Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publication: Vintage, paperback, originally published in 1997
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century United States
My Impression: The first time I heard of this book was when it was chosen as Oprah's 21st Book Club selection in October 1998. It is hard to explain how we in publishing back then desperately hoped one of our books would be chosen, both for the unbudgeted windfall to the bottom line and for the excitement. Those in sales like me would go to our accounts and tell them we had the next Oprah book, which was nearly always a novel, but we were usually sworn to secrecy and would sell it with an ISBN only, no title, and a ship date. As I recall, it could mean selling a million copies upfront.
Waiting for the announcement was a ritual to those in the industry and if someone leaked the title before Oprah did, we were terrified the publisher would get blamed and never chosen again. Sometimes I had read the book already, knew of it, or wanted to read it but sometimes I got turned off by the hype and did not want to read a book everyone else was reading. Thus, I had only read one book by Bohjalian, The Guest Room. He seems so nice on social media and I know is very loyal to Armenian causes (which I am very aware of because I used to live in a town with a large Armenian population), so when I came across Midwives recently, I decided it was time to read it and, after a slow start, I enjoyed it.
The book is told in the first person by Sybil's daughter Connie Danforth from a sort of world-weary adolescent perspective initially but she becomes very worried about her mother’s vulnerability and fate as the case gets closer to trial. She is old enough to realize her mother’s fate likely rests on the skill of the lawyer but she is both fascinated and resentful of him. She can’t bring herself to blame her mother for the stress and worry (plus expense, although she is less aware of that) Sybil has caused the family so it is easier to distrust Stephen Hastings, the high-powered lawyer from Burlington, who manages to make Sybil laugh even during this terrible time preparing for trial. Connie has read her mother’s journal so knows Sybil’s inner self-doubt: what if she was wrong and Charlotte Bedford wasn’t dead when she performed the C-section?
Midwives is set in 1981 and published 16 years later so does not really qualify as historical fiction, although it feels very dated. It is somewhat like Jodi Picoult’s books that have a “straight from the headlines” feel with a very dramatic ending. It is the eleventh book of my 20 Books of Summer 2023 and while several others have bookmarks in them, I don’t think I will finish another by midnight!
Source: Personal copy. Have you read this? Perhaps when it was on the bestseller lists or maybe you saw the movie which featured Sissy Spacek. . .
The book is told in the first person by Sybil's daughter Connie Danforth from a sort of world-weary adolescent perspective initially but she becomes very worried about her mother’s vulnerability and fate as the case gets closer to trial. She is old enough to realize her mother’s fate likely rests on the skill of the lawyer but she is both fascinated and resentful of him. She can’t bring herself to blame her mother for the stress and worry (plus expense, although she is less aware of that) Sybil has caused the family so it is easier to distrust Stephen Hastings, the high-powered lawyer from Burlington, who manages to make Sybil laugh even during this terrible time preparing for trial. Connie has read her mother’s journal so knows Sybil’s inner self-doubt: what if she was wrong and Charlotte Bedford wasn’t dead when she performed the C-section?
Source: Personal copy. Have you read this? Perhaps when it was on the bestseller lists or maybe you saw the movie which featured Sissy Spacek. . .
6 comments:
This sounds really good--I like court room drama and the premise is super interesting. I think I would like seeing how the narrator grows and develops in the course of telling her mother's story.
Also interesting is your recounting of the Oprah selection rituals for book business folks.
Oprah and her bunch generally do a great job of choosing books to highlight, but I've always been leery of books that get such a tremendous amount of hype. Even when I read one of hers at a later date, I tend to read a copy of the book without her name plastered all over its cover if at all possible. She's not the only one I feel that way about, but I do always feel good for the author that suddenly reaps the rewards of a major book club selection.
I saw the movie you mention, liked it (Spacek is a favorite), and intended to go back and find the novel. Never got around to it, but I'm putting it atop the TBR now.
I agree - I often get turned off by hearing about a book I am *supposed* to read or that is overhyped. In fact, I thought some of Oprah's choices were too dysfunctional for me but the whole process was entertaining. I liked this for the Vermont setting and the perspective of the worried teenage daughter but it seemed oddly dated and slow paced to me. I think it was innovative for its time and I have read quite a few books like it since. Bohjalian's books are very different from one another which I admire.
I have read Midwives quite a while ago and really enjoyed it. I didn't even know they made it into a film but I hardly ever watch them, so often they don't work out for me.
Thanks for your reveiew and the explanations about the book business.
So interesting to hear how from the book sellers perspective on Oprah's selections! I read this book shortly around the same time of it's announcement as part of a local book group I used to belong to and we actually won a dinner with the author! Chris was so super nice and just seemed so interested in getting to know us and answer our questions about the writing life, etc. I've read a couple of other books by him and have enjoyed them.
Iliana, thanks for sharing that! He does seem very nice and genuine. Did he attend your book group in person? My book group won a visit from an author once and we were quite disappointed. It was pre-Zoom so we had to meet at the home of the one member who had a speaker phone and I recall the author, although in the midwest and an hour behind us, gave us a hard time for meeting at 8 pm. I explained that most of us had high powered jobs and could not leave before 7 and she said we were keeping her up past her bedtime! I came across the book a week or so ago and decided I should donate it as am unlikely to reread.
Marianne, I agree that made for TV movies are often not worth the time, and I would usually rather be reading than watching television. I am watching the British show Line of Duty, however, which has me mesmerized.
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