Caro is an interesting protagonist who I see bits of myself in. Not sure how to feel about the end of her story, though. Full review to come. ( )

I received this book through the GoodReads first reads program...

This is another book that in normal circumstances I wouldn't much look twice at. The premise is good, intriguing even, but just not something I'd seek out or generally consider. A doula (best described as a mother to a mother, serving as emotional comfort and support through a birth) is put on trial after a mother dies during childbirth and it's said she intervenes. Intriguing? Sure. Sounds good to me. Unfortunately, the presentation didn't quite do it for me.

For one, childbirth makes me queasy to think about. I've had to watch videos of it during sex ed, biology, and first responder courses and.. well, if you're primarily exposed to the potentiality of what could go wrong during it you're bound to feel weird about the process. Then you read a book that nearly fetishizes the process such as this and you're made doubly uncomfortable. Well, I was at least.

My own problems aside, I do agree with a lot of the case the book was making. There is a bit of a problem in Western culture where childbirth is made out to be a very sterile clinical thing. We emphasize the negatives of it, therefore creating a preconceived disgust and overall.. problem within women when it comes to the process. If we change our conceptions then the actual outcome wouldn't necessarily be as negative all the time. Maybe.

Anyway, my issues with the book that ended up in the rating were primarily in terms of presentation. I feel the book would have been paced better had the trial been more of the focus, as it was in the synopsis, than Caro's journey. The ideas in the book were overall rather good, and the trial scenes were rather exciting. While the metaphor of birth and birthing and Caro finding her place in life works well, it was stressed rather a bit too much for my liking. By changing the order of events in the book (i.e. not starting with the bathtub scene/lake scene and instead interspersing those throughout the book) I feel it would have flowed better. Everything the book needed was there, it was just paced too slowly for my taste.

The writing is lovely, the characters (while a bit too all self pity and no action for my taste.. but that's kind of the point of the book in a way) understandable and overall fine, and the message of the book positive.. well, everything was there for it to be great. It's a promising first effort, and I do hope the author continues honing her trade and espousing her opinions. The best thing to do is to create a conversation, and I feel that this book will create plenty! ( )