Book Reviews of The Birth House

This book was just fantastic-one of the best I've read all year! Highly recommend it. I felt like I was reading music and magic. Includes many interesting historical events of that time period and tells a great story at the same time. Dr. Thomas will drive you nuts, but you will fall in love with Marie B.! If you have or get this paperback copy, make sure you read the PS section. The author interview was just as intersting as the story!

Taking place during the first World War, this book brings to light the hardship women had face before women's suffrage. The women of a small mountain town in Nova Scotia are used to home births by a kindly wise midwife and they would not have it any other way until challenged by a new doctor in town, who deems it unsafe and basically stupid to not want a hospital birth, where the mother is sedated, barely remembering the event at all. Dora, at first a young girl at the start of this novel is at the heart of this struggle, as she takes the lead role as midwife after a tragedy occurs. I really liked this book and although it took a bit to capture my attention, once it did I could not put it down.

A very easy look at some difficult history. I especially liked the way the author pulled in the newspaper articles and advertisements of the day..interesting. A definite read...

Over all this was an OK book. It was interesting to read of what it was like to be a woman in the early 1900's. The midwifery aspect was good, and probably realistic for a rural village in the day.

I WANT TO STRESS THAT IT IS NOT A REALISTIC VIEW OF TODAY'S MIDWIVES. The majority of midwives today are professionals.

Also, I hate it when an author makes all the "Christians" in the book hypocrites and idiots, and those not Christians "Saints."

I found this a fairly quick read that kept my attention most of the time. I would recommend this to a friend-good quick beach book.

I really enjoyed this first novel by Ami Mckay. It's both fiction and non-fiction and I found myself quite interested in both Dora's story and in the medical treatment of women in the early 1900's. I look forward to more novels from this author.

Typically, I don't like historical fiction, BUT I found this one interesting & entertaining to read. Makes you appreciate all of the comforts we enjoy today, both as a modern person & a woman.

Dora Rare makes this story compelling. Reaching out from the cold hard winters of Nova Scotia, in the times of woman's sufferage, this coming of age novel grabs you from the beginning, makes you feel what this young woman of 17 feels on her wedding day, the skills she learns as a midwife and as a fugitive from men. You cannot but hope that this story helps other young women, and older women for that, understand that to accept some hardships in your life for the greater good, is what it's all about.

Ami McKay has bathed this young woman in a beautiful light, we would be good to remember that it wasn't so long ago that women had to hide from men for fear of persecution. Although a work of fiction, this book resonates with me and the recent turning from "modern" to more home births.

I loved this book. I read it straight through.

Great book. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Learned a lot about this time in history.

Well-written, engaging book from first to last. The themes of inherent and inherited knowledge of the midwife was a realistic look at what really may have happened in the dark spaces of the past. This is basically historical fiction, but well done.

If I had any complaints it was that I began to "see" the research through the writing--the World War I, Halifax explosion, influx of "modern" doctors into delivery of children, inventions of the time, etc.

A great read--I read it straight through--and an enlightening look at the past and at Nova Scotia history.

Great book on women and their sexuality in WWII era Nova Scotia. Fast reading with a great message that resounds today, giving birth is a sacred event. Midwife care should be the norm for healthy women as our bodies generally know what to do. Highly trained physicians are wonderful for the problems that may arise and the two should work in harmony! Thank GOD they have come a long way since the poor OB care and medical beliefs of "Dr. Thomas" in the book!

Lyrical writing, feminist plot. Excellent read!

We read this book for our book club. Everyone liked it! Easy to read and interesting!

This book was EXCELLENT. It was a great story. Dora is such a strong character and the culture and history surrounding her is so rich in tradition. I was very much interested in how medicine had evolved to a so-called 'science' so much so that the verses and routine of midwivery at the time were completely discounted although they were tried and true practice. Miss B, Dora's teacher of sorts in a fascinating character that brings mysticism and spirituality to her work in a way that might be seen as unsettling, but reveals characters that were often seen as outcasts in history unless their 'expertise' was needed.

I could go on and on about this historical novel. It was definitely one of the best reads I've had all year...;)