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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
I listened to the audiobook because I realized that this book was too hard for me to read– as in, emotionally, too gut-wrenching to sit down and actively move my eyes across the words on the page. I don't know why listening is a little easier; it's probably because I could listen while doing something else– dishes or laundry or something with my hands.
I still had to skip the part where the little girl, Jane, is beaten half to death by the workhouse master. I wonder with other readers, exactly how Jennifer Worth could know all the details, and I've concluded that she did her research, heard the stories of people, and filled in the gaps with fictionalized bits– and yet still, we know that children were beaten till the blood ran, and the very evil of it makes the doctrine of Hell almost a welcome thing. Because– because– someone who would beat a child almost to death, we cannot accept that he goes his whole life and dies and gets away with it. Something deep within us revolts.
Something on which I'm still reflecting is the incredible community that the people in the Poplar tenements had. I think it is a kind of community that someone like me, an upper-middle-class white American, can't begin to fathom. Yes, the tenements were dirty. They were unsanitary. They were infested with vermin. Far too many people were crowded into far too small a space. Yes, people had to worry about preventable diseases. They had to work incredibly hard every day, just to eat and have clothes to wear and beds to sleep in. Yet I truly wonder if we are better off, in our sanitized, enormous, middle class suburban homes, in which we are literally dying of loneliness, where mental illness has skyrocketed, where we are so safe that we have to invent anxieties for ourselves (just look at any mom forum). When the tenements are demolished and the hundreds of thousands of people who have lived for generations in them are moved, Sister Julienne remarks to Jenny that "I am well aware of the fact that most of the old people who are being moved will not be able to adjust to the new surroundings, and that many of them will die as a consequence." And later, visiting her friend Mr. Collet in his new home at a sterile "care home", Jenny realizes that what is so terrible for him is not the gray surroundings– it's the loneliness. The British government has recently appointed a "Minister for Loneliness" because of the incredible percentage of the British population that experience loneliness and all the emotional and physical toll that goes with it.
I honestly think that we are paying the price for our safe, comfortable, sanitary suburban lives. We can close our doors and lower our garage doors and hide in our fenced-in back yards from our neighbors. We can block people on social media who have different political or philosophical or child-rearing views, we can choose exactly whom we engage with and on what grounds– and suicide rates are going up. Mental illness is rampant. People are afraid to even answer their doors. It's more common to talk to someone via text or social media than it is to sit down over a cup of tea together in the same room.
I wonder what the generations of tenement families would think of our modern day suburban living. I wonder what they would think of the privacy. I wonder if they would think it was strange, or even unhealthy. I think of human history and how for millennia people have worked and lived in daily community with their neighbors and extended family.
Life has never been so easy and it has never been so lonely.
I still had to skip the part where the little girl, Jane, is beaten half to death by the workhouse master. I wonder with other readers, exactly how Jennifer Worth could know all the details, and I've concluded that she did her research, heard the stories of people, and filled in the gaps with fictionalized bits– and yet still, we know that children were beaten till the blood ran, and the very evil of it makes the doctrine of Hell almost a welcome thing. Because– because– someone who would beat a child almost to death, we cannot accept that he goes his whole life and dies and gets away with it. Something deep within us revolts.
Something on which I'm still reflecting is the incredible community that the people in the Poplar tenements had. I think it is a kind of community that someone like me, an upper-middle-class white American, can't begin to fathom. Yes, the tenements were dirty. They were unsanitary. They were infested with vermin. Far too many people were crowded into far too small a space. Yes, people had to worry about preventable diseases. They had to work incredibly hard every day, just to eat and have clothes to wear and beds to sleep in. Yet I truly wonder if we are better off, in our sanitized, enormous, middle class suburban homes, in which we are literally dying of loneliness, where mental illness has skyrocketed, where we are so safe that we have to invent anxieties for ourselves (just look at any mom forum). When the tenements are demolished and the hundreds of thousands of people who have lived for generations in them are moved, Sister Julienne remarks to Jenny that "I am well aware of the fact that most of the old people who are being moved will not be able to adjust to the new surroundings, and that many of them will die as a consequence." And later, visiting her friend Mr. Collet in his new home at a sterile "care home", Jenny realizes that what is so terrible for him is not the gray surroundings– it's the loneliness. The British government has recently appointed a "Minister for Loneliness" because of the incredible percentage of the British population that experience loneliness and all the emotional and physical toll that goes with it.
I honestly think that we are paying the price for our safe, comfortable, sanitary suburban lives. We can close our doors and lower our garage doors and hide in our fenced-in back yards from our neighbors. We can block people on social media who have different political or philosophical or child-rearing views, we can choose exactly whom we engage with and on what grounds– and suicide rates are going up. Mental illness is rampant. People are afraid to even answer their doors. It's more common to talk to someone via text or social media than it is to sit down over a cup of tea together in the same room.
I wonder what the generations of tenement families would think of our modern day suburban living. I wonder what they would think of the privacy. I wonder if they would think it was strange, or even unhealthy. I think of human history and how for millennia people have worked and lived in daily community with their neighbors and extended family.
Life has never been so easy and it has never been so lonely.
Less baby-birthing than volume 1, more Interesting Characters Around Town stories.
This book is split into three parts, the first being about three people who had spent their time in workhouses and how it affected their lives. This was horrific reading at times, but interesting.
The second is about the trial of a nun who the author worked with, which I found quite tedious at times.
The third part was about an elderly gentleman that the author treated which was an interesting story and he reminded me of my father-in-law.
Overall an interesting read but with not a huge amount of workhouse details, I guess thats where the shadow comes from in the title!
The second is about the trial of a nun who the author worked with, which I found quite tedious at times.
The third part was about an elderly gentleman that the author treated which was an interesting story and he reminded me of my father-in-law.
Overall an interesting read but with not a huge amount of workhouse details, I guess thats where the shadow comes from in the title!
I preferred this one to Call the Midwife. It was set up in 3 parts and each of those parts followed only one or a few people so it felt more focused and could go deeper into the character's stories
First and last part were very good, middle one wasn't so strong.
3.5, rounded up because the audio version is so good. Worth has an easy, conversational style, and Stories of the Workhouse had the same fireside storytelling quality of the first book.
This one is more other people's stories, more than Worth's, documenting the struggle to survive and find joy amongst poverty, illness, institutionally sanctioned abuse and, ultimately, the destruction of an entire community.
I'm not sure this book would be as good reading it in written form, given how well it lent itself to the easy narrative of audio. A lovely listen while I ran, even if sometimes tears spilled down my cheeks as I did.
This one is more other people's stories, more than Worth's, documenting the struggle to survive and find joy amongst poverty, illness, institutionally sanctioned abuse and, ultimately, the destruction of an entire community.
I'm not sure this book would be as good reading it in written form, given how well it lent itself to the easy narrative of audio. A lovely listen while I ran, even if sometimes tears spilled down my cheeks as I did.
I just adore these stories, they do differ a bit from the show but it really shows that the show was build on these books.
I just cried throughout the entire part 3 about Joseph Collett I am now mush
I just cried throughout the entire part 3 about Joseph Collett I am now mush
I have a thing about reading the books before watching the movie/show. In keeping with that, reading this second installment of Call the Midwife was a must since I want to watch the show eventually. Oh… and of course because I enjoyed the first book immensely.
This second book is more of a deep dive into a select cast of characters the author encounters during her career rather than insight into the lives of the many people of the East End where the midwives are working. While I still found it very interesting and enjoyable, I did enjoy the first book more. That being said, I’m still very much looking forward to continuing the series
This second book is more of a deep dive into a select cast of characters the author encounters during her career rather than insight into the lives of the many people of the East End where the midwives are working. While I still found it very interesting and enjoyable, I did enjoy the first book more. That being said, I’m still very much looking forward to continuing the series
I liked it, but was an easy/casual read, nothing really special. Read a bit differently than the first Call the Midwife book, seemed more like short stories.
I really good book, though i found the middle section not as interesting as the rest. The subject moved away from the workhouses and the people who had lived in them and I would have preferred to have read more on that.