth to their child "painlessly" and with modern medicine. The author obviously leaned More...

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Feb 15, 2010

Amy rated it:

The Birth House by Ami McKay is about so much more than midwifery! Set in Scots Bay Nova Scotia around the time of the First World War, The Birth House tells the story of Dora Rare, a young apprentice to a midwife, an Acadian women some deem a witch. The novel is stuffed with information regarding the practice of midwifery, as well as the struggle between early obstetrics and natural child birth. It is somewhat astounding to the modern female reader to read of the treatment of women in the not More...

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Dec 10, 2009

jess rated it:

I feel like this is about a two point five stars kind of book, but since goodreads forces you into this "full stars only" system, and it's the holiday season, my generosity of spirit is rounding up to three stars.

So this is the kind of book I don't read that often. It's historic fiction, a 350 page novel about things like Women's Friendships (knitting circles), but there is some suffragette activity, and a battle over women's choices, like midwifery versus modern medicine, More...

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Dec 06, 2009

Carla rated it:

Interesting read. As the author intended, I really hated the doctor character. Particularly when he explained that morning sickness is a compulsion caused by the woman's desire to have her husband's attention. So much of medicine and society was explained by the mental instability of women. It's a miracle men saw fit to allow them to raise their children at all.

There was a feeling of the author trying to stuff every possible scenario into the story. She meets some women's rights More...

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Jul 07, 2009

Anna rated it:

I really enjoyed reading this book, which relates to my other books on the feminist, women's issues, and historical context shelves. I will admit though, I had some doubts throughout the book. Most of the time, the author writes beautiful lines that inspire me beyond the covers of the book but, I felt there was something missing from the beginning.
Occasionally, I felt that some events were not believable, I felt they would have happened differently. It was a little too "Hallmark movie More...

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Jun 12, 2009

Chelsea rated it:

I had a hard time deciding how many stars to give this book.
I enjoyed a lot of things about it. The characters are engaging and interesting and quickly draw you into their world. It was an incredibly fast read for me, keeping me up many nights succumbing to the "one more chapter" syndrome. And I did love reading a lot of the childbirth scenes. I am curious to know how accurate a lot of the medical history in the book is, as well as some of the home remedies and older midwife More...

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Jan 29, 2011

Ruth rated it:

I was beginning to think I was becoming impatient with historical literary fiction partway through reading this, but I have to say I got over that idea by the end. Dora Rare reminded me of my favourite female ancestors, women who somehow found the strength to flout convention and do what they had to do to survive and be happy. I'd say this was not only a good book, but an important one for feminists (ha, maybe it's more important for women who see no need to be feminists), since in it you can tr More...

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Jan 20, 2011

Chris rated it:

Wow. What did I think indeed!
Thoroughly enjoyed.
McKay weaves a beautiful, haunting story of life on the Bay of Fundy right around the time of WWI. Her ability to carefully craft character development and plot made for an irresistible read that had me feeling a full range of emotion and constantly turning the page for the next bit of story.
Written from the perspective of pre-suffrage women in a small east-coast community, the range of characters were fascinating to observe and eve More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

George rated it:

“Lyrical prose and deft story telling”—Chicago Sun Times (front cover)

EXCELLENT. ENJOYABLE. ENLIGHTENING.

“Iris Rose had started her life with a soul that wanted to die.”—page 218

“Medical training, scientific method, modern knowledge…these things have never been part of their daily lives, they have no use for them…but heaven forbid they show it.”—page 112

Being part French-Canadian myself, me, and having grown up among friends and relatives with la More...

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Jan 23, 2012

Jessica rated it:

I purchased this book to read on my Nook tablet. I found this to be an interesting, enjoyable, and eye-opening read. This book is told from a time when hospital births were rare and the male dominated medical community was trying to change that. There was money to be made in catching babies and delivering the latest in medical science such as twilight sleep and mothers so drugged they had no memory of their childrens births, despite how this produced a dangerous respiratory issue for newborns. I More...

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May 08, 2011

Lataun rated it:

I loved how the book ended. I didn't want this book to end because then I wouldn't get to read it every night. I love historical fiction and enjoyed researching the Halifax Explosion talked about in the book.

("The Halifax Explosion" occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the N More...

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Feb 16, 2011

Lara rated it:

I was all set to write a scathing review of how inconsistent this book is. It took me until Dora was in Boston to realize that the journal entries were in a smaller font! So no bad review from me.

After a worrisome slow start, when I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this narrative, I actually found myself mired completely in the plot. Once I came up for air, I had spent the entire morning and half the afternoon with it until it was done.

I picked up this book because of the thrill More...

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