Nan Price is adopted by a doctor as a young orphan (there's a lot of them around in nineteenth-century women's literature) and grows up to become a doctor herself. Despite the title, which might make you think this book is about a country doctor, this actually happens in the last chapter. So is it about her going to medical school? Not really, as that all transpires "off camera" so to speak. Mostly it's about her adoptive father the doctor, who is admittedly fairly cool, but tends to talk a lot about the dangers of medical science. I do not think I have ever read a book where so many pages went by yet so little happened-- but inexplicably I was almost never bored! The pages just rolled by, and I read them. On the other hand, I never got excited either. There's some interesting, if muddled, discourse about inheritance here: Nan has to have negative, unmotherly traits because of her mother, but she also has to be a doctor because of her environment... and yet her being a doctor is also a calling from God. Nature, nurture, or divine influence? Who knows.

Nan Price was orphaned in infancy, then raised by her grandmother, until her upbringing is finished by Dr. John Leslie. A case can certainly be made that the eponymous doctor is our Dr. Leslie, rather than the heroine. But I won't make that case now.

Definitely a product of its time, "A Country Doctor" recounts the massive 19th Century roadblocks standing the the way of a young woman ambitious to be a doctor, and how she overcomes them. Jewett unfolds her story with abstract expositions that deal with specific emotional and interpersonal interactions. It reminds me (on one level) of Henry James, except that Ms. Jewett's way is plainer and clearer, and just as deep. The author portrays Nan's choice as a test of not only perserverance, but also of conscience, in a way that simply would not apply today. That is one of the reasons, obviously, to read this book.

The other reasons are that the author's descriptions are full, her characters are deep and well-shaded, and she delivers a life-affirming outcome. I don't know that I would necessarily term this book a classic, but it's certainly worth your while, not only for the historic interest, but also the simple appreciation we take in a well-told, satisfying story. ( )

Through the dialogue and incidental plot progression, even through the characterization of major and minor characters, it is easy to see Jewett's great influence on the Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery. As we read the opening chapters of Anne of Green Gables, we see so much of Jewett's small northern world coming through in the guise of Prince Edward Island. Dr. Leslie's maid (interestingly enough named Marilla) is concerned one day over the doctor driving in to town, although the "leisurely way" has "assured her of safety." We see this charmingly busy-body attitude with Montgomery's Rachel Lynde. When shy, taciturn Matthew Cuthbert is all dressed up, driving his buggy, Mrs. Rachel Lynde will not have a moment's peace until she has wrung the truth from her neighbor, the good man's sister, Marilla Cuthbert. "Oh, my afternoon is spoiled!" she exclaims.

Through both Dr. Leslie and Marilla Cuthbert we eventually see the hopes and dreams they harbor for Nan and Anne, respectively. These are cherished aspirations which go far beyond their tiny societies. Both Jewett and Montgomery were keenly aware of the roads they were paving for future female writers and thinkers. Both authors loved their heroines and sent them out in to the world to succeed. Marilla had no qualms about Anne studying to be a teacher, for "it is an uncertain world." She was of the opinion that a girl should be able to earn a living. Dr. Leslie, likewise stated, "It's a cold, cold world....only one thing will help [Nan] through safely, and that is her usefulness. She shall never be either a thief or a beggar of the world's favor if I can have my wish."

Praise are due both to Jewett and Montgomery. Neither heroine has weakened and paled with time. Neither writer has become less significant to women's studies. ( )

Not as good as the Pointed Firs, but still very readable. ( )

This book is a character study of a country doctor, modeled after the author's father. It is also a story characterized by a vrey deterministic view of the world, about a girl with some "bad genes" who is raised by the Doctor plus her maternal relatives and goes into Doctoring. The horrifying part is that she decides she is unfit to be a wife and mother because of those "bad genes."