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The Secrets of Midwives


A story that will hold you captivated until the very end.
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Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

Created: 12/26/15

Replies: 11

Posted Dec. 26, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

Throughout the novel we see characters forced to confront unexpected situations and grapple with how to handle and react to them, knowing that their reactions will not only greatly affect themselves but the other people involved. Put yourself in the position of different characters such as Mark, Imogen, Patrick, Sean, Floss, and Neva. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?


Posted Jan. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lea Ann

Join Date: 04/20/11

Posts: 99

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

I read this book soon after it arrived. Once I read the first pages, I couldn't put it down and wait to read it closer to the discussion time. It pulled me in and wouldn't let me go. Now I need to go back and skim a bit to refresh my memory. Right now I'd do what Grace did, if I were brave enough, but it's difficult to put myself in the place of someone so different from the person I am. So............let me refresh my memory a bit, and I'll be better able to contribute to the discussions.


Posted Jan. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
deeh

Join Date: 03/03/12

Posts: 239

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

I felt especially sympathetic toward Floss. She had made a huge commitment to Grace and then was unable to be straightforward with her about her father until the end of the book.

I hope I would have been as understanding as Imogen was about her fiance's child. Mark made the right decision regarding becoming part of Mieta's life. Patrick had my admiration from the minute he told Neva he would be the baby's father.


Posted Jan. 02, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Maggie

Join Date: 01/01/16

Posts: 434

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

Floss did the right thing by taking the baby. The father was not a good person. She gave up a lot, her family, her home. The baby became her family. This was not an adoption of a child, basically according to the law it would be kidnapping so she did have to keep the secret. What a burden. I think Floss was a wonderful character. Certainly she was a good mother and grandmother.


Posted Jan. 03, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
rosemarys

Join Date: 05/29/11

Posts: 43

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

I know that I could relate to Neva and Floss more than Grace. I think Neva and Floss seemed stronger than Grace-except in the end after she did deliver the baby and became closer with her daughter. I always wanted Grace to communicate more of what she thought and felt, especially to her husband. I was so upset about the way he spoke to her and only defended herself in the end. Grace had such an aversion to medical doctors that she, in my opinion, scared many of her patients into believing her way was the only way. This is not always the best option for every case. Neva had an extremely sensible solution with her birthing center. I would like to believe that I would be more open-minded like her. Floss was an exceptional mother and grandmother by listening and offering comfort. She was a kind soul and her only flaw was not being truthful to Grace as she grew up.


Posted Jan. 05, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Retired Reader, NE

Join Date: 09/16/11

Posts: 165

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

The minor characters--Patrick, Mark, and Imogene--acted honorably. Poor Imogene. She really had no choice but to accept that the baby would be part of her life. I admired Floss for getting baby Grace out of a bad situation but felt she should have told the truth earlier. I was disgusted with the blatant disregard for the law and the number of lies that were told. At times the book read like a soap opera script.


Posted Jan. 05, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Peggy H

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 272

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

I wondered if I would have told Grace the truth but it made sense that Floss feared Grace might return to find her relatives. Of course we don't know much about them. I was afraid that Floss and Neva might both have had babies with other's husbands. I wonder if Imogene will continue to accept things- that was the most surprising thing to me.


Posted Jan. 06, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dorothyl

Join Date: 04/15/12

Posts: 146

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

Imogene's reaction was unrealistic to me. I doubt that a fiancee would usually react that way and so quickly too. I felt that the book was overly sentimental and often unrealistic. It was an easy read but a book that I feel lacked real depth and was unrealistic. I was disappointed in this book.


Posted Jan. 07, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
MarieA

Join Date: 10/12/11

Posts: 256

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

I wasn't particularly sympathetic with any of the characters in this novel--their stories and experiences were interesting, but not compelling. I think this is typical of other novels in the Women's Fiction category. I find them readable, but not unforgettable.


Posted Jan. 08, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
melindah

Join Date: 12/25/12

Posts: 52

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

Each character struggled with revealing truth to those most important to them. Although that is always frightening, I don't think the author created a world where we deeply connect with those fears. I enjoyed the read, but will probably not remember the characters or their struggles through my next book. I wish we had been taken into a deeper understanding rather than the surface, predictable fear of acceptance.


Posted Jan. 10, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
louisee

Join Date: 06/29/15

Posts: 143

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

I was very glad that Floss took the child away from her abusive father. It was very risky but important. I like how Neva handles her midwifery practice and her child's biological father. I'm very happy that Patrick will be Neva's child's father. Grace did a terrific job delivering her grandchild but I didn't care for her personality. I think Imogen had a conversation with her fiance before they went to the hospital and decided she still loved him so she would love his child as well.


Posted Feb. 10, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
bettyt

Join Date: 05/12/11

Posts: 228

RE: Put yourself in the position of different characters. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?

I felt I could understand Floss. When I was 23 I took in a 15 year old who had no home. Her parents had rejected her. Her mother didn't want her boyfriends knowing she had a teenage daughter; her father's new wife didn't want a kid from his previous marriage. It wasn't a legal arrangement. We just agreed that she needed to keep her nose clean so no attention would be drawn to us. She lived with me until she was 18 then she went into the Army. All these years later we are probably closer than many mothers and daughters, and we never had those struggles that mothers tend to have with their daughters. While I really didn't know what I was doing at the time I did know how to give her unconditional love. I had to make adjustments in my life, as any (single) mother would. But I have never regretted it.


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