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The Doctor's Wife (2005)

The Doctor's Wife (2005)

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Rating
3.47 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0452286913 (ISBN13: 9780452286917)
Language
English
Publisher
plume

About book The Doctor's Wife (2005)

Interesting timing. I finished Elizabeth Brundage’s novel The Doctor’s Wife just a couple days before Dr. Henry Morgentaler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. What do a novel and a doctor who changed the laws regarding abortion in Canada have to do with each other? Well, it’s the polarizing subject of abortion which is at the centre of Brundage’s over-written and uneven novel.Annie and Michael Knowles live in upstate New York. Michael is an obstetrician who practices in Albany. Annie is a journalist who teaches at the local college. When the novel opens, it is clear that their marriage is rocky: Michael is a workaholic; Annie is dissatisfied with her role as mother and the doctor’s wife.Then there’s Lydia and Simon Haas. Simon was a renowned artist, but now he’s a bit washed up and he teaches at the same college as Annie. His wife, Lydia, is much younger and clearly unstable. She’s also found Jesus and is hanging out with a bunch of bible thumping right wing conservatives.When Lydia discovers that Simon and Annie are having an affair and her church friends decide that Michael’s new role at the local abortion clinic is worthy of punishment, The Doctor’s Wife propels the reader into page-turner territory. But it’s a weird mash-up of social commentary and scorned-wife-gone-wild.None of the characters in this novel are particularly likeable. Usually when people enter into an extramarital affair it’s sort of easy to choose a side. Simon might be sympathetic if you really had a better of understanding of his relationship with Lydia. Does he love her? Is he afraid of her? (If not, he should be!) Does he love Annie?And Annie’s feelings for her husband are equally ambiguous. She is “no longer the college girl Michael had fallen in love with.” When she and Simon hook up at a faculty party it’s like they hop a fast-moving train that’s not able to stop until it either runs out of fuel or crashes. The fact that Simon is a bit of a doofus makes you question Annie’s sense.I actually didn’t mind the affair part of the story. And Lydia was bat-shit crazy. Where the story really veered off the believability path was how Lydia was involved with these crazy church people and how she had the cunning to plan and execute some of these outlandish crimes.By the end of the book, the whole thing felt a little bit like a made-for-tv-movie. Which is too bad, as there was potential there at the beginning.

first, i was deeply offended by some of the prior reviews of this book, including one by a person who references herself as a "future doctor's wife." i resent any use of the phrase "hardcore feminist" in a derogatory manner to address an opinion that differs from one's own. really and truly, please. become a bit more evolved. This book IS a work of fiction, but it has roots in the modern day "right to life" movement. Not so long ago, quite a few "kill lists" came out on the internet, complete with the names of abortion doctors and their family's personal information. Not all pro-lifers are violent, just like all people with mental illness are not delusional. This novel demonstrates what happens when people are willing to shed blood over their beliefs. The plight of the doctor in the novel happens every day to thousands of doctor's across the country, making the plot line generally feasible. Alright, enough about that. As a work of fiction, this was a quick and easy read, gripping to the end. I don't attempt to form my thoughts and opinions on the lives of others by what i find in the fiction section of the bookstore. Would i recommend this book to others? Yes, but remember: the mind is like a parachute. It only works when its OPEN.

Do You like book The Doctor's Wife (2005)?

The basis of the book could be one of 'controversy' but, regardless of the pro/anti abortion theme, this book picks up as quick thriller. Just about half way through I become addicted to the characters and did not want to stop reading. The way the story was written you get to know the characters, as their backgrounds intertwine with their current lives. Michael and Annie, and their two children; Annie is a bored housewife, who adores her children and her husband, Michael, is a popular Ob/Gyn who reconnects with an old lover and goes to work in an abortion clinic. Their lives become hectic and filled with fear as Michael becomes the center of harassment for his work at the clinic. Simon and Lydia; Simon an artist/professor, working at the same college as Annie and his wife, Lydia, the "younger" wife, once the object of Simon’s desire, is emotionally unstable (to describe at best). This book was very well written, complete and thrilling.
—Stacy

I did not care for this book. it was a relatively easy read, but Im afraid I may have not read it carefully towards the end. I have a few unanswered questions, but there's a chance I just blew over them. Was her article ever published? What happened to her baby? Why didn't Lydia see Simons car at the house when she arrived? Who stuffed their dog? Did the minister ever get his cat back? How did they find a new house and move when they were at the hospital all week? Where were they moving to and would he go back to work at the Catholic hospital or the clinic?The characters would give any feminist a headache. The females, while different, shared an irrational longing men to complete them. The women are not properly tamed, so they run wild, messing everything up, trying to fix their problems by using men. There is a fair amount of liberal and conservative stereotyping as well. But those stereotypes seemed relevant to the story line.I would love a response to this, especially if you can answer the questions. thanks!
—Michelle

I actually find it funny that some people hated this book because they found the pro-life/anti-choice characters to be "too extreme" and took offense on the basis that "not all those who stand on the right of this issue are psychotic maniacs." Well, duh. Of course they aren't. But this book isn't about the ones who aren't. And why not? Because run-of-the-mill ordinary pro-lifers don't make for very interesting fiction. (Neither, for that matter, do run-of-the-mill ordinary pro-choicers). They have ordinary beliefs and do ordinary things and are, by and large, ordinary people. In other words, they're BORING. They don't, for instance, plot the deaths of doctors who perform abortions or bomb clinics. Both of which, while controversial, make for excellent centers of conflict if you are say, an author wanting to write a novel. This wasn't intended to be a piece of journalism in the New York Times or a documentary on the abortion debate. It's a work of FICTION. As such, it is art. The author has absolutely no obligation to present an unbiased view of the members of this or any other group. That some readers think she should is completely confounding. Give me a break. Have you not read fiction before? The reviews of this book which offer this as a criticism are utterly baffling and exasperating. I wouldn't think that you'd need to be a writer to understand the basic elements of fiction, but simply an astute reader. I'm sure there are plenty of sensible criticisms that one could make of this book, which I, on the whole thoroughly enjoyed. But this isn't one of them. In fact, as I read over the reviews which offer this criticism all I can hear in the back of my head is a whiny little voice saying, "But the characters . . . they're nothing like me at all . . ." Ugh.
—Laura

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