Book of the Unnamed Midwife -- Roll Call and First Impressions

[Nick]

Please let us know if you are reading, or plan to read The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison.

Please, **NO SPOILERS** in this thread.

[Joelle.P.S]

I love this book & have read it 2 (3?) times already. :-D

[Suzanne]

I'm going to check this one out.

[Rachel]

So....I’m having a hard time getting myself going on reading something so dark seeming right after the holidays with the post holiday depression already in the air.....anyone else?
Should have planned this read better I guess

[Aster]

I picked it and its sequel up from the library (I figure if I like it enough I'll want to have the sequel ready :) ) but I haven't started reading it yet. Probably will in the next day or two though, so I will come back with my first impressions soon.

[Chasity]

I haves read it.

[Aster]

Just started it today! The intro is definitely intriguing and gets you curious right off the bat about how events proceed to get to this point, and I'm always a fan of books that exist within themselves.

The beginning of chapter one reminded me of the diary of Martha Ballard, a real midwife who lived from 1785-1812 in Maine, USA. I'm assuming that's not an accident, and appreciate the historical reference.

After that it does get rather bleak though. I've only finished the first chapter so far, but it gets violent pretty quickly and sets it up so that it looks like this story's going to be a painful journey for the protagonist. I'm sticking with it, but I hope it's not so depressing all the way through because it could be tough to read too much like this without getting emotionally exhausted.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I am starting it today.

[Wekoslav]

Started yesterday. A little on the bleak side so far.