Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by
Jennifer Worth, narrated by,Nicola Barber
I was a little thrown at first with this book as I was
expecting a straight forward story but what I got was short stories/anecdotes,
once I realized that it was easier to enjoy. Some stories are much longer than
others like the story of young Mary who is 14 and a prostitute which is one of
the best stories, really gives you a feel of the tough times. Or the one of the
woman giving birth to her 24th child yes even Jenny asked if it was
a typo!
I must say though if you get queasy from talk of bodily
functions and very graphic details of childbirth and infections you may want to
read this one in print so you can skip over these passages. Especially when she
talks about the woman’s body odors and I’m not talking just sweat. She also
talks a lot about some of the things she hates about her job in a very matter
of fact way , she pulls no punches, she also describes the advances being made
in midwifery and anti-(pre-for Americans) natal care.
Some of the women you will feel very sorry for, their lives
are tough but some of these women will amaze you like the woman I mentioned
above Conchita(*sp audio*) with the 24+ kids but she has the best attitude the
first time we meet her she is giving birth to her 24th child the
second time she is having her 25th and it doesn’t go as planned but
she is still an amazing woman. The stories of the mixed race children
especially the story of Ted I thought it was great that he accepted this child
as his own and loved him anyway. Some of the Nuns were pretty funny too.
Nicola Barber narration is very well done, going from
British to Irish to Cockney accents all seamlessly. CD #6 felt like it ended in
the middle of a sentence, but the way some of these stories just trail off I
could be wrong about that.
I wanted to read this because it is going to be on PBS
Masterpiece as I am a Masterpiece geek .It was a good book but not quite the
story/plot I expected, will be curious how they make it into more of a
storyline than a bunch of shorter stories. I will order the paper book for our local
library also. I also see this is the first in a trilogy and hope the rest will
soon be available on audio! Especially since this one kind of just trailed off
like the rest of the short stories.
4 Stars
I received this audiobook from the Audiobookjukebox Solid
Gold Reviewer Program & Highbridge Audio for a fair and unbiased review.
Great, will do Carole!
ReplyDeleteI adored this book, Susie! I'm watching the TV series too, at the moment, and really enjoying that too. In fact, they are keeping to the short-story model, having one person's "story" per episode.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Liza Perrat
Yes Liz I wondered how they were going to do the TV series and am happy with how they have done it!
ReplyDelete