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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
informative
reflective
sad
dark
informative
reflective
This was another very enjoyable book by Jennifer Worth. I have to say the characters that were cast on the PBS show 'Call the Midwife' fit the characters in the book perfectly.
Last year when my best friend gifted me 'Call the midwife', the first book this memoir trilogy, I didn't know what to expect. He had not read the books but he found the BBC adaptation of this series very compelling. And what a fantastic story this has been so far. I loved this second book in the series as much as the first one. It is tender and emotional, heart-rending but addictive. Jennifer Worth was a young East London midwife in the 1950s and the poverty stricken London post-war was a brutal place to survive. In the first book, Worth tells stories of pregnant women and stories about childbirths. In the second book, she talks about the people around her, especially the ones she was surrounded with - the ones at the Nonnatus House, the convent of the nursing nuns. As the title suggests, the memories of the people involved in the book revolve around the infamous 'Workhouses', places where the unemployed poor were sent to. The book made me cry a bit yet it was so gripping, I found it hard to put down. For people who love memoirs, this is an excellent excellent piece of story-telling that I wholeheartedly recommend.
There is a quote in the book that goes like this - "Nothing binds people more strongly than the same sense of humour, and the ability to laugh together."
It is this bond that I share with my best friend that has helped to discover some of most fantastic things in the world and I consider this book series as one of them!
There is a quote in the book that goes like this - "Nothing binds people more strongly than the same sense of humour, and the ability to laugh together."
It is this bond that I share with my best friend that has helped to discover some of most fantastic things in the world and I consider this book series as one of them!
I was all to happy to leap from the first book to the second....but this book was not written in the same style....and I found it hard to get through. Instead of moving from character to character each chapter and hearing about the author's experience as a midwife, in this book we were introduced to different situations in the East End in the 50s....and often it had nothing to of with being a midwife.
I found this book so depressing and hard to get through...and as I had seen the show, nothing new. I preferred the first book in that I got glimpses at difference women's situations....
Read if you want to learn about life before the 50s in the East End....not so much about giving birth.
I found this book so depressing and hard to get through...and as I had seen the show, nothing new. I preferred the first book in that I got glimpses at difference women's situations....
Read if you want to learn about life before the 50s in the East End....not so much about giving birth.
I didn't enjoy Shadows of the Workhouse nearly as much as the first book of the trilogy. I understand Jenny was a nurse and did much more than deliver babies, but since these books are referred to as "The Midwife Trilogy", I was expecting to hear more stories about babies and midwifery.
I just wasn't that interested in all the background information we were given on Jane, Peggy, and Frank. There were details Jenny knew that didn't make sense. I did enjoy Mr. Collett's story because he seemed like a wonderful old soul.
I just wasn't that interested in all the background information we were given on Jane, Peggy, and Frank. There were details Jenny knew that didn't make sense.
Spoiler
How in the world did she know Peggy's final actions before she committed suicide if Peggy was by herself until she was found??
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Another good listen, but I'd rather not have the extra long stories about people who Jenny barely interacted with at the time.
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced