The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com

Enjoy is maybe not the right word for a book about the end of human civilisation, but I was gripped and impressed by Meg Elison’s first novel. The prologue (which takes place after the main events of the book) sets things up well, skilfully introducing a future society in a brief but rich description that tips the reader off to the fact that there is light at the end of the tunnel. That light is very much needed as what follows is often bleak and brutal. The hospital-based start of the story proper is reminiscent of the beginning of ‘28 Days Later’ or ‘The Walking Dead’, but ‘The Book of the Unnamed Midwife’ is a very different beast from the zombie tales that are so popular show more at the moment. The only monsters here are people (mostly men) and the dangers that come when society crumbles. Characters die from tetanus and childbirth as well as violence, and the macho posturing that colours so many post-apocalyptic books and movies is completely absent.

The world Elison describes is as believable as it is terrifying, with far fewer women alive than men, rape and sexual slavery are the norm and the threat of violence is ever present. There are many horrific events here, but they are sensitively handled and never gratuitous. One sequence, in which a female character describes her time imprisoned by a gang of men, will haunt me for a while, but it’s because Elison makes you care about the characters that it has such power.

In the unnamed protagonist (who is indeed a midwife), Elison has crafted a convincing, determined, compassionate woman who travels through the newly desolated America dodging violent men and offering aid (in the form of medical care and birth control) to the women she can. She’s a wonderful central character, the writing switching between her diaries and third person passages about her adventures, and the people she meets are equally convincing, richly written and varied in character. This is a book that recognises and celebrates difference, with all races and sexualities represented, but never in a way that feels forced.

Whilst it isn’t quite as accomplished as Emily St John Mandel’s excellent ‘Station Eleven’, it is a similarly moving and intelligent work. Brutal and chilling at times, but also hopeful and very human. It immersed me right from the start and kept me gripped to the last page, moving me as well as thrilling me and offering a reminder that feels more necessary today than ever, that we are defined by the way we treat others. show less

I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From the very first page of this novel, I was hooked. The premise, the prose, the characters ... everything was so gritty and raw and perfect. Reading about the struggles of the main protagonist (who remains nameless throughout this story) gave me an adrenaline rush while also horrifying me at the same time. The events that transpire are both gruesome and completely realistic ... which makes it scarier than any horror movie. The emotions and scenarios that are people are thrust into really make you think about how well you know a person. This novel is more than just a dystopian fiction; it is a novel that explores the realm of sexuality, show more independence, women's rights, and the value of life. I cannot state enough how much of a fantastic novel this is, so please do yourself a favour and check it out! I promise it will not disappoint. show less

As The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison falls totally in my wheelhouse, it’s no surprise that I really loved this story. An apocalypse that is caused by an unknown illness is claiming many victims, particularly children, babies and women. Our main character falls victim to the disease but she was one of the very few women that recovered. The world she came back to was a totally different one and her first priority was finding somewhere safe. Women were being taken against their will and had become a valuable commodity to the gangs of men who were wandering around.

Disguising herself as a man, she takes to the road and the book unfolds as if we were reading the pages of her journal as well as entries from others she meets on show more the road. Over the course of a number of years she wanders, leaving behind her past life in San Francisco and her career as a nurse/midwife, but her medical skills become an important aid to her survival. The virus appears to still live in the survivors and is a huge danger to both the unborn fetus and the pregnant woman.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife is both gripping and grim, yet I felt it never went too far over the top to become unbelievable. I am simply glad that I only get to read about this type of disaster as I wouldn't survive more than a day or two if it actually real. Although this woman’s story is pretty much wrapped up by the end of the book, there are still many avenues left to explore regarding the status of women in this post-apocalyptic world and I am glad that there is sequel that will hopefully expand on this issue. show less

In some not-too-distant future, a plague has wiped out most of humanity but it has been especially devastating to women. Not only have they died in hugely disproportionate numbers to men but the few who survive and become pregnant mostly die in childbirth. And even in the rare occasions when the mother survives, every single pregnancy ends in miscarriage, stillbirth, or death of the baby at or very shortly after birth. Because of their scarcity, women quickly become hardly more than commodities to be sexually and physically abused often by groups of men as well as traded for other things. But all men are not evil and all women are not victims. Some men try to protect the women they meet often at great risk to themselves. There are also show more groups called ‘hives’ that form around a single woman who is in charge and sets the rules and where often the men are only marginally treated better than women who have been enslaved.

The Unnamed Midwife by author Meg Elison is an often grim and almost unrelentingly dark novel about the devastating effects of disasters especially on women. It begins, in a more distant future, as an older woman instructs a group of young men to copy the journals of one woman, the unnamed midwife of the title. She had been a nurse before the plague and, afterwards, travelled the country disguised as a man seeking a safe haven. Having seen the dangers for women in childbirth, she has gathered all of the contraceptives she can find and distributes them whenever possible to any women she meets. In her journeys, she encounters women who have been captured and chained as slaves and a Mormon haven that seems at first a safe place for the women there but harbours some dark secrets. Eventually and by accident, she encounters a couple who convince her to accompany them to a place called Fort Nowhere. Although it is led by a man, a fact that at first makes her uncertain about staying, she soon learns that it is a caring and accepting community, one that welcomes her and respects her for her skills and where people can freely explore different gender roles without judgment or censure.

The novel won the Philip K. Dick Award for 2014 and it is easy to see why. The unnamed midwife who goes by various names throughout (but never her real one) is a strong and interesting character who can be caring and kind but capable of doing whatever it takes to survive. The story is told from different sources including her journal in which, along with her own story, she has transcribed the journals of others that she met on her journey. But it is also departs from the journals to describe events that she is unaware of including the fate of many of the people she met on the way as well as people she knew before the plague. It is, as I said, almost unrelentingly dark but it does hint at a brighter future some time long after the unnamed midwife’s own story has ended. This is a beautifully written and engrossing novel and I would recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys dystopian tales especially novels like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. show less

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison is a very highly recommended plague/post-apocalyptic novel that held my rapt attention from start to finish.

Society has fallen apart. A disease, a plague of Biblical proportions, has stricken the world. It’s likely autoimmune, but nothing seems to stop it: "No antibiotic. No interferon. No anti-inflammatory, no sedative, no emetic, nothing. Nothing touches this once it starts." This has resulted in the death of 98% of the world's men, but it has been even more devastatingly fatal to women and children. It seemingly targets women and children. Childbirth is deadly for both mother and baby, but always for the baby.

An unnamed woman, a labor and delivery nurse in San Francisco who toiled in show more vain to try to save women and babies during the height of the plague before she became ill, wakes up in the hospital, alive, with no survivors around her. She knows who she is, where she is, and that she has survived the illness, but has no idea how long she was sick or what day it is. She makes it home, realizing that the world has changed since her illness. The first person she encounters is a man who breaks into her apartment that first night and tries to brutally rape her.

"When the sirens quit, the rules gave out. Some people had been waiting their whole lives to live lawlessly, and they were the first to take to the streets. Some people knew that would happen; they knew better than to open their doors when they heard cries of help. Others didn’t. What disease cannot do, people accomplish with astonishing ease."

Our heroine quickly learns that being a woman is a dangerous proposition in this new world where women are very rare and are captured to become sex slaves for gangs of men. Even men who might be allies don't want a woman with them because it makes them targets for the gangs who aren't as civilized. She makes the life-saving decision to shave her head, wear a chest binder, and dress like a man. When she meets anyone, she gives them a false name. We never learn her real name, which she guards closely, a secret piece of her that she keeps to herself.

She finds a gun and arms herself, which wasn't easy in California. Because of her experiences as a nurse, she collects medical supplies, especially birth control because if she meets any women this can save their lives. As she makes her way north and then east, she sees women chained as slaves, used as a commodity (sex) for trading goods, and brutally used and abused by their captors. She has to kill men trying to capture her. Long portions of her time are spent alone, although she saved and travel with another woman for a while. She meets some survivors. Most importantly is that she manages to stay alive in this new world.

The novel is partly written as journal entries, and as such the language is very informal, just as it would be if you were writing something for yourself. In the opening we know that young scribes in the future are being charged with making a copy of this journal, so it is startling to see the stark difference between the formal language in the opening followed by the language of the journal entries.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife is a gritty, harsh, raw story. Elison tells it like it would very likely be in this scenario. Nothing is sugar coated. There are no safe places for a woman. If you have ever felt that society tends toward the misogynistic now, then this is what happens when there are no filters or restraints. I was hooked from the beginning mention of the plague and read it straight through. Sure I lost some sleep but this is one post-apocalyptic tale that is worthy of the time. It is realistic, thought provoking, brutal. After reading it, I have been thinking about it, pondering parts of it, for days, and that, my friends, says it all. Deservedly, it won the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award Winner for Distinguished Science Fiction.

There is a part two, The Book of Etta, due to be released in February 2017.

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-book-of-unnamed-midwife.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1785660871 show less

This book. THIS BOOK. This book, you guys. It kept me up for three nights in a row, vacation days where I had other things I needed to be doing during the day, old friends that I had promised to meet with, family that I wanted to spend time with. But every night, back at my hotel, I would pick up this book and read until I realized that it was way too late, much, much later than I had planned on staying up. And it wasn't because I wanted to be in the world that Meg Elison has created; quite the opposite. I stayed up every night horrified and addicted and needing to know that things would be ok again on Meg Elison's devastated post-apocalyptic Earth, even though I knew that there was no way that could happen.

It doesn't feel right to say show more that I loved a book that terrified me, that broke my heart, that kept me awake at night because my brain couldn't relax without knowing the ending. And yet. I love this book. It's stunning. Our unnamed main character is tough but vulnerable, resourceful but humanly flawed. The women that she meets in her travels run the gamut from broken to crafty to seductive to resilient to just plain lucky. The men are just as varied, but much more terrifying in a world where women are rare and coveted. I love, love, love, that despite the fact that it's not necessary to the story, our main character is bisexual. That she is willing to queer her gender for survival. That we get to see that story.

I love this heartbreaking story and will recommend it to anyone willing to have their own heart broken by a truly great story. It's just... guys. Go read this.

This review first appeared on my blog. show less

I saw this was a five star reviewed book from Roxane Gay so I knew it was going to be okay. I sat and read it over the course of a day, engrossed. To me it was very reminiscent of the work of Octavia Butler - almost as though it was Butler updated for our current age.

I have read *a lot* of dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction, and this is one of the better books in the genre. It manages to play with the tropes while also up-ending many of them. Most of all, it feel realistic - people are awful, society turns to shit quickly, yet there are still decent people. Many can't cope with the thought of there not being much point, and many grapple with it but pull through to continue existing. And while it is unpopular, the fact that a military show more officer leads one of the successful communities is realistic to me - someone with the training, mentality and demeanour to make it happen.

Without giving too much away - the smart, determined and very lucky hero of the story is believable and all too human. A midwife in a world where women have started to die in startling numbers and unable to birth live babies, she tries to survive both physical and psychologically in a world where her skills are no longer called for yet her body is a commodity. The author does a fantastic job of balancing the action and the inner-drama in her sadly realistic broken-down world. show less