The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison (audiobook)

 genre: apocalyptic fiction

What the world knows about the unnamed midwife is what she chose to write down in her journals.  Her writings chronicle what happened to the world when a new fever pandemic wipes out nearly all of the population, most especially women.  As the disease first began to spread, the most upsetting thing the unnamed midwife learned is that since the fever struck, no babies - none - are born alive.  When she gets sick herself she eventually wakes up to a world that is both unfamiliar and desperately frightening.  Having to find her own way, the unnamed midwife changes her name, dresses as a man and keeps moving, looking for safety and a place to call home.  In a world where power is found in muscles and guns, deciding whether to stay on your own or find allies can be a question of life or death.

This was a really engaging read - the narrative format was really interesting, it switches back and forth between the actual book of the midwife and an omniscient narrator who gives some global context and fleshes out her account.  For those of us who have now lived through a pandemic, it was actually hard for my brain to settle after thinking about how hard life would be if a vaccine had NOT been developed.  Or if Covid HAD affected babies and pregnant women in a more devastating way - what IF the electrical grid was destroyed and the entire planet became lawless?  And, most especially, what if woman were all of a sudden the most scarce commodity of all?  I liked that we never knew her real name. I LIKED how she could never stop caring and thinking like a midwife, her unique skillset making her such an asset in a world blown apart.  

Parts were upsetting and got more graphically sexual than I wanted to read, and I can handle a lot.  I don't think the author is wrong that such things would happen in a blown out world, but it still is hard to think about. I really liked the ending and overall, I thought this was a really satisfying audiobook experience.  I don't think I'll necessarily read the next two in the series but the writing is strong and while I didn't always agree with the choices the midwife made, her characterization and absolute drive to survive rang true.  Interesting stuff.