Midwives, Chris Bohjalian's fifth novel, is the story of Sibyl Danforth, a lay midwife in rural Vermont, and her daughter, Connie. The nexus of this cautionary tale is an emergency Caesarean section Sibyl performs during a home birth that goes disastrously wrong. Believing the mother is already dead from a stroke, Sibyl operates and later finds herself on trial for killing the woman. The compelling story of her trial and its aftermath comes to us from Connie, who believes "this is my story, too." In fact, Connie's reaction to her mother's ordeal is to go to medical school and become an obstetrician. The book raises provocative issues about medical ethics and the limits of risk.

Boring!, 12 Sep 2007
Too long winded and poor narrative. It just kept going on and on. The first third was fabulous and I was so pleased I picked it up then once the trial started I simply lost interest. Skipped to the last two chapters to find out the ending.

What would you have done in Sibyl's place?, 12 Jun 2007
A very entertaining book, speaking of a series of difficult decisions to be taken in a split second and against a further series of negative circumstances surrounding the problematic birth of a baby, delivered by an experienced midwife during a snowy night in rural Vermont. When things deteriorate, Sibyl, the midwife, has to take a crucial decision which will then lead to a lawsuit.
This book certainly makes you think about how everything can go wrong if adverse fate interferes, but not only. It also gives rise to a crucial question regarding the choice between childbirth taking place in the serenity of a home or at a hospital, where everything would be "colder" but most risks could be kept at bay.
With all due respect, I must admit I was really impressed that the author of this book is a male, as everything is recounted with such feminine accuracy. Well done, truly well done. A book to be remembered. I still do and I've read it at least five years ago!

Tantilising, 08 Nov 2006
One of the best books I have read in years. Gripping throughout, accessible, and well written. reasonably short, so you do not need to invest a month of your life finding out what happens. Unexpected ending, but perfect. Read and enjoy!

EXQUISITELY WRITTEN AND ABSORBING...A NOVEL TO REMEMBER..., 10 Mar 2006
This beautifully crafted novel is set in 1981 when a midwife, leading an otherwise uncomplicated and simple life with her husband and daughter in rural Vermont, is thrust into a legal, moral, political, and ethical nightmare. It evolves around a split second decision made in a life and death situation and the aftermath of that decision.

An experienced and respected midwife, Sibyl Danforth, attends a woman during a home birth. When she realizes that dangerous complications have set in, she tries to call for help in vain, as a severe ice storm has knocked out the phone lines. An attempt to drive the expectant mother to a hospital only results in the car being wedged into an icy snow bank, as travel conditions were impossible.

Trapped in this isolated home with a physically fragile, expectant mother in the throes of a labor that will not bear fruit, Sybil struggles to do the best that she can. Unfortunately, her best is just not good enough, given the complications that had set in, and the expectant mother appears to succumb to the ravages of a laborious childbirth.

Under the belief that the expectant mother had died, Sibyl performs an emergency caesarean section in an effort to save the unborn child. She successfully does so, presenting the stricken husband with an infant son. Yet, the next day, her assistant, Anne, who had been present throughout the ordeal, denounces Sibyl to the authorities, claiming that the expectant mother had, in fact, been alive, when Sibyl had commenced the caesarean. Consequently, Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, and the political winds blown by the traditional medical establishment, as well as that of the legal system, threaten to tear asunder all that she holds dear.

The story of this event, its aftermath, and the impact it had on many lives, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter who had been a young teenager at the time of the incident, and through the pages of Sibyl's journal. The book takes the reader through a number of moral dilemmas for Sibyl, as well as for her daughter who is forced to come of age during this time of trial and tribulation for her family. Absorbing and often surprising, this sensitively wrought novel is a well nuanced literary gem from a gifted writer.

Excellent - a real find, 11 Aug 2003
I thought this was a thought-provoking, exciting story - couldn't put it down. At the risk of sounding sexist, I was impressed that a man had written this. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am now about to search for his others.

Boring!, 12 Sep 2007
Too long winded and poor narrative. It just kept going on and on. The first third was fabulous and I was so pleased I picked it up then once the trial started I simply lost interest. Skipped to the last two chapters to find out the ending.

What would you have done in Sibyl's place?, 12 Jun 2007
A very entertaining book, speaking of a series of difficult decisions to be taken in a split second and against a further series of negative circumstances surrounding the problematic birth of a baby, delivered by an experienced midwife during a snowy night in rural Vermont. When things deteriorate, Sibyl, the midwife, has to take a crucial decision which will then lead to a lawsuit.
This book certainly makes you think about how everything can go wrong if adverse fate interferes, but not only. It also gives rise to a crucial question regarding the choice between childbirth taking place in the serenity of a home or at a hospital, where everything would be "colder" but most risks could be kept at bay.
With all due respect, I must admit I was really impressed that the author of this book is a male, as everything is recounted with such feminine accuracy. Well done, truly well done. A book to be remembered. I still do and I've read it at least five years ago!

Tantilising, 08 Nov 2006
One of the best books I have read in years. Gripping throughout, accessible, and well written. reasonably short, so you do not need to invest a month of your life finding out what happens. Unexpected ending, but perfect. Read and enjoy!

EXQUISITELY WRITTEN AND ABSORBING...A NOVEL TO REMEMBER..., 10 Mar 2006
This beautifully crafted novel is set in 1981 when a midwife, leading an otherwise uncomplicated and simple life with her husband and daughter in rural Vermont, is thrust into a legal, moral, political, and ethical nightmare. It evolves around a split second decision made in a life and death situation and the aftermath of that decision.

An experienced and respected midwife, Sibyl Danforth, attends a woman during a home birth. When she realizes that dangerous complications have set in, she tries to call for help in vain, as a severe ice storm has knocked out the phone lines. An attempt to drive the expectant mother to a hospital only results in the car being wedged into an icy snow bank, as travel conditions were impossible.

Trapped in this isolated home with a physically fragile, expectant mother in the throes of a labor that will not bear fruit, Sybil struggles to do the best that she can. Unfortunately, her best is just not good enough, given the complications that had set in, and the expectant mother appears to succumb to the ravages of a laborious childbirth.

Under the belief that the expectant mother had died, Sibyl performs an emergency caesarean section in an effort to save the unborn child. She successfully does so, presenting the stricken husband with an infant son. Yet, the next day, her assistant, Anne, who had been present throughout the ordeal, denounces Sibyl to the authorities, claiming that the expectant mother had, in fact, been alive, when Sibyl had commenced the caesarean. Consequently, Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, and the political winds blown by the traditional medical establishment, as well as that of the legal system, threaten to tear asunder all that she holds dear.

The story of this event, its aftermath, and the impact it had on many lives, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter who had been a young teenager at the time of the incident, and through the pages of Sibyl's journal. The book takes the reader through a number of moral dilemmas for Sibyl, as well as for her daughter who is forced to come of age during this time of trial and tribulation for her family. Absorbing and often surprising, this sensitively wrought novel is a well nuanced literary gem from a gifted writer.

Excellent - a real find, 11 Aug 2003
I thought this was a thought-provoking, exciting story - couldn't put it down. At the risk of sounding sexist, I was impressed that a man had written this. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am now about to search for his others.

Boring stuff, 17 Oct 2008
This book was very disappointing compared to Bohjalians other masterpieces, namely Midwives and The Double Bind. There is nothing exciting in this novel, nothing to keep you turning the pages. It was a chore to read.

"A self-loathing would be her companion and cause her to walk with a distracted, disconsolate gaze." , 28 May 2008
Expertly interlocking all of the blood and anarchy of the 2nd World War with the very personal experiences of his main protagonists, Chris Bohjalian has written a hellish account of the brutalities inflicted on both Jews and Germans and anyone else who unwittingly gets caught up in the chaos of the battlefield. Although somewhat of a departure for Bohjalian who has spent much of his writing career dealing with social issues on the home front, here he brings to life with an almost cinematic furor, the waning months of the Nazi empire even as he hones in on one German family who have become unintentionally swept up in the tide of history.

The aristocratic Emmerichs have lived a privileged life on their estate in East Prussia, always resenting the fact that their land was succeeded to the Poles. Hitler had certainly changed this, with the family matriarch Irmgard "Mutti" venerating Germany's new leader for liberating them from Polish governance. But now with the Reich threatening to collapse around them and with the Russians, considered the juggarnaught of barbarians, advancing from the East, this family is forced to flea, embarking on a desperate trek across the whole of the Reich in order to reach the presumed safety of the British or the American lines.

Patriarch Rolf Emmerich and eldest son Helmut leave to join the Germans, even as Helmet is too young and brash to understand for certain that he might die if he joins the fight against the Russians. Staying behind to make the trek is the eighteen-year-old Anna who together with Mutti and the younger brother Leo is left in the care of the twenty-year old POW, a giant Scotsman, by the name of Callum Finella, sent to the Emmerich family estate from the prison camp just outside of Thorn to help with the harvest.

Although Rolf and Helmut disapprove of Callum's affair with the naïve young Anna, they hope that the Scottish Paratrooper will be their goodwill ambassador, their currency and their proof that they're not "your run of the mill Nazis." As Anna, Mutti Leo and Callum embark on their dangerous march, ducking and weaving as they hear the shriek of yet another approaching Soviet shell, their travail is tempered by the lovely Mutti, a sweet lady with fortitude and courage who shoulders much of the emotional burden of their plight.

Meanwhile, the war effort goes on, and even with the Russians approaching, the killing in the concentration camps moves ahead at full steam along with the accompanying evacuations from the Jewish enclaves in the towns deep in Eastern Poland. The young Jew Uri Singer is deported for a concentration camp, spending nearly three days in a cattle car before he escapes. Determined to find his sister, he hurls himself along with a slop bucket out the door on one balmy night when the opportunity suddenly presents itself.

Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story in this tale of survival is the two young French Jewish girls, Cecilia and her friend Jeanne. Considered to be expendable slave labor they are marched from their concentration camp, desperately trying to avoid a certain death, all the while struggling to find a memory they could share that no one would associate with want and sadness and loss. Along with the other girls, they spend much of their lives on the edge, terrified of the German guards who could at any moment fire a shot into the back of anyone's skull because a prisoner could no longer stand.

Metaphorically all these characters are like skeletons heading towards their feast, trapped in their battle for survival even as the pace of death never seems to slow. Author Chris Bohjalian gives us a real sense of all the death and destruction, the sounds of screams and the missiles and the diving airplanes, while also giving us a truly cinematic picture of the rivers of refugees heading West, old people young children and crippled soldiers, surging forward with all of their household possessions in ramshackle carts.

Each character carries his or her share of burdens: Callum who accompanies the Emmerichs always fears he will simply be shot on the spot as an escaped POW; Uri is determined to act out one final repayment for the deaths he had witnessed in the cattle car and the myriad afflictions and indignities he had endured for about as long as he could remember; and Anna is torn between what is wrong, the reality that her Callum is a prisoner, and that she's violating her family's trust by inviting him into her house - and her bed.

This novel is a blinding testimony to all the cruelty and barbarism during these years, but what makes this story so unique is its haunting perspective of telling the story from the distinctively German point of view, embedding the War deep within the lives of the Emmerichs and making them as equally compassionate. My only problem with this book is that Bohjalian tends to "telegraph" a bit too much in the middle section, consequently the constant switching back and forth between events from Anna and Callum, to Uri and then to Cecilia slows the pace a bit and comes across as a bit contrived. The author, however is always relentless in his refusal to shy away from the carnage committed by the both Nazis and the Soviets.

Although most of the major players in this drama end up exhausted by their experiences, they are also often grateful for the small acts of kindness amidst all of this stunning atrocity. In the end, this tale shows that war can really bring forth the courage of people and their impossible goodness, and we see this repeated over and over again as this powerful novel moves towards its inevitable conclusion in a world that seems to have gone mad. Mike Leonard May 08.

Boring!, 12 Sep 2007
Too long winded and poor narrative. It just kept going on and on. The first third was fabulous and I was so pleased I picked it up then once the trial started I simply lost interest. Skipped to the last two chapters to find out the ending.

What would you have done in Sibyl's place?, 12 Jun 2007
A very entertaining book, speaking of a series of difficult decisions to be taken in a split second and against a further series of negative circumstances surrounding the problematic birth of a baby, delivered by an experienced midwife during a snowy night in rural Vermont. When things deteriorate, Sibyl, the midwife, has to take a crucial decision which will then lead to a lawsuit.
This book certainly makes you think about how everything can go wrong if adverse fate interferes, but not only. It also gives rise to a crucial question regarding the choice between childbirth taking place in the serenity of a home or at a hospital, where everything would be "colder" but most risks could be kept at bay.
With all due respect, I must admit I was really impressed that the author of this book is a male, as everything is recounted with such feminine accuracy. Well done, truly well done. A book to be remembered. I still do and I've read it at least five years ago!

Tantilising, 08 Nov 2006
One of the best books I have read in years. Gripping throughout, accessible, and well written. reasonably short, so you do not need to invest a month of your life finding out what happens. Unexpected ending, but perfect. Read and enjoy!

EXQUISITELY WRITTEN AND ABSORBING...A NOVEL TO REMEMBER..., 10 Mar 2006
This beautifully crafted novel is set in 1981 when a midwife, leading an otherwise uncomplicated and simple life with her husband and daughter in rural Vermont, is thrust into a legal, moral, political, and ethical nightmare. It evolves around a split second decision made in a life and death situation and the aftermath of that decision.

An experienced and respected midwife, Sibyl Danforth, attends a woman during a home birth. When she realizes that dangerous complications have set in, she tries to call for help in vain, as a severe ice storm has knocked out the phone lines. An attempt to drive the expectant mother to a hospital only results in the car being wedged into an icy snow bank, as travel conditions were impossible.

Trapped in this isolated home with a physically fragile, expectant mother in the throes of a labor that will not bear fruit, Sybil struggles to do the best that she can. Unfortunately, her best is just not good enough, given the complications that had set in, and the expectant mother appears to succumb to the ravages of a laborious childbirth.

Under the belief that the expectant mother had died, Sibyl performs an emergency caesarean section in an effort to save the unborn child. She successfully does so, presenting the stricken husband with an infant son. Yet, the next day, her assistant, Anne, who had been present throughout the ordeal, denounces Sibyl to the authorities, claiming that the expectant mother had, in fact, been alive, when Sibyl had commenced the caesarean. Consequently, Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, and the political winds blown by the traditional medical establishment, as well as that of the legal system, threaten to tear asunder all that she holds dear.

The story of this event, its aftermath, and the impact it had on many lives, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter who had been a young teenager at the time of the incident, and through the pages of Sibyl's journal. The book takes the reader through a number of moral dilemmas for Sibyl, as well as for her daughter who is forced to come of age during this time of trial and tribulation for her family. Absorbing and often surprising, this sensitively wrought novel is a well nuanced literary gem from a gifted writer.

Excellent - a real find, 11 Aug 2003
I thought this was a thought-provoking, exciting story - couldn't put it down. At the risk of sounding sexist, I was impressed that a man had written this. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am now about to search for his others.

Boring stuff, 17 Oct 2008
This book was very disappointing compared to Bohjalians other masterpieces, namely Midwives and The Double Bind. There is nothing exciting in this novel, nothing to keep you turning the pages. It was a chore to read.

"A self-loathing would be her companion and cause her to walk with a distracted, disconsolate gaze." , 28 May 2008
Expertly interlocking all of the blood and anarchy of the 2nd World War with the very personal experiences of his main protagonists, Chris Bohjalian has written a hellish account of the brutalities inflicted on both Jews and Germans and anyone else who unwittingly gets caught up in the chaos of the battlefield. Although somewhat of a departure for Bohjalian who has spent much of his writing career dealing with social issues on the home front, here he brings to life with an almost cinematic furor, the waning months of the Nazi empire even as he hones in on one German family who have become unintentionally swept up in the tide of history.

The aristocratic Emmerichs have lived a privileged life on their estate in East Prussia, always resenting the fact that their land was succeeded to the Poles. Hitler had certainly changed this, with the family matriarch Irmgard "Mutti" venerating Germany's new leader for liberating them from Polish governance. But now with the Reich threatening to collapse around them and with the Russians, considered the juggarnaught of barbarians, advancing from the East, this family is forced to flea, embarking on a desperate trek across the whole of the Reich in order to reach the presumed safety of the British or the American lines.

Patriarch Rolf Emmerich and eldest son Helmut leave to join the Germans, even as Helmet is too young and brash to understand for certain that he might die if he joins the fight against the Russians. Staying behind to make the trek is the eighteen-year-old Anna who together with Mutti and the younger brother Leo is left in the care of the twenty-year old POW, a giant Scotsman, by the name of Callum Finella, sent to the Emmerich family estate from the prison camp just outside of Thorn to help with the harvest.

Although Rolf and Helmut disapprove of Callum's affair with the naïve young Anna, they hope that the Scottish Paratrooper will be their goodwill ambassador, their currency and their proof that they're not "your run of the mill Nazis." As Anna, Mutti Leo and Callum embark on their dangerous march, ducking and weaving as they hear the shriek of yet another approaching Soviet shell, their travail is tempered by the lovely Mutti, a sweet lady with fortitude and courage who shoulders much of the emotional burden of their plight.

Meanwhile, the war effort goes on, and even with the Russians approaching, the killing in the concentration camps moves ahead at full steam along with the accompanying evacuations from the Jewish enclaves in the towns deep in Eastern Poland. The young Jew Uri Singer is deported for a concentration camp, spending nearly three days in a cattle car before he escapes. Determined to find his sister, he hurls himself along with a slop bucket out the door on one balmy night when the opportunity suddenly presents itself.

Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story in this tale of survival is the two young French Jewish girls, Cecilia and her friend Jeanne. Considered to be expendable slave labor they are marched from their concentration camp, desperately trying to avoid a certain death, all the while struggling to find a memory they could share that no one would associate with want and sadness and loss. Along with the other girls, they spend much of their lives on the edge, terrified of the German guards who could at any moment fire a shot into the back of anyone's skull because a prisoner could no longer stand.

Metaphorically all these characters are like skeletons heading towards their feast, trapped in their battle for survival even as the pace of death never seems to slow. Author Chris Bohjalian gives us a real sense of all the death and destruction, the sounds of screams and the missiles and the diving airplanes, while also giving us a truly cinematic picture of the rivers of refugees heading West, old people young children and crippled soldiers, surging forward with all of their household possessions in ramshackle carts.

Each character carries his or her share of burdens: Callum who accompanies the Emmerichs always fears he will simply be shot on the spot as an escaped POW; Uri is determined to act out one final repayment for the deaths he had witnessed in the cattle car and the myriad afflictions and indignities he had endured for about as long as he could remember; and Anna is torn between what is wrong, the reality that her Callum is a prisoner, and that she's violating her family's trust by inviting him into her house - and her bed.

This novel is a blinding testimony to all the cruelty and barbarism during these years, but what makes this story so unique is its haunting perspective of telling the story from the distinctively German point of view, embedding the War deep within the lives of the Emmerichs and making them as equally compassionate. My only problem with this book is that Bohjalian tends to "telegraph" a bit too much in the middle section, consequently the constant switching back and forth between events from Anna and Callum, to Uri and then to Cecilia slows the pace a bit and comes across as a bit contrived. The author, however is always relentless in his refusal to shy away from the carnage committed by the both Nazis and the Soviets.

Although most of the major players in this drama end up exhausted by their experiences, they are also often grateful for the small acts of kindness amidst all of this stunning atrocity. In the end, this tale shows that war can really bring forth the courage of people and their impossible goodness, and we see this repeated over and over again as this powerful novel moves towards its inevitable conclusion in a world that seems to have gone mad. Mike Leonard May 08.


Hummmmm....., 21 Oct 2008
I really couldn't get into this book, so tiresome to read! It was also obvious as you read through the book what the twist was, disapointing and hard work!

Boring!, 12 Sep 2007
Too long winded and poor narrative. It just kept going on and on. The first third was fabulous and I was so pleased I picked it up then once the trial started I simply lost interest. Skipped to the last two chapters to find out the ending.

What would you have done in Sibyl's place?, 12 Jun 2007
A very entertaining book, speaking of a series of difficult decisions to be taken in a split second and against a further series of negative circumstances surrounding the problematic birth of a baby, delivered by an experienced midwife during a snowy night in rural Vermont. When things deteriorate, Sibyl, the midwife, has to take a crucial decision which will then lead to a lawsuit.
This book certainly makes you think about how everything can go wrong if adverse fate interferes, but not only. It also gives rise to a crucial question regarding the choice between childbirth taking place in the serenity of a home or at a hospital, where everything would be "colder" but most risks could be kept at bay.
With all due respect, I must admit I was really impressed that the author of this book is a male, as everything is recounted with such feminine accuracy. Well done, truly well done. A book to be remembered. I still do and I've read it at least five years ago!

Tantilising, 08 Nov 2006
One of the best books I have read in years. Gripping throughout, accessible, and well written. reasonably short, so you do not need to invest a month of your life finding out what happens. Unexpected ending, but perfect. Read and enjoy!

EXQUISITELY WRITTEN AND ABSORBING...A NOVEL TO REMEMBER..., 10 Mar 2006
This beautifully crafted novel is set in 1981 when a midwife, leading an otherwise uncomplicated and simple life with her husband and daughter in rural Vermont, is thrust into a legal, moral, political, and ethical nightmare. It evolves around a split second decision made in a life and death situation and the aftermath of that decision.

An experienced and respected midwife, Sibyl Danforth, attends a woman during a home birth. When she realizes that dangerous complications have set in, she tries to call for help in vain, as a severe ice storm has knocked out the phone lines. An attempt to drive the expectant mother to a hospital only results in the car being wedged into an icy snow bank, as travel conditions were impossible.

Trapped in this isolated home with a physically fragile, expectant mother in the throes of a labor that will not bear fruit, Sybil struggles to do the best that she can. Unfortunately, her best is just not good enough, given the complications that had set in, and the expectant mother appears to succumb to the ravages of a laborious childbirth.

Under the belief that the expectant mother had died, Sibyl performs an emergency caesarean section in an effort to save the unborn child. She successfully does so, presenting the stricken husband with an infant son. Yet, the next day, her assistant, Anne, who had been present throughout the ordeal, denounces Sibyl to the authorities, claiming that the expectant mother had, in fact, been alive, when Sibyl had commenced the caesarean. Consequently, Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, and the political winds blown by the traditional medical establishment, as well as that of the legal system, threaten to tear asunder all that she holds dear.

The story of this event, its aftermath, and the impact it had on many lives, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter who had been a young teenager at the time of the incident, and through the pages of Sibyl's journal. The book takes the reader through a number of moral dilemmas for Sibyl, as well as for her daughter who is forced to come of age during this time of trial and tribulation for her family. Absorbing and often surprising, this sensitively wrought novel is a well nuanced literary gem from a gifted writer.

Excellent - a real find, 11 Aug 2003
I thought this was a thought-provoking, exciting story - couldn't put it down. At the risk of sounding sexist, I was impressed that a man had written this. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am now about to search for his others.

Boring stuff, 17 Oct 2008
This book was very disappointing compared to Bohjalians other masterpieces, namely Midwives and The Double Bind. There is nothing exciting in this novel, nothing to keep you turning the pages. It was a chore to read.

"A self-loathing would be her companion and cause her to walk with a distracted, disconsolate gaze." , 28 May 2008
Expertly interlocking all of the blood and anarchy of the 2nd World War with the very personal experiences of his main protagonists, Chris Bohjalian has written a hellish account of the brutalities inflicted on both Jews and Germans and anyone else who unwittingly gets caught up in the chaos of the battlefield. Although somewhat of a departure for Bohjalian who has spent much of his writing career dealing with social issues on the home front, here he brings to life with an almost cinematic furor, the waning months of the Nazi empire even as he hones in on one German family who have become unintentionally swept up in the tide of history.

The aristocratic Emmerichs have lived a privileged life on their estate in East Prussia, always resenting the fact that their land was succeeded to the Poles. Hitler had certainly changed this, with the family matriarch Irmgard "Mutti" venerating Germany's new leader for liberating them from Polish governance. But now with the Reich threatening to collapse around them and with the Russians, considered the juggarnaught of barbarians, advancing from the East, this family is forced to flea, embarking on a desperate trek across the whole of the Reich in order to reach the presumed safety of the British or the American lines.

Patriarch Rolf Emmerich and eldest son Helmut leave to join the Germans, even as Helmet is too young and brash to understand for certain that he might die if he joins the fight against the Russians. Staying behind to make the trek is the eighteen-year-old Anna who together with Mutti and the younger brother Leo is left in the care of the twenty-year old POW, a giant Scotsman, by the name of Callum Finella, sent to the Emmerich family estate from the prison camp just outside of Thorn to help with the harvest.

Although Rolf and Helmut disapprove of Callum's affair with the naïve young Anna, they hope that the Scottish Paratrooper will be their goodwill ambassador, their currency and their proof that they're not "your run of the mill Nazis." As Anna, Mutti Leo and Callum embark on their dangerous march, ducking and weaving as they hear the shriek of yet another approaching Soviet shell, their travail is tempered by the lovely Mutti, a sweet lady with fortitude and courage who shoulders much of the emotional burden of their plight.

Meanwhile, the war effort goes on, and even with the Russians approaching, the killing in the concentration camps moves ahead at full steam along with the accompanying evacuations from the Jewish enclaves in the towns deep in Eastern Poland. The young Jew Uri Singer is deported for a concentration camp, spending nearly three days in a cattle car before he escapes. Determined to find his sister, he hurls himself along with a slop bucket out the door on one balmy night when the opportunity suddenly presents itself.

Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story in this tale of survival is the two young French Jewish girls, Cecilia and her friend Jeanne. Considered to be expendable slave labor they are marched from their concentration camp, desperately trying to avoid a certain death, all the while struggling to find a memory they could share that no one would associate with want and sadness and loss. Along with the other girls, they spend much of their lives on the edge, terrified of the German guards who could at any moment fire a shot into the back of anyone's skull because a prisoner could no longer stand.

Metaphorically all these characters are like skeletons heading towards their feast, trapped in their battle for survival even as the pace of death never seems to slow. Author Chris Bohjalian gives us a real sense of all the death and destruction, the sounds of screams and the missiles and the diving airplanes, while also giving us a truly cinematic picture of the rivers of refugees heading West, old people young children and crippled soldiers, surging forward with all of their household possessions in ramshackle carts.

Each character carries his or her share of burdens: Callum who accompanies the Emmerichs always fears he will simply be shot on the spot as an escaped POW; Uri is determined to act out one final repayment for the deaths he had witnessed in the cattle car and the myriad afflictions and indignities he had endured for about as long as he could remember; and Anna is torn between what is wrong, the reality that her Callum is a prisoner, and that she's violating her family's trust by inviting him into her house - and her bed.

This novel is a blinding testimony to all the cruelty and barbarism during these years, but what makes this story so unique is its haunting perspective of telling the story from the distinctively German point of view, embedding the War deep within the lives of the Emmerichs and making them as equally compassionate. My only problem with this book is that Bohjalian tends to "telegraph" a bit too much in the middle section, consequently the constant switching back and forth between events from Anna and Callum, to Uri and then to Cecilia slows the pace a bit and comes across as a bit contrived. The author, however is always relentless in his refusal to shy away from the carnage committed by the both Nazis and the Soviets.

Although most of the major players in this drama end up exhausted by their experiences, they are also often grateful for the small acts of kindness amidst all of this stunning atrocity. In the end, this tale shows that war can really bring forth the courage of people and their impossible goodness, and we see this repeated over and over again as this powerful novel moves towards its inevitable conclusion in a world that seems to have gone mad. Mike Leonard May 08.


Hummmmm....., 21 Oct 2008
I really couldn't get into this book, so tiresome to read! It was also obvious as you read through the book what the twist was, disapointing and hard work!

I'm sure some people must be impressed, 14 Jan 2004
I wasnt really impressed with this book. From the point of view of writing quality, it wasnt good. The author seems to use the same language and idiom for an 18 year old girl as for her mother, and indeed the mother's 35 year old transexual partner. Pick any paragraph from any of the book's characters, and you couldnt know if you were reading a young girl or a older person's thoughts/story - they all use the same vocab and style. As a result, I didnt find the characters particularly believable due to the sameness of the various "voices". I did find the insight into contemporary culture interesting. The crusading but cowardly locals, the hypocracy of the community leaders. The dysfunctionality of the daughter and her description of growing up with divorced parents was believeable. But as for the transexual/transvestite debate and story, it wasn't well put across and didn't seem to ring true. I welcome a book that tries to depict this issue, but this one doesn't work in my view. The failure is due to the format and style of the book (radio interview/confessional). I think above all I didnt really believe the sincerity of the thoughts expressed by Dana in this book, but then I'm not sure if we're meant to take her at face value! The ending says it all, entirely contradictory of earlier passages in the book where Dana describes her youth and early 20s. No wonder Allison was confused; I certainly was. And it left me feeling the author was ambivalent about transexuals, and what it means to be one. He/She may not be as sympathetic as the blurb would seem to imply! Read and judge for yourself.

different!, 20 Sep 2001
A love story with a difference. Raises many sexual orientation issues as well as issues with society in general. The only let down is the ending which is on the unbelievable side. Well worth reading.

Boring!, 12 Sep 2007
Too long winded and poor narrative. It just kept going on and on. The first third was fabulous and I was so pleased I picked it up then once the trial started I simply lost interest. Skipped to the last two chapters to find out the ending.

What would you have done in Sibyl's place?, 12 Jun 2007
A very entertaining book, speaking of a series of difficult decisions to be taken in a split second and against a further series of negative circumstances surrounding the problematic birth of a baby, delivered by an experienced midwife during a snowy night in rural Vermont. When things deteriorate, Sibyl, the midwife, has to take a crucial decision which will then lead to a lawsuit.
This book certainly makes you think about how everything can go wrong if adverse fate interferes, but not only. It also gives rise to a crucial question regarding the choice between childbirth taking place in the serenity of a home or at a hospital, where everything would be "colder" but most risks could be kept at bay.
With all due respect, I must admit I was really impressed that the author of this book is a male, as everything is recounted with such feminine accuracy. Well done, truly well done. A book to be remembered. I still do and I've read it at least five years ago!

Tantilising, 08 Nov 2006
One of the best books I have read in years. Gripping throughout, accessible, and well written. reasonably short, so you do not need to invest a month of your life finding out what happens. Unexpected ending, but perfect. Read and enjoy!

EXQUISITELY WRITTEN AND ABSORBING...A NOVEL TO REMEMBER..., 10 Mar 2006
This beautifully crafted novel is set in 1981 when a midwife, leading an otherwise uncomplicated and simple life with her husband and daughter in rural Vermont, is thrust into a legal, moral, political, and ethical nightmare. It evolves around a split second decision made in a life and death situation and the aftermath of that decision.

An experienced and respected midwife, Sibyl Danforth, attends a woman during a home birth. When she realizes that dangerous complications have set in, she tries to call for help in vain, as a severe ice storm has knocked out the phone lines. An attempt to drive the expectant mother to a hospital only results in the car being wedged into an icy snow bank, as travel conditions were impossible.

Trapped in this isolated home with a physically fragile, expectant mother in the throes of a labor that will not bear fruit, Sybil struggles to do the best that she can. Unfortunately, her best is just not good enough, given the complications that had set in, and the expectant mother appears to succumb to the ravages of a laborious childbirth.

Under the belief that the expectant mother had died, Sibyl performs an emergency caesarean section in an effort to save the unborn child. She successfully does so, presenting the stricken husband with an infant son. Yet, the next day, her assistant, Anne, who had been present throughout the ordeal, denounces Sibyl to the authorities, claiming that the expectant mother had, in fact, been alive, when Sibyl had commenced the caesarean. Consequently, Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, and the political winds blown by the traditional medical establishment, as well as that of the legal system, threaten to tear asunder all that she holds dear.

The story of this event, its aftermath, and the impact it had on many lives, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter who had been a young teenager at the time of the incident, and through the pages of Sibyl's journal. The book takes the reader through a number of moral dilemmas for Sibyl, as well as for her daughter who is forced to come of age during this time of trial and tribulation for her family. Absorbing and often surprising, this sensitively wrought novel is a well nuanced literary gem from a gifted writer.

Excellent - a real find, 11 Aug 2003
I thought this was a thought-provoking, exciting story - couldn't put it down. At the risk of sounding sexist, I was impressed that a man had written this. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am now about to search for his others.

Boring stuff, 17 Oct 2008
This book was very disappointing compared to Bohjalians other masterpieces, namely Midwives and The Double Bind. There is nothing exciting in this novel, nothing to keep you turning the pages. It was a chore to read.

"A self-loathing would be her companion and cause her to walk with a distracted, disconsolate gaze." , 28 May 2008
Expertly interlocking all of the blood and anarchy of the 2nd World War with the very personal experiences of his main protagonists, Chris Bohjalian has written a hellish account of the brutalities inflicted on both Jews and Germans and anyone else who unwittingly gets caught up in the chaos of the battlefield. Although somewhat of a departure for Bohjalian who has spent much of his writing career dealing with social issues on the home front, here he brings to life with an almost cinematic furor, the waning months of the Nazi empire even as he hones in on one German family who have become unintentionally swept up in the tide of history.

The aristocratic Emmerichs have lived a privileged life on their estate in East Prussia, always resenting the fact that their land was succeeded to the Poles. Hitler had certainly changed this, with the family matriarch Irmgard "Mutti" venerating Germany's new leader for liberating them from Polish governance. But now with the Reich threatening to collapse around them and with the Russians, considered the juggarnaught of barbarians, advancing from the East, this family is forced to flea, embarking on a desperate trek across the whole of the Reich in order to reach the presumed safety of the British or the American lines.

Patriarch Rolf Emmerich and eldest son Helmut leave to join the Germans, even as Helmet is too young and brash to understand for certain that he might die if he joins the fight against the Russians. Staying behind to make the trek is the eighteen-year-old Anna who together with Mutti and the younger brother Leo is left in the care of the twenty-year old POW, a giant Scotsman, by the name of Callum Finella, sent to the Emmerich family estate from the prison camp just outside of Thorn to help with the harvest.

Although Rolf and Helmut disapprove of Callum's affair with the naïve young Anna, they hope that the Scottish Paratrooper will be their goodwill ambassador, their currency and their proof that they're not "your run of the mill Nazis." As Anna, Mutti Leo and Callum embark on their dangerous march, ducking and weaving as they hear the shriek of yet another approaching Soviet shell, their travail is tempered by the lovely Mutti, a sweet lady with fortitude and courage who shoulders much of the emotional burden of their plight.

Meanwhile, the war effort goes on, and even with the Russians approaching, the killing in the concentration camps moves ahead at full steam along with the accompanying evacuations from the Jewish enclaves in the towns deep in Eastern Poland. The young Jew Uri Singer is deported for a concentration camp, spending nearly three days in a cattle car before he escapes. Determined to find his sister, he hurls himself along with a slop bucket out the door on one balmy night when the opportunity suddenly presents itself.

Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story in this tale of survival is the two young French Jewish girls, Cecilia and her friend Jeanne. Considered to be expendable slave labor they are marched from their concentration camp, desperately trying to avoid a certain death, all the while struggling to find a memory they could share that no one would associate with want and sadness and loss. Along with the other girls, they spend much of their lives on the edge, terrified of the German guards who could at any moment fire a shot into the back of anyone's skull because a prisoner could no longer stand.

Metaphorically all these characters are like skeletons heading towards their feast, trapped in their battle for survival even as the pace of death never seems to slow. Author Chris Bohjalian gives us a real sense of all the death and destruction, the sounds of screams and the missiles and the diving airplanes, while also giving us a truly cinematic picture of the rivers of refugees heading West, old people young children and crippled soldiers, surging forward with all of their household possessions in ramshackle carts.

Each character carries his or her share of burdens: Callum who accompanies the Emmerichs always fears he will simply be shot on the spot as an escaped POW; Uri is determined to act out one final repayment for the deaths he had witnessed in the cattle car and the myriad afflictions and indignities he had endured for about as long as he could remember; and Anna is torn between what is wrong, the reality that her Callum is a prisoner, and that she's violating her family's trust by inviting him into her house - and her bed.

This novel is a blinding testimony to all the cruelty and barbarism during these years, but what makes this story so unique is its haunting perspective of telling the story from the distinctively German point of view, embedding the War deep within the lives of the Emmerichs and making them as equally compassionate. My only problem with this book is that Bohjalian tends to "telegraph" a bit too much in the middle section, consequently the constant switching back and forth between events from Anna and Callum, to Uri and then to Cecilia slows the pace a bit and comes across as a bit contrived. The author, however is always relentless in his refusal to shy away from the carnage committed by the both Nazis and the Soviets.

Although most of the major players in this drama end up exhausted by their experiences, they are also often grateful for the small acts of kindness amidst all of this stunning atrocity. In the end, this tale shows that war can really bring forth the courage of people and their impossible goodness, and we see this repeated over and over again as this powerful novel moves towards its inevitable conclusion in a world that seems to have gone mad. Mike Leonard May 08.


Hummmmm....., 21 Oct 2008
I really couldn't get into this book, so tiresome to read! It was also obvious as you read through the book what the twist was, disapointing and hard work!

I'm sure some people must be impressed, 14 Jan 2004
I wasnt really impressed with this book. From the point of view of writing quality, it wasnt good. The author seems to use the same language and idiom for an 18 year old girl as for her mother, and indeed the mother's 35 year old transexual partner. Pick any paragraph from any of the book's characters, and you couldnt know if you were reading a young girl or a older person's thoughts/story - they all use the same vocab and style. As a result, I didnt find the characters particularly believable due to the sameness of the various "voices". I did find the insight into contemporary culture interesting. The crusading but cowardly locals, the hypocracy of the community leaders. The dysfunctionality of the daughter and her description of growing up with divorced parents was believeable. But as for the transexual/transvestite debate and story, it wasn't well put across and didn't seem to ring true. I welcome a book that tries to depict this issue, but this one doesn't work in my view. The failure is due to the format and style of the book (radio interview/confessional). I think above all I didnt really believe the sincerity of the thoughts expressed by Dana in this book, but then I'm not sure if we're meant to take her at face value! The ending says it all, entirely contradictory of earlier passages in the book where Dana describes her youth and early 20s. No wonder Allison was confused; I certainly was. And it left me feeling the author was ambivalent about transexuals, and what it means to be one. He/She may not be as sympathetic as the blurb would seem to imply! Read and judge for yourself.

different!, 20 Sep 2001
A love story with a difference. Raises many sexual orientation issues as well as issues with society in general. The only let down is the ending which is on the unbelievable side. Well worth reading.

Bohjalian is getting more air-time than is due, 23 Jun 1999
After reading The Law of Similars and finding it reasonably enjoyable for light summertime reading, I ventured so far as to try Water Witches. Despite my usual voracious appetite for a pleasant read, getting through this novel was like taking medicine. I found Bohjalian's treatment of the conflict between environmentalists and developers shallow, and his characters even moreso. The only characters I find believable in these two novels are the little girls, who are brighter in many ways than their lawyer fathers. I don't recommend starting this one if you feel obligated to finish what you start as I do.

Ok writing, but no magic., 15 Dec 1998
While reading this book I kept seeing a ghost of the outline of writing this book. I mean it felt really contrived. A paint by numbers take on magic.

A fascinating look at an unusual family, 07 Dec 1997
After reading Midwives, Bohjalian's recent book, I went to see what other works of his were around. I was glad to find Water Witches. Its portrait of family, storyline, and setting were all wonderful. It showed a Vermont that I had never imagined and made this Southern Californian all the more aware of the mystical qualities of water.

Disappointing, 05 Dec 1997
Thought I'd like this book, since I know Vermont, have lived through a similar mountain vs. ski resort conflict in New England and am fascinated by dowsing. BUT - the characters are not well developed; they are unconvincing. Hence, the plot doesnt' work. It's essential to the plot that we believe in the conversion of the main character from "cynical lawyer" to environmentalist. This conversion is not believeable. In addition, the writing itself is wooden: heavy-handed metaphor, cliche. The sex scenes, especially the second one, seem irrelevant to the story, too. Not a great book.

Subtle and engaging . . . ., 01 Dec 1997
I'm not interested in expansion of a ski resort and not an environmentalist, so I don't really know why I read this novel, but I'm glad I did. Bohjalian's characters are very well-drawn against the peaceful backdrop of scenic Vermont. Some are strange, some are gentle and even the borderline exploitation of the child is deftly handled. Although repetitive at times, I'm glad I stuck with it. The ending is beautiful.

Boring!, 12 Sep 2007
Too long winded and poor narrative. It just kept going on and on. The first third was fabulous and I was so pleased I picked it up then once the trial started I simply lost interest. Skipped to the last two chapters to find out the ending.

What would you have done in Sibyl's place?, 12 Jun 2007
A very entertaining book, speaking of a series of difficult decisions to be taken in a split second and against a further series of negative circumstances surrounding the problematic birth of a baby, delivered by an experienced midwife during a snowy night in rural Vermont. When things deteriorate, Sibyl, the midwife, has to take a crucial decision which will then lead to a lawsuit.
This book certainly makes you think about how everything can go wrong if adverse fate interferes, but not only. It also gives rise to a crucial question regarding the choice between childbirth taking place in the serenity of a home or at a hospital, where everything would be "colder" but most risks could be kept at bay.
With all due respect, I must admit I was really impressed that the author of this book is a male, as everything is recounted with such feminine accuracy. Well done, truly well done. A book to be remembered. I still do and I've read it at least five years ago!

Tantilising, 08 Nov 2006
One of the best books I have read in years. Gripping throughout, accessible, and well written. reasonably short, so you do not need to invest a month of your life finding out what happens. Unexpected ending, but perfect. Read and enjoy!

EXQUISITELY WRITTEN AND ABSORBING...A NOVEL TO REMEMBER..., 10 Mar 2006
This beautifully crafted novel is set in 1981 when a midwife, leading an otherwise uncomplicated and simple life with her husband and daughter in rural Vermont, is thrust into a legal, moral, political, and ethical nightmare. It evolves around a split second decision made in a life and death situation and the aftermath of that decision.

An experienced and respected midwife, Sibyl Danforth, attends a woman during a home birth. When she realizes that dangerous complications have set in, she tries to call for help in vain, as a severe ice storm has knocked out the phone lines. An attempt to drive the expectant mother to a hospital only results in the car being wedged into an icy snow bank, as travel conditions were impossible.

Trapped in this isolated home with a physically fragile, expectant mother in the throes of a labor that will not bear fruit, Sybil struggles to do the best that she can. Unfortunately, her best is just not good enough, given the complications that had set in, and the expectant mother appears to succumb to the ravages of a laborious childbirth.

Under the belief that the expectant mother had died, Sibyl performs an emergency caesarean section in an effort to save the unborn child. She successfully does so, presenting the stricken husband with an infant son. Yet, the next day, her assistant, Anne, who had been present throughout the ordeal, denounces Sibyl to the authorities, claiming that the expectant mother had, in fact, been alive, when Sibyl had commenced the caesarean. Consequently, Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, and the political winds blown by the traditional medical establishment, as well as that of the legal system, threaten to tear asunder all that she holds dear.

The story of this event, its aftermath, and the impact it had on many lives, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter who had been a young teenager at the time of the incident, and through the pages of Sibyl's journal. The book takes the reader through a number of moral dilemmas for Sibyl, as well as for her daughter who is forced to come of age during this time of trial and tribulation for her family. Absorbing and often surprising, this sensitively wrought novel is a well nuanced literary gem from a gifted writer.

Excellent - a real find, 11 Aug 2003
I thought this was a thought-provoking, exciting story - couldn't put it down. At the risk of sounding sexist, I was impressed that a man had written this. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am now about to search for his others.

Boring stuff, 17 Oct 2008
This book was very disappointing compared to Bohjalians other masterpieces, namely Midwives and The Double Bind. There is nothing exciting in this novel, nothing to keep you turning the pages. It was a chore to read.

"A self-loathing would be her companion and cause her to walk with a distracted, disconsolate gaze." , 28 May 2008
Expertly interlocking all of the blood and anarchy of the 2nd World War with the very personal experiences of his main protagonists, Chris Bohjalian has written a hellish account of the brutalities inflicted on both Jews and Germans and anyone else who unwittingly gets caught up in the chaos of the battlefield. Although somewhat of a departure for Bohjalian who has spent much of his writing career dealing with social issues on the home front, here he brings to life with an almost cinematic furor, the waning months of the Nazi empire even as he hones in on one German family who have become unintentionally swept up in the tide of history.

The aristocratic Emmerichs have lived a privileged life on their estate in East Prussia, always resenting the fact that their land was succeeded to the Poles. Hitler had certainly changed this, with the family matriarch Irmgard "Mutti" venerating Germany's new leader for liberating them from Polish governance. But now with the Reich threatening to collapse around them and with the Russians, considered the juggarnaught of barbarians, advancing from the East, this family is forced to flea, embarking on a desperate trek across the whole of the Reich in order to reach the presumed safety of the British or the American lines.

Patriarch Rolf Emmerich and eldest son Helmut leave to join the Germans, even as Helmet is too young and brash to understand for certain that he might die if he joins the fight against the Russians. Staying behind to make the trek is the eighteen-year-old Anna who together with Mutti and the younger brother Leo is left in the care of the twenty-year old POW, a giant Scotsman, by the name of Callum Finella, sent to the Emmerich family estate from the prison camp just outside of Thorn to help with the harvest.

Although Rolf and Helmut disapprove of Callum's affair with the naïve young Anna, they hope that the Scottish Paratrooper will be their goodwill ambassador, their currency and their proof that they're not "your run of the mill Nazis." As Anna, Mutti Leo and Callum embark on their dangerous march, ducking and weaving as they hear the shriek of yet another approaching Soviet shell, their travail is tempered by the lovely Mutti, a sweet lady with fortitude and courage who shoulders much of the emotional burden of their plight.

Meanwhile, the war effort goes on, and even with the Russians approaching, the killing in the concentration camps moves ahead at full steam along with the accompanying evacuations from the Jewish enclaves in the towns deep in Eastern Poland. The young Jew Uri Singer is deported for a concentration camp, spending nearly three days in a cattle car before he escapes. Determined to find his sister, he hurls himself along with a slop bucket out the door on one balmy night when the opportunity suddenly presents itself.

Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story in this tale of survival is the two young French Jewish girls, Cecilia and her friend Jeanne. Considered to be expendable slave labor they are marched from their concentration camp, desperately trying to avoid a certain death, all the while struggling to find a memory they could share that no one would associate with want and sadness and loss. Along with the other girls, they spend much of their lives on the edge, terrified of the German guards who could at any moment fire a shot into the back of anyone's skull because a prisoner could no longer stand.

Metaphorically all these characters are like skeletons heading towards their feast, trapped in their battle for survival even as the pace of death never seems to slow. Author Chris Bohjalian gives us a real sense of all the death and destruction, the sounds of screams and the missiles and the diving airplanes, while also giving us a truly cinematic picture of the rivers of refugees heading West, old people young children and crippled soldiers, surging forward with all of their household possessions in ramshackle carts.

Each character carries his or her share of burdens: Callum who accompanies the Emmerichs always fears he will simply be shot on the spot as an escaped POW; Uri is determined to act out one final repayment for the deaths he had witnessed in the cattle car and the myriad afflictions and indignities he had endured for about as long as he could remember; and Anna is torn between what is wrong, the reality that her Callum is a prisoner, and that she's violating her family's trust by inviting him into her house - and her bed.

This novel is a blinding testimony to all the cruelty and barbarism during these years, but what makes this story so unique is its haunting perspective of telling the story from the distinctively German point of view, embedding the War deep within the lives of the Emmerichs and making them as equally compassionate. My only problem with this book is that Bohjalian tends to "telegraph" a bit too much in the middle section, consequently the constant switching back and forth between events from Anna and Callum, to Uri and then to Cecilia slows the pace a bit and comes across as a bit contrived. The author, however is always relentless in his refusal to shy away from the carnage committed by the both Nazis and the Soviets.

Although most of the major players in this drama end up exhausted by their experiences, they are also often grateful for the small acts of kindness amidst all of this stunning atrocity. In the end, this tale shows that war can really bring forth the courage of people and their impossible goodness, and we see this repeated over and over again as this powerful novel moves towards its inevitable conclusion in a world that seems to have gone mad. Mike Leonard May 08.


Hummmmm....., 21 Oct 2008
I really couldn't get into this book, so tiresome to read! It was also obvious as you read through the book what the twist was, disapointing and hard work!

I'm sure some people must be impressed, 14 Jan 2004
I wasnt really impressed with this book. From the point of view of writing quality, it wasnt good. The author seems to use the same language and idiom for an 18 year old girl as for her mother, and indeed the mother's 35 year old transexual partner. Pick any paragraph from any of the book's characters, and you couldnt know if you were reading a young girl or a older person's thoughts/story - they all use the same vocab and style. As a result, I didnt find the characters particularly believable due to the sameness of the various "voices". I did find the insight into contemporary culture interesting. The crusading but cowardly locals, the hypocracy of the community leaders. The dysfunctionality of the daughter and her description of growing up with divorced parents was believeable. But as for the transexual/transvestite debate and story, it wasn't well put across and didn't seem to ring true. I welcome a book that tries to depict this issue, but this one doesn't work in my view. The failure is due to the format and style of the book (radio interview/confessional). I think above all I didnt really believe the sincerity of the thoughts expressed by Dana in this book, but then I'm not sure if we're meant to take her at face value! The ending says it all, entirely contradictory of earlier passages in the book where Dana describes her youth and early 20s. No wonder Allison was confused; I certainly was. And it left me feeling the author was ambivalent about transexuals, and what it means to be one. He/She may not be as sympathetic as the blurb would seem to imply! Read and judge for yourself.

different!, 20 Sep 2001
A love story with a difference. Raises many sexual orientation issues as well as issues with society in general. The only let down is the ending which is on the unbelievable side. Well worth reading.

Bohjalian is getting more air-time than is due, 23 Jun 1999
After reading The Law of Similars and finding it reasonably enjoyable for light summertime reading, I ventured so far as to try Water Witches. Despite my usual voracious appetite for a pleasant read, getting through this novel was like taking medicine. I found Bohjalian's treatment of the conflict between environmentalists and developers shallow, and his characters even moreso. The only characters I find believable in these two novels are the little girls, who are brighter in many ways than their lawyer fathers. I don't recommend starting this one if you feel obligated to finish what you start as I do.

Ok writing, but no magic., 15 Dec 1998
While reading this book I kept seeing a ghost of the outline of writing this book. I mean it felt really contrived. A paint by numbers take on magic.

A fascinating look at an unusual family, 07 Dec 1997
After reading Midwives, Bohjalian's recent book, I went to see what other works of his were around. I was glad to find Water Witches. Its portrait of family, storyline, and setting were all wonderful. It showed a Vermont that I had never imagined and made this Southern Californian all the more aware of the mystical qualities of water.

Disappointing, 05 Dec 1997
Thought I'd like this book, since I know Vermont, have lived through a similar mountain vs. ski resort conflict in New England and am fascinated by dowsing. BUT - the characters are not well developed; they are unconvincing. Hence, the plot doesnt' work. It's essential to the plot that we believe in the conversion of the main character from "cynical lawyer" to environmentalist. This conversion is not believeable. In addition, the writing itself is wooden: heavy-handed metaphor, cliche. The sex scenes, especially the second one, seem irrelevant to the story, too. Not a great book.

Subtle and engaging . . . ., 01 Dec 1997
I'm not interested in expansion of a ski resort and not an environmentalist, so I don't really know why I read this novel, but I'm glad I did. Bohjalian's characters are very well-drawn against the peaceful backdrop of scenic Vermont. Some are strange, some are gentle and even the borderline exploitation of the child is deftly handled. Although repetitive at times, I'm glad I stuck with it. The ending is beautiful.

"I wish we could all just take one, big chewable pill", 07 Nov 2004
Chris Bohjalian has been making a literary career out of combining serious social issues with suspenseful fictional narratives. No other American writer can readily encapsulate issues of current interest and present dispassionate and multi-faceted arguments both for and against. In Before You Know Kindness, his latest family saga, Bohjalian proves once again that he is a phenomenal and gifted stylist that can bring the seemingly disparate issues of gun control, deer hunting and vegetarianism to the forefront, while also conveying some ardent observations on our litigious society. This novel is a searing account of what happens when all of these issues combine after a terrible accident involving a gun that is accidentally fired.

With a competent, mellifluous, and powerful, often-poetic language, Bohjalian obviously shows an astute, and probably rather cynical understanding of human nature that makes his story one of great universality. The novel focuses on the Seton's, a family of old New England money. They have a family home in New Hampshire and all three generations readily holiday there every summer, playing tennis, badminton, and golf, and enjoying gin and tonics on the wraparound porch.

Although on the surface, the Seton's seem happy and well adjusted, Nan, the current matriarch notices that things are wrong. The problem is that when they are all together "they can never just...be. They just didn't sit well as a family." Catherine, Nan's daughter-in law, is married to her son, the sanctimonious animal rights activist Spencer McCullough, but Catherine is starting to doubt her marriage to him as she surreptitiously and rebelliously eats beef behind his back. And neither Spencer nor Catherine seems to have time for their 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Nan's daughter, Sara is married to John, a civil rights lawyer in Vermont. They have a daughter, Willow, who is best friends with her cousin. However, Sara has recently given birth to Patrick, and lately, he seems to be taking up all their attention. They have little time for Willow. Now that he has a son, John feels inclined to take up deer hunting, so that when Patrick is older they can both share something perceivably "masculine."

One night John carelessly leaves a half-loaded rifle in the trunk of his car and Charlotte, stoned and drunk from a night out around a local bonfire, accidentally pulls the trigger hitting Spencer in the shoulder and crippling him for life. Charlotte thought her father was a deer and that it had trespassed onto their vegetable garden. The accident ends up testing the strengths and values that unite the family as Bohjalian skillfully builds a rich and complex drama around this terrible event. Blame is proportioned in turn to the gun manufacturers, and then to John "who is numb but also full of remorse because he'd never bothered to deal with the jammed bullet. The family is left to cope with managing Spencer's debilitating injury and the rift that the accident creates between the stringently vegan Spencer and the pro-gun, meat eating John.

Although much of the plot revolves around Spencer - a key figure in FERAL, the militant animal rights organization that gears up for a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer - each character at various points in the novel moves to center stage in a series of interior and thought-provoking monologues to comment on the events and their repercussions. Bohjalian does a great job of capturing their individual points of view, their insecurities about the accident, and their very different and unique personalities as each of them deal with the tragic event in his or her own unique way. Spencer is given "a kind of a spiritual second chance - he still has a future, but it might not have been the future he once had imagined." Bohjalian is careful to stay objective and he never obviously takes sides, and even though most of the characters are careless and self-serving, the reader will obviously develop sympathies for many of them even though they may not agree with their the various points of view. Mike Leonard October 04.

Boring!, 12 Sep 2007
Too long winded and poor narrative. It just kept going on and on. The first third was fabulous and I was so pleased I picked it up then once the trial started I simply lost interest. Skipped to the last two chapters to find out the ending.

What would you have done in Sibyl's place?, 12 Jun 2007
A very entertaining book, speaking of a series of difficult decisions to be taken in a split second and against a further series of negative circumstances surrounding the problematic birth of a baby, delivered by an experienced midwife during a snowy night in rural Vermont. When things deteriorate, Sibyl, the midwife, has to take a crucial decision which will then lead to a lawsuit.
This book certainly makes you think about how everything can go wrong if adverse fate interferes, but not only. It also gives rise to a crucial question regarding the choice between childbirth taking place in the serenity of a home or at a hospital, where everything would be "colder" but most risks could be kept at bay.
With all due respect, I must admit I was really impressed that the author of this book is a male, as everything is recounted with such feminine accuracy. Well done, truly well done. A book to be remembered. I still do and I've read it at least five years ago!

Tantilising, 08 Nov 2006
One of the best books I have read in years. Gripping throughout, accessible, and well written. reasonably short, so you do not need to invest a month of your life finding out what happens. Unexpected ending, but perfect. Read and enjoy!

EXQUISITELY WRITTEN AND ABSORBING...A NOVEL TO REMEMBER..., 10 Mar 2006
This beautifully crafted novel is set in 1981 when a midwife, leading an otherwise uncomplicated and simple life with her husband and daughter in rural Vermont, is thrust into a legal, moral, political, and ethical nightmare. It evolves around a split second decision made in a life and death situation and the aftermath of that decision.

An experienced and respected midwife, Sibyl Danforth, attends a woman during a home birth. When she realizes that dangerous complications have set in, she tries to call for help in vain, as a severe ice storm has knocked out the phone lines. An attempt to drive the expectant mother to a hospital only results in the car being wedged into an icy snow bank, as travel conditions were impossible.

Trapped in this isolated home with a physically fragile, expectant mother in the throes of a labor that will not bear fruit, Sybil struggles to do the best that she can. Unfortunately, her best is just not good enough, given the complications that had set in, and the expectant mother appears to succumb to the ravages of a laborious childbirth.

Under the belief that the expectant mother had died, Sibyl performs an emergency caesarean section in an effort to save the unborn child. She successfully does so, presenting the stricken husband with an infant son. Yet, the next day, her assistant, Anne, who had been present throughout the ordeal, denounces Sibyl to the authorities, claiming that the expectant mother had, in fact, been alive, when Sibyl had commenced the caesarean. Consequently, Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, and the political winds blown by the traditional medical establishment, as well as that of the legal system, threaten to tear asunder all that she holds dear.

The story of this event, its aftermath, and the impact it had on many lives, is told through the eyes of Sibyl's daughter who had been a young teenager at the time of the incident, and through the pages of Sibyl's journal. The book takes the reader through a number of moral dilemmas for Sibyl, as well as for her daughter who is forced to come of age during this time of trial and tribulation for her family. Absorbing and often surprising, this sensitively wrought novel is a well nuanced literary gem from a gifted writer.

Excellent - a real find, 11 Aug 2003
I thought this was a thought-provoking, exciting story - couldn't put it down. At the risk of sounding sexist, I was impressed that a man had written this. This is the first book I have read by this author and I am now about to search for his others.

Boring stuff, 17 Oct 2008
This book was very disappointing compared to Bohjalians other masterpieces, namely Midwives and The Double Bind. There is nothing exciting in this novel, nothing to keep you turning the pages. It was a chore to read.

"A self-loathing would be her companion and cause her to walk with a distracted, disconsolate gaze." , 28 May 2008
Expertly interlocking all of the blood and anarchy of the 2nd World War with the very personal experiences of his main protagonists, Chris Bohjalian has written a hellish account of the brutalities inflicted on both Jews and Germans and anyone else who unwittingly gets caught up in the chaos of the battlefield. Although somewhat of a departure for Bohjalian who has spent much of his writing career dealing with social issues on the home front, here he brings to life with an almost cinematic furor, the waning months of the Nazi empire even as he hones in on one German family who have become unintentionally swept up in the tide of history.

The aristocratic Emmerichs have lived a privileged life on their estate in East Prussia, always resenting the fact that their land was succeeded to the Poles. Hitler had certainly changed this, with the family matriarch Irmgard "Mutti" venerating Germany's new leader for liberating them from Polish governance. But now with the Reich threatening to collapse around them and with the Russians, considered the juggarnaught of barbarians, advancing from the East, this family is forced to flea, embarking on a desperate trek across the whole of the Reich in order to reach the presumed safety of the British or the American lines.

Patriarch Rolf Emmerich and eldest son Helmut leave to join the Germans, even as Helmet is too young and brash to understand for certain that he might die if he joins the fight against the Russians. Staying behind to make the trek is the eighteen-year-old Anna who together with Mutti and the younger brother Leo is left in the care of the twenty-year old POW, a giant Scotsman, by the name of Callum Finella, sent to the Emmerich family estate from the prison camp just outside of Thorn to help with the harvest.

Although Rolf and Helmut disapprove of Callum's affair with the naïve young Anna, they hope that the Scottish Paratrooper will be their goodwill ambassador, their currency and their proof that they're not "your run of the mill Nazis." As Anna, Mutti Leo and Callum embark on their dangerous march, ducking and weaving as they hear the shriek of yet another approaching Soviet shell, their travail is tempered by the lovely Mutti, a sweet lady with fortitude and courage who shoulders much of the emotional burden of their plight.

Meanwhile, the war effort goes on, and even with the Russians approaching, the killing in the concentration camps moves ahead at full steam along with the accompanying evacuations from the Jewish enclaves in the towns deep in Eastern Poland. The young Jew Uri Singer is deported for a concentration camp, spending nearly three days in a cattle car before he escapes. Determined to find his sister, he hurls himself along with a slop bucket out the door on one balmy night when the opportunity suddenly presents itself.

Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story in this tale of survival is the two young French Jewish girls, Cecilia and her friend Jeanne. Considered to be expendable slave labor they are marched from their concentration camp, desperately trying to avoid a certain death, all the while struggling to find a memory they could share that no one would associate with want and sadness and loss. Along with the other girls, they spend much of their lives on the edge, terrified of the German guards who could at any moment fire a shot into the back of anyone's skull because a prisoner could no longer stand.

Metaphorically all these characters are like skeletons heading towards their feast, trapped in their battle for survival even as the pace of death never seems to slow. Author Chris Bohjalian gives us a real sense of all the death and destruction, the sounds of screams and the missiles and the diving airplanes, while also giving us a truly cinematic picture of the rivers of refugees heading West, old people young children and crippled soldiers, surging forward with all of their household possessions in ramshackle carts.

Each character carries his or her share of burdens: Callum who accompanies the Emmerichs always fears he will simply be shot on the spot as an escaped POW; Uri is determined to act out one final repayment for the deaths he had witnessed in the cattle car and the myriad afflictions and indignities he had endured for about as long as he could remember; and Anna is torn between what is wrong, the reality that her Callum is a prisoner, and that she's violating her family's trust by inviting him into her house - and her bed.

This novel is a blinding testimony to all the cruelty and barbarism during these years, but what makes this story so unique is its haunting perspective of telling the story from the distinctively German point of view, embedding the War deep within the lives of the Emmerichs and making them as equally compassionate. My only problem with this book is that Bohjalian tends to "telegraph" a bit too much in the middle section, consequently the constant switching back and forth between events from Anna and Callum, to Uri and then to Cecilia slows the pace a bit and comes across as a bit contrived. The author, however is always relentless in his refusal to shy away from the carnage committed by the both Nazis and the Soviets.

Although most of the major players in this drama end up exhausted by their experiences, they are also often grateful for the small acts of kindness amidst all of this stunning atrocity. In the end, this tale shows that war can really bring forth the courage of people and their impossible goodness, and we see this repeated over and over again as this powerful novel moves towards its inevitable conclusion in a world that seems to have gone mad. Mike Leonard May 08.


Hummmmm....., 21 Oct 2008
I really couldn't get into this book, so tiresome to read! It was also obvious as you read through the book what the twist was, disapointing and hard work!

I'm sure some people must be impressed, 14 Jan 2004
I wasnt really impressed with this book. From the point of view of writing quality, it wasnt good. The author seems to use the same language and idiom for an 18 year old girl as for her mother, and indeed the mother's 35 year old transexual partner. Pick any paragraph from any of the book's characters, and you couldnt know if you were reading a young girl or a older person's thoughts/story - they all use the same vocab and style. As a result, I didnt find the characters particularly believable due to the sameness of the various "voices". I did find the insight into contemporary culture interesting. The crusading but cowardly locals, the hypocracy of the community leaders. The dysfunctionality of the daughter and her description of growing up with divorced parents was believeable. But as for the transexual/transvestite debate and story, it wasn't well put across and didn't seem to ring true. I welcome a book that tries to depict this issue, but this one doesn't work in my view. The failure is due to the format and style of the book (radio interview/confessional). I think above all I didnt really believe the sincerity of the thoughts expressed by Dana in this book, but then I'm not sure if we're meant to take her at face value! The ending says it all, entirely contradictory of earlier passages in the book where Dana describes her youth and early 20s. No wonder Allison was confused; I certainly was. And it left me feeling the author was ambivalent about transexuals, and what it means to be one. He/She may not be as sympathetic as the blurb would seem to imply! Read and judge for yourself.

different!, 20 Sep 2001
A love story with a difference. Raises many sexual orientation issues as well as issues with society in general. The only let down is the ending which is on the unbelievable side. Well worth reading.

Bohjalian is getting more air-time than is due, 23 Jun 1999
After reading The Law of Similars and finding it reasonably enjoyable for light summertime reading, I ventured so far as to try Water Witches. Despite my usual voracious appetite for a pleasant read, getting through this novel was like taking medicine. I found Bohjalian's treatment of the conflict between environmentalists and developers shallow, and his characters even moreso. The only characters I find believable in these two novels are the little girls, who are brighter in many ways than their lawyer fathers. I don't recommend starting this one if you feel obligated to finish what you start as I do.

Ok writing, but no magic., 15 Dec 1998
While reading this book I kept seeing a ghost of the outline of writing this book. I mean it felt really contrived. A paint by numbers take on magic.

A fascinating look at an unusual family, 07 Dec 1997
After reading Midwives, Bohjalian's recent book, I went to see what other works of his were around. I was glad to find Water Witches. Its portrait of family, storyline, and setting were all wonderful. It showed a Vermont that I had never imagined and made this Southern Californian all the more aware of the mystical qualities of water.

Disappointing, 05 Dec 1997
Thought I'd like this book, since I know Vermont, have lived through a similar mountain vs. ski resort conflict in New England and am fascinated by dowsing. BUT - the characters are not well developed; they are unconvincing. Hence, the plot doesnt' work. It's essential to the plot that we believe in the conversion of the main character from "cynical lawyer" to environmentalist. This conversion is not believeable. In addition, the writing itself is wooden: heavy-handed metaphor, cliche. The sex scenes, especially the second one, seem irrelevant to the story, too. Not a great book.

Subtle and engaging . . . ., 01 Dec 1997
I'm not interested in expansion of a ski resort and not an environmentalist, so I don't really know why I read this novel, but I'm glad I did. Bohjalian's characters are very well-drawn against the peaceful backdrop of scenic Vermont. Some are strange, some are gentle and even the borderline exploitation of the child is deftly handled. Although repetitive at times, I'm glad I stuck with it. The ending is beautiful.

"I wish we could all just take one, big chewable pill", 07 Nov 2004
Chris Bohjalian has been making a literary career out of combining serious social issues with suspenseful fictional narratives. No other American writer can readily encapsulate issues of current interest and present dispassionate and multi-faceted arguments both for and against. In Before You Know Kindness, his latest family saga, Bohjalian proves once again that he is a phenomenal and gifted stylist that can bring the seemingly disparate issues of gun control, deer hunting and vegetarianism to the forefront, while also conveying some ardent observations on our litigious society. This novel is a searing account of what happens when all of these issues combine after a terrible accident involving a gun that is accidentally fired.

With a competent, mellifluous, and powerful, often-poetic language, Bohjalian obviously shows an astute, and probably rather cynical understanding of human nature that makes his story one of great universality. The novel focuses on the Seton's, a family of old New England money. They have a family home in New Hampshire and all three generations readily holiday there every summer, playing tennis, badminton, and golf, and enjoying gin and tonics on the wraparound porch.

Although on the surface, the Seton's seem happy and well adjusted, Nan, the current matriarch notices that things are wrong. The problem is that when they are all together "they can never just...be. They just didn't sit well as a family." Catherine, Nan's daughter-in law, is married to her son, the sanctimonious animal rights activist Spencer McCullough, but Catherine is starting to doubt her marriage to him as she surreptitiously and rebelliously eats beef behind his back. And neither Spencer nor Catherine seems to have time for their 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Nan's daughter, Sara is married to John, a civil rights lawyer in Vermont. They have a daughter, Willow, who is best friends with her cousin. However, Sara has recently given birth to Patrick, and lately, he seems to be taking up all their attention. They have little time for Willow. Now that he has a son, John feels inclined to take up deer hunting, so that when Patrick is older they can both share something perceivably "masculine."

One night John carelessly leaves a half-loaded rifle in the trunk of his car and Charlotte, stoned and drunk from a night out around a local bonfire, accidentally pulls the trigger hitting Spencer in the shoulder and crippling him for life. Charlotte thought her father was a deer and that it had trespassed onto their vegetable garden. The accident ends up testing the strengths and values that unite the family as Bohjalian skillfully builds a rich and complex drama around this terrible event. Blame is proportioned in turn to the gun manufacturers, and then to John "who is numb but also full of remorse because he'd never bothered to deal with the jammed bullet. The family is left to cope with managing Spencer's debilitating injury and the rift that the accident creates between the stringently vegan Spencer and the pro-gun, meat eating John.

Although much of the plot revolves around Spencer - a key figure in FERAL, the militant animal rights organization that gears up for a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer - each character at various points in the novel moves to center stage in a series of interior and thought-provoking monologues to comment on the events and their repercussions. Bohjalian does a great job of capturing their individual points of view, their insecurities about the accident, and their very different and unique personalities as each of them deal with the tragic event in his or her own unique way. Spencer is given "a kind of a spiritual second chance - he still has a future, but it might not have been the future he once had imagined." Bohjalian is careful to stay objective and he never obviously takes sides, and even though most of the characters are careless and self-serving, the reader will obviously develop sympathies for many of them even though they may not agree with their the various points of view. Mike Leonard October 04.

Unbelievably awful - an insult to Gatsby's memory, 21 Oct 2008
The Great Gatsby is pretty much my favourite book, so I was intrigued to hear about this 'modern twist' on it. I was thinking along the lines of 'retellings' like 'Wide Sargasso Sea' or 'Mrs de Winter'. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the worst piece of writing I've ever laid eyes on - an eight-year-old's 'what I did at the weekend' homework would have more literary merit. There are books you know are bad but you still can't put them down ('The Da Vinci Code' anyone?)... this, on the other hand, is a book so bad you can't pick it up.
It starts off with a protracted and deeply unpleasant rape scene, then goes off into an implausible tale of the victim finding some photos that may or may not be of a random homeless man who may or may not be something to do with an old woman claiming to be Daisy Buchanan. And every page is padded out with endless, painfully pointless description, not to mention the cringeworthy dialgue. I barely got halfway through this drivel, but I've been told [spoiler alert!] that the ending is along the lines of 'and then I woke up and it was all a dream'.
I'm just glad the links to Scott Fitzgerald are so tenuous that this pile of nonsense should sink without a trace, never to be mentioned in the same breath as Gatsby.

Excelllent stuff, 13 Oct 2008
This book is amazing. The twist at the end gave me goosebumps that lasted for ages! a must read. for everyone.

An intelligent psychological thriller ........ , 23 May 2007
Chris Bohjalian's novel Midwives has for a long time been one of my favourite books and I have since read Before You Know Kindness and enjoyed it immensely. However I came to The Double Bind with high expectations and having just finished it I am left feeling a little confused. The premise of the story is centered around Laurel Estabrook, a twenty plus social worker at BEDS, a Burlington homeless shelter. Laurel had in the past been the victim of a vicious sexual attack by two men whilst mountain bike riding in the Vermont Hills. Then Bobbie Crocker is brought to the shelter, all he has to his name is a box of old photographs, the purported output of his mentally troubled lifetime. These photographs are his pictorial "autobiography" and following his death the head of the shelter gives Laurel the task of cataloguing them with a view to an exhibition of his work to raise funds. The photographs are of a professional standard and show icons of the 50's and 60's such as Chuck Berry, Julie Andrews, Robert Frost and Eartha Kitt. The author uses the photographs of another real itinerant photographer to interleave the chapters and give added credence to the book.

The device of weaving classic fictional characters into a modern-day psychological thriller is now introduced into the story. Amongst the photographs are ones which Laurel recognises as being of Jay Gatsby's mansion in West Egg and the Buchanan estate in East Egg which at this point I found to be a difficult notion. Pragmatically I was reading the novel on one level as a piece of fiction and then the author introduces another set of well-known fictional characters which the reader is supposed to believe are living breathing characters in their own right. If you have not read the Great Gatsby recently it is a good idea to find out the story line as this will enhance your enjoyment of The Double Bind.

However I kept on reading and Chris Bohjalian manages to keep the pace and interest of the reader using this fictional deceit - and as Laurel's obsession with the photographer drags her even deeper into his troubled life her mental state starts to suffer dramatically. The author's ability to confuse reality and delusion is extremely well written and although the clues are there the end is a classic for a psychodrama.

The personal disenchantment which I mentioned earlier is down to the fact that having finished the book I cannot decide myself what and who were real and what and who delusional. Formulated in the 1950s to create a theory about schizophrenia, double bind theory is about relationships and what happens when important basic relationships are chronically subjected to invalidation through paradoxical communication which is the basic tenet of this book.

Not a retelling - a superb