A review by heatherer
Birthing Hope: Giving Fear to the Light by Rachel Marie Stone

3.0

Really, 3.5 stars. Some of the writing in this book is beautiful, searing, and full of rich meaning. But it is uneven. At times I read sentences several times to try to get their meaning as the sentence seemed to contradict the rest of the context around it or the connection between one paragraph and the next was oblique. I’m not actually sure what makes the whole book hang together because it is so broken into vignettes. Having been a doula briefly, I appreciated some of the meaningful connections around birth, death, fear, faith, and earthiness especially. I would absolutely read favorite portions again, and I would love if the author wrote a more focused book. At the very least, I’m looking forward to talking about it with the friend who lent the book to me as there s plenty of material for discussion.