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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Brutal but touching. Social history told brilliantly. Characters and stories bought to life.
I enjoyed this follow-up to Call the Midwife. This was a little less about her own experiences as a midwife and more about a few of her more interesting patients. The stories read a little more like fiction, and I am sure she took a few liberties, especially with The Workhouse Children, as there are things she described she couldn't possibly know. Apparently in addition to her ability to help people in the direst of circumstances (and sometimes very disgusting circumstances) she has a talent for writing, and can put you in the scene right there with her patients.
Not as good as Call the Midwife but still an interesting read.
Again I liked this book, but what a strange place to end it.
Call the Midwife, book 2.
This follow-up is less focused on the author’s midwife training and covers fewer patients’ stories, albeit more deeply. Lots about the legacy of workhouses and the experiences of soldiers and their families during and after wartime. Pretty grim, but Sister Monica Joan provided some much needed comic relief.
This follow-up is less focused on the author’s midwife training and covers fewer patients’ stories, albeit more deeply. Lots about the legacy of workhouses and the experiences of soldiers and their families during and after wartime. Pretty grim, but Sister Monica Joan provided some much needed comic relief.
Shadows of the Workhouse is a curious entry in this trilogy, and it's a very different reading experience than the first book. If you wanted more stories of the intrepid midwives of Nonnatus House traipsing London's East End delivering babies in every kind of condition, you won't find them here. In fact, there's not a single baby born, or even a single pregnant woman seen, in the entire book. The book consists of three stories, told at some length: First, the story of Jane, Peggy, and Frank, all children of the workhouse, and the conditions they grew up in. Second, a shorter story of aging, possibly senile Sister Monica Joan, and her prosecution for jewelry theft. And third, the story of Joe Collett, a lonely old gentleman whom Nurse Jenny befriends, and who spends his final days in one of the first state-run nursing homes.
These are good stories, but I think they were handled better in the PBS TV series, where they were compressed and worked in as subplots among all the other work that the midwives did, so that the focus remained on the nuns and nurses and all the services they provided to the community. I'm downgrading a star simply because I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more (or really any, basically) of the daily life of the midwives.
Having loved the TV series so much, it's impossible not to compare and contrast as I read. I must say after reading about Sister Monica Joan, I love her screen portrayal by Judy Parfitt even more – she did an outstanding job. In fact, the only casting and acting choice that seems a bit off to me is Nurse Cynthia – in the book she's portrayed as a serenely calm woman with a deep, slow voice, who defuses every conflict. But on screen, she was a petite, child-like woman who seemed high-strung and nervous.
Audio Notes: Narrator Nicola Barber continues to be amazing and keeps landing on my “best audios” shelf. It's simply stunning how she switches in an instant from narrator/protagonist Nurse Jenny's quiet, dulcet tones and well-educated accent to rough Cockney gutter talk and back without a hitch. She does the squeaky voices of little kids, the gruff voices of old men, the screechy voices of harried dockwives, the haughty voices of senile old nuns, and does them all with such authenticity and verve you'll forget it's all her. Most impressive of all, she does the bombastic patter and oddly rough-and-squeaky-at-the-same-time voice of Tip the costermonger in a perfect rendition of the way it's described in the text. Then, a significant section of the book is narrated by an old man in his 80s and he's none too cultured, and Barber slips right into him. She's incredible.
These are good stories, but I think they were handled better in the PBS TV series, where they were compressed and worked in as subplots among all the other work that the midwives did, so that the focus remained on the nuns and nurses and all the services they provided to the community. I'm downgrading a star simply because I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more (or really any, basically) of the daily life of the midwives.
Having loved the TV series so much, it's impossible not to compare and contrast as I read. I must say after reading about Sister Monica Joan, I love her screen portrayal by Judy Parfitt even more – she did an outstanding job. In fact, the only casting and acting choice that seems a bit off to me is Nurse Cynthia – in the book she's portrayed as a serenely calm woman with a deep, slow voice, who defuses every conflict. But on screen, she was a petite, child-like woman who seemed high-strung and nervous.
Audio Notes: Narrator Nicola Barber continues to be amazing and keeps landing on my “best audios” shelf. It's simply stunning how she switches in an instant from narrator/protagonist Nurse Jenny's quiet, dulcet tones and well-educated accent to rough Cockney gutter talk and back without a hitch. She does the squeaky voices of little kids, the gruff voices of old men, the screechy voices of harried dockwives, the haughty voices of senile old nuns, and does them all with such authenticity and verve you'll forget it's all her. Most impressive of all, she does the bombastic patter and oddly rough-and-squeaky-at-the-same-time voice of Tip the costermonger in a perfect rendition of the way it's described in the text. Then, a significant section of the book is narrated by an old man in his 80s and he's none too cultured, and Barber slips right into him. She's incredible.
Whist this book was shorter than the first, I thoroughly enjoyed the depth to the characters as opposed to the first which was lots of different stories without a lot of depth. Am looking forward to reading the next book in 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.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced