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kianagrdnr's review
2.0
It's been a while since I've written a review on here, and the one person who knows me in real life as well as on here knows that I write the majority of my reviews for books I've rated two stars or less (I'm optimistic like that).
To be fair, I completely judged this book by its cover. The two sisters seemed so happy, I thought it would be a nice light read to get back into the swing of things. Oh boy, was I wrong. The first half of the book, the early years of the sisters was so depressing and sad. This can only be contributed to the storytelling capabilities of the author, and how she managed to both work through her emotions of such a sad time in her life, as well as convey them to the reader. The first half was truly moving and is largely responsible for the high rating I gave this book.
In general, not the strongest writing I've seen and not the worse (ahem ahem The Tattoist of Auschwitz ahem ahem) but it was just the sudden lack of emotion I felt in the second half of the book that really shocked me and made me realize that it was the story and not the writing that had moved me so strongly in the first half. The story was aiding the author.
An overall confusing read, though it did convince me to go and read the Call the Midwife trilogy.
To be fair, I completely judged this book by its cover. The two sisters seemed so happy, I thought it would be a nice light read to get back into the swing of things. Oh boy, was I wrong. The first half of the book, the early years of the sisters was so depressing and sad. This can only be contributed to the storytelling capabilities of the author, and how she managed to both work through her emotions of such a sad time in her life, as well as convey them to the reader. The first half was truly moving and is largely responsible for the high rating I gave this book.
In general, not the strongest writing I've seen and not the worse (ahem ahem The Tattoist of Auschwitz ahem ahem) but it was just the sudden lack of emotion I felt in the second half of the book that really shocked me and made me realize that it was the story and not the writing that had moved me so strongly in the first half. The story was aiding the author.
An overall confusing read, though it did convince me to go and read the Call the Midwife trilogy.
kath61's review
3.0
Interesting but not as well written as the books by Jennifer Worth and lacking their warmth. It is definitely a 'warts and all' biography which leaves something of a sour taste in the mouth.
jokapy's review against another edition
4.0
Ihan mielenkiintoinen kirja Hakekaa kätilö! -kirjojen kirjoittajan Jennifer Leen ja hänen sisarensa Christinen elämästä. Varsinkin heidän lapsuudestaan lukeminen oli kiinnostavaa (ja hiukan järkyttävää). Muuten kirja keskittyy enemmän Christinen elämään, ja minun mielenkiintoni hiukan lopahti, vaikka ei Christinen elämä mitenkään tylsää ollut.
geertje's review
3.0
This book tells the memoirs of Christine Lee, sister of Jennifer Worth, who is famous for her memoirs called Call the Midwife. The Midwife’s Sister tells about their childhood and adolescence, as well as the different paths Christine and Jennifer took in life.
I’m going to be very harsh here and say it straight away: this book would not have been published if Call the Midwife and Jennifer’s subsequent books hadn’t been such bestsellers. Its most interesting parts are those in which Christine tells us more about Jennifer and their childhood together, because it gives us insight into Jennifer’s character and provides us with details that we knew nothing about. Their childhood was rather happy until their parents divorced, after which it became horrendous. Really, those stepparents behaved appallingly and my heart broke when reading those parts. Sadly, as soon as Jennifer and Christine stop seeing much of each other, this book loses its momentum. It becomes a string of Christine marrying and divorcing as well as buying dilapidated houses, improving them, and selling them for a profit. Though parts of her life were extremely sad (I wanted to have a good talk with her first husband, who told her that her chronic back pain was all just imagined, even though it later turned out that Christine had several spinal fractures) other parts were, honestly dictates me to say, rather boring. It may be because I am only twenty and have a hard time imagining marrying anyone, which makes it hard to sympathise with a woman who seems to marry on a whim, or because it is hard in general to feel bad for a woman who has to trade in her Downton-Abbey-style mansion for a slightly smaller villa, but I had a hard time feeling for Christine at all. These memoirs are certainly interesting when one has read the Call the Midwife trilogy, but on its own, it isn’t all that captivating.
I’m going to be very harsh here and say it straight away: this book would not have been published if Call the Midwife and Jennifer’s subsequent books hadn’t been such bestsellers. Its most interesting parts are those in which Christine tells us more about Jennifer and their childhood together, because it gives us insight into Jennifer’s character and provides us with details that we knew nothing about. Their childhood was rather happy until their parents divorced, after which it became horrendous. Really, those stepparents behaved appallingly and my heart broke when reading those parts. Sadly, as soon as Jennifer and Christine stop seeing much of each other, this book loses its momentum. It becomes a string of Christine marrying and divorcing as well as buying dilapidated houses, improving them, and selling them for a profit. Though parts of her life were extremely sad (I wanted to have a good talk with her first husband, who told her that her chronic back pain was all just imagined, even though it later turned out that Christine had several spinal fractures) other parts were, honestly dictates me to say, rather boring. It may be because I am only twenty and have a hard time imagining marrying anyone, which makes it hard to sympathise with a woman who seems to marry on a whim, or because it is hard in general to feel bad for a woman who has to trade in her Downton-Abbey-style mansion for a slightly smaller villa, but I had a hard time feeling for Christine at all. These memoirs are certainly interesting when one has read the Call the Midwife trilogy, but on its own, it isn’t all that captivating.
ruthisheretoo's review
Might let this one hibernate. Started out interesting but it's very repetitive. As much as I hate to compare sisters (though honestly that's what this book feels like! a constant compare/contrast between the two sisters) the writing is very dull and disappointing if you're expecting anything like the Midwife series.
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