May Book Club Selection- A Midwife's Story

Since it's almost June, I figured I'd blog about our May read in book club. This month we read A Midwife's Story by Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman. It was interesting insight into Amish life through the eyes of a midwife. The story began by detailing Penny Armstrong's midwifery training and experiences throughout the world and how her more traditional training led her to become a midwife in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

When she came to Lancaster County she was (slowly) granted intimate access into a culture that is typically closed to the outside world. It detailed some of the more interesting births and how the Amish accept life and death.

I found it fascinating that Penny Armstrong had delivered 1,000 babies in five years. I liked that she and her husband dug in and really accepted and tried to understand and contribute to the community. Sometimes while Penny was meeting with a patient in her home, her husband would go to the fields to help the men slaughter chickens or harvest corn even if he knew little or nothing about the process. I liked how Penny gave each person in her book a bit of individuality and her love for the people she worked with was apparent.

It was a bit of a light read and could have gone on longer with some antics and insight. Also, as Penny perfected her home birthing delivery skills with the Amish, she leaned further and further away from traditional hospital deliveries. Her obvious opinions were very pro home birth and sometimes critical of "traditional" hospital methods. If I were to have another child this is the sort of book that could make me consider having a baby at home, although I would only consider it if I could have the adept hands and brain of someone like Penny Armstrong by my side.

The only glaring deficiency besides the lack of girth and her sometimes too long rants about more traditional medical methods was the writing. There was nothing horribly wrong with the writing but there are some books that instantly transform you to another place and wrap you up in the adventure and this book had that potential. I was about halfway through the book when I realized that the writer, Sheryl Feldman, and not done that. I would have liked to have read this book through the eyes of a writer like Sue Monk (author of "The Secret lives of Bees"). I think her writing style would have made this book shine. Oh well, I seem to be a bit nitpicky this morning. Chalk it up to lack of sleep. As for the book, it was a very good read. I liked it a bit (although I didn't fall head over heels in love) and would recommend. June's read: Woodswoman by Anne LaBastille.