The Frozen River

Author: Ariel Lawhon

Who Picked the Book: Amberly

One-sentence summary: A midwife pushes against the injustices of her small town while helping women with her medical skills and friendship.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 8

Our favorite thing about it: The story was captivating and compelling.

Our least favorite thing about it: There was a lot of injustice and misogyny - A LOT - that was cumulatively hard to read. 

Main Topics of Discussion: Pregnancy/Birth, Misogyny, Rape/Murder, Marriage, Early America, Justice

Our favorite quote: “Memory is a wicked thing that warps and twists. But paper and ink receive the truth without emotion, and they read it back without partiality."

Notes: We found this book very easy to read. The story moved fairly quickly and was engaging. Those that listened said the narrator was excellent. And the main character, Martha, was also a good narrator as the events were seen through her eyes. There was a lot of injustice and mistreatment - especially of women - that made the book hard to read at times. There was just so much. If it was hard to read, we imagine it was even harder to live - because all of that injustice and misogyny was very much real at that time. And some of it still is. We loved most of the characters and felt that they were well-rounded. We thought that the cold weather and frozen river served as metaphors for the town itself - being stuck in place for a time while the murder was sorted, and Rebecca's trial was pending, etc. At the end of the book, as some of the events were resolved, the river thawed and spring was close. Overall we liked this book very much and would recommend it. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: Amberly took us to a new Indian restaurant. Our meeting was uncharacteristically on a Tuesday night. And Dara accidentally read the wrong book, but did read a good one - The Women by Kristin Hannah. 

What We Ate: Indian Food! We had vegetable samosas, a mango lassi, Chicken Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken, Chicken Vindaloo, Vegetable Aloo Gobi, and garlic naan. For dessert, Amberly had Watermelon sparkling wine, Butterscotch bars (her grandmother's recipe), and lemon bars (Pioneer Woman's recipe).