Chris Bohjalian

   In the late 1990's Oprah had a book club and she talked about Chris Bohjalian's "Midwives".  I was interested in reading this book at that time because my children were having babies, sometimes using midwives.
   The book centred on a midwife on trial and I really enjoyed the book.  It was well-written and kept my interest.


   This month, one of my book clubs has chosen another book by Chris Bohjalian- "The Sandcastle Girls". 
    It turns out that this book is Chris' fourteenth novel.  Still good writing.  But this book did not catch my interest.  Perhaps it was the subject matter- the Armenian genocide.  It is advertised as a 'story of love and war'.  Actually, I just read a story of love and war- "The Lost Wife" and I thought it was difficult to read about the brutality of the holocaust.  Well, I found this book more difficult.  Perhaps I have reached my limit of sadness.  Perhaps this book focused too much on the brutality.  Or perhaps it was the flipping back and forth from Syria in 1915 to New York in 2012.  It was definitely too heavy for reading in this beautiful spring weather.
   In 20 years of book clubs, I have only refused to read one book. So I did read this book, but skimmed through some of the difficult parts.  My commitment to book clubs causes a dilemma at times.