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"Women don't do enough nice things for themselves," she writes (p. 94). "They give to their kids, their husbands, their parents and families. Sometimes they volunteer in the community or at church, but they rarely give to themselves."The work of a midwife is not easy. Harman and her husband, a surgeon, opened a health clinic in West Virginia. While they struggle to keep the clinic solvent, with the rising cost of malpractice insurance and her own medical problems, she always keeps her patients uppermost in her mind -- and they share all sorts of concerns with her. Rated: 7/10.
As I read The Blue Cotton Gown, I was reminded of other books I've read about midwives.
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"Throughout the long summer before my mother's trial began, and then during those crisp days in the fall when her life was paraded publicly before the county -- her character lynched, her wisdom impugned -- I overheard much more than my parents realized, and I understood more than they would have liked."This midwife did not work with a surgeon/husband, as Harman did (above), so a question arises about the medical profession:
"The whole idea that a midwife can do what they do -- and do it better -- drives some of them crazy, and so they're persecuting my client" (p. 232).Why didn't the midwife get the woman to a doctor? Were the roads too icy on that winter night in rural Vermont? What really happened? Rated: 8/10.
“I have learned that perception is very much in the eye of the beholder, Monsignor Solitario. A man will see what he desires. You see a witch where others simply see a very good midwife” (p. 112).I wrote more about The Witch of Cologne (and women's issues, such as being asked, "Do you type?") exactly three years ago tomorrow. Rated: 8/10
1 comment:
I've heard of the book Midwives, but didn't realize he wrote it! I've meant to read that book for years
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