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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Enjoyed the book but characters felt distant, Hard to get close to them. It felt like their relationships with each other were two dimensional and non existent.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
1.5/5
I read this instead of studying. I wish I'd spent that time studying. That's how bad this book is.
Witness one woman explaining the horrors of feminism in the most "all lives matter"-y way possible. Miranda, a trad wife who barely has a degree but is still qualified enough for animal research, is escaping the end of the world as we know it.
Why is the world ending? Because of an economical crash because her country "couldn't stop helping any country with a sob story."... Damn, took her 3 pages to become a very unlikeable protagonist.
Anyway, after rescuing hr her daughter from an attack, she decides to go to a commune that her mother built for women. Miranda hates her mother because her mother is a misandrist, and she also doesn't have any female friends because they just don't get it.
Not everybody wants a life where they have to work and educate themselves and not rush into having kids, some people just want to live the good traditional life. Except she wasn't really rich and she lived a comfy life until her husband sank in debt because he wasn't actually rich.
But he's a good man. Men are not evil, you're just a misandrist.
She is astounded that the ladies at Femlandia, the commune her mom built, don't read men's works. Imagine not reading something by mr. Rudyard "White Man's Burden" Kipling. Oh the horror.
She then discovers that the women are the true villains of the story and goes on so many tangents about how we're all humans and men aren't all bad if you just give them a chance and all that.
This book is super toxic. Aside from me hating it's white savior-y rhetoric, it's basically an 11-hour explaination of why feminism is bad and how women are just exclusionary and mean (there's a paragraph about how you need to have been always a woman to enter Femlandia, but there's no real nuance in it, just another example of how feminism is mean).
I don't think the book was exciting enough for me to ignore the message and focus on the plot. As for the message, I couldn't write enough about how toxic it was.
Imagine telling woemn that anyone who tells you you're being oppressed and that you deserve to have more power and 100% autonomy is basically a cult leader luring you in. Why would anyone want to sned that sort of message?
I've read all of Dalcher's novels. I liked the first one so much it's even on my favorites' shelf. I'm so unhappy about reading this and I don't think I would read more of what she puts out.
I read this instead of studying. I wish I'd spent that time studying. That's how bad this book is.
Witness one woman explaining the horrors of feminism in the most "all lives matter"-y way possible. Miranda, a trad wife who barely has a degree but is still qualified enough for animal research, is escaping the end of the world as we know it.
Why is the world ending? Because of an economical crash because her country "couldn't stop helping any country with a sob story."... Damn, took her 3 pages to become a very unlikeable protagonist.
Anyway, after rescuing hr her daughter from an attack, she decides to go to a commune that her mother built for women. Miranda hates her mother because her mother is a misandrist, and she also doesn't have any female friends because they just don't get it.
Not everybody wants a life where they have to work and educate themselves and not rush into having kids, some people just want to live the good traditional life. Except she wasn't really rich and she lived a comfy life until her husband sank in debt because he wasn't actually rich.
But he's a good man. Men are not evil, you're just a misandrist.
She is astounded that the ladies at Femlandia, the commune her mom built, don't read men's works. Imagine not reading something by mr. Rudyard "White Man's Burden" Kipling. Oh the horror.
She then discovers that the women are the true villains of the story and goes on so many tangents about how we're all humans and men aren't all bad if you just give them a chance and all that.
This book is super toxic. Aside from me hating it's white savior-y rhetoric, it's basically an 11-hour explaination of why feminism is bad and how women are just exclusionary and mean (there's a paragraph about how you need to have been always a woman to enter Femlandia, but there's no real nuance in it, just another example of how feminism is mean).
I don't think the book was exciting enough for me to ignore the message and focus on the plot. As for the message, I couldn't write enough about how toxic it was.
Imagine telling woemn that anyone who tells you you're being oppressed and that you deserve to have more power and 100% autonomy is basically a cult leader luring you in. Why would anyone want to sned that sort of message?
I've read all of Dalcher's novels. I liked the first one so much it's even on my favorites' shelf. I'm so unhappy about reading this and I don't think I would read more of what she puts out.
Femlandia is my third Dalcher book, meaning I've read all of her novels to date. I am convinced that she has, at some point a few years ago, lost her flash-fiction prompt cards, because she seems to be stuck using the same one over and over. That wouldn't be so bad... if said prompt card was any good.
*I got sent a free copy of this book from the publisher - I think someone who is working for Harper Collins secretly enjoys my reviews.
Femlandia is due to release in October, but that being said, this review will contain ALL OF THE SPOILERS. If you are determined to read this book for yourself, read no further.*
Anyone that has been friends with me for a while here on Goodreads knows what my relationship is like with Christina Dalcher's stories. Simply put; it's not good. This is because the stories are uninspired, repetitive, lazy and a whole bunch of other adjectives that I shall save for later use in this review.
Strap in, get comfy - it's going to be another long one.
We shall start by discussing the obvious - the plot.
It's another dystopian America. Society has somehow crumbled, the economy has gone to shit and people almost immediately start killing each other and/or themselves. We never really get an explanation of why this happened, it just kinda did. It's really just a backdrop for the real stars of the show - the horrendously titled "Femlandia" communities. Plural because there are multiple. I don't know why from a writing perspective - we only see one and only one was ever relevant. Anyway.
Set up as women-only communes, Femlandia is sold to the world as a safe place for women to thrive peacefully without the influence, control or fear of men. They are entirely self-sufficient and are cut off from the outside world, thus are not effected by the issues the wider that society is facing.
Miranda; a middle-aged and middle-class white woman, and Emma; her one-dimensional teenage daughter, decide they've had enough of living in a dystopia and walk to their nearest Femlandia, which plot convenience would have it was founded by Miranda's mother, Win.
Dalcher cannot seem to come up with a protagonist to a story that isn't loosely based off herself, as well as being directly related to the person that is credited with whatever the concept of the book is about. Just for comparison:
- In VOX the main character, Jean, was a doctor of linguistics, who's husband worked with the government to come up with a method of silencing women.
- In Q/Masterclass, Elena was an English language teacher in an elite school, in a world in which everyone is judged by their perceived intelligence and social standing, and anyone falling below in that regard was sent away. Elena and her partner came up with the system when they were younger- Elena only regretting it when it effected her later in life.
- In Femlandia, Miranda teaches sign language to Apes... or Gorillas. I cannot remember which because we never see it on screen, although that still doesn't stop it being mentioned every other chapter. But yes, like the previous protags, language and communication is her "thing". And as I've said, this time around the Femlandia communities were founded and run by Miranda's mother Win.
Christina Dalcher has a doctorate in theoretical linguistics. Go figure. I wonder if anyone she knows is planning on doing something awful?
I'm sure that that doctorate helped her come up with truly inspired lines like,
Slow clap.
Another one of the many self-plagiarising ideas that we see used in all 3 of these novels is the idea of the "easily indoctrinated child".
Steven in VOX, Anne in Q and now Emma in Femlandia - these children all buy into these societal systems of control without any hesitation or questioning, turning against their families and becoming malicious immediately. It seems as though Dalcher is making an unoriginal and often times inaccurate comment on "the youth of today".
It is boring, predictable and just shows how disconnected she is from whom I am fairly certain will be many of her readers.
OK so we've briefly touched upon plot and characters.
Next talking points!
Themes, consistency and the moral of the story...
None of these exist here.
I'm getting frustrated just thinking about this.
This story was so riddled with inconsistencies - timeline, pacing, characterisation. The most frustrating of these being the latter - the main character going from justifiably hating her husband, Nick, for abandoning her and leaving her in financial ruin, to daydreaming about aforementioned dead husband and how "he wasn't so bad" and "at least he looked after me".
From being fucking GLAD that the starving girl on the street runs away from you as society collapses so that you don't have another mouth to feed...
The whole thing is a fucking joke. Miranda says she would do anything to protect her young, teenage daughter from harm, but that doesn't stop her from flaunting her about in front of men in hopes of sympathy and/or handouts. I am very certain that NO MOTHER WOULD DO THIS. It completely undermined the sense of danger that Dalcher was clearly trying to create.
As for themes and the intended take away of the story, I honestly couldn't tell you.
Men are bad - well, not all men - we actually need men - men deserve better.
Feminism is stupid - feminism might save us all - feminism is inherently flawed - people don't understand feminism - feminists are literally evil slavers that keep infant boys locked up and force them to jack off into cups so that Femlandia can keep it's population going -- feminism is for everyone.
This may sound like an exaggeration or hyperbole but that is literally the premise of the story. Our main character, the same lady who works in a fucking ZOO and specialises in animal communication, hears "coyotes" frequently while in Femlandia - it takes until she is pressed up against the chain link for her to put 1+1 together and realise that it's actually cages of feral boys all screaming and howling. Some of the boys can talk though, having been abducted as teenagers, I'm not sure why they didn't call for help using words humans would understand but hey.
It's all so fucking ridiculous and contrived.
Despite secretly keeping and housing boys for their sperm, Femlandia's strict "NO TRANS WOMEN ALLOWED" policy is still in militant effect, giving us immediate red flags. But upon learning this, our protagonist barely quibbles and the subject is brushed past never to be addressed again. This is classic terf mentality, and despite it coming from the "baddies" of the story, the fact that our protagonist also cares so little and doesn't argue the fact just adds insult to injury.
Dalcher does absolutely nothing to accommodate for a trans person's perspective, opinion or experience in this world she has created. This one time that the topic is raised is over in two paragraphs, and it ends unrivalled and unchallenged with;
There is so much wrong with this book. I could go on for much longer explaining how awful this book is but I won't. I will say however just how frustrated I am that I know full well that this book will be targeted and promoted primarily toward young female feminists, who will see slogans like "JOIN THE SISTERHOOD" on the bright pink cover, or see the comparisons drawn to Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and think that this is more of the same.
This is NOT a story about feminism. This book is not even pro-feminism. It is a shallow, bland and exclusionary thriller, disguised as "turning a utopia on it's head" like that's something ground-breaking.
If you have read this review and discount my opinion because I am a man, then I have no doubt that this book will tick all of your boxes. But not only am I a man, but I also consider myself an intersectional feminist. I am a bookseller, I have the context of Dalcher's two previous novels and I am also currently enjoying a "Women of SFF Literature" year, in which 95% of the books I read are written by women of various backgrounds. But still, there will of course be those to which these things don't matter and that's fine. I hope y'all enjoy this book.
To everyone else, thank you for reading my review, I hope that I have done enough to help make it clear just how terrible it is.
I am currently reading [b:Planet of Exile|201882|Planet of Exile|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334148719l/201882._SY75_.jpg|1642607] by the superb Ursula K. Le Guin as well as [b:The Employees|53780642|The Employees|Olga Ravn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1591135601l/53780642._SX50_.jpg|61662083] by Olga Ravn, which has me thoroughly intrigued at the moment. I hope that anyone that has read this whole thing is enjoying their current reads too.
All the best.
*I got sent a free copy of this book from the publisher - I think someone who is working for Harper Collins secretly enjoys my reviews.
Femlandia is due to release in October, but that being said, this review will contain ALL OF THE SPOILERS. If you are determined to read this book for yourself, read no further.*
Anyone that has been friends with me for a while here on Goodreads knows what my relationship is like with Christina Dalcher's stories. Simply put; it's not good. This is because the stories are uninspired, repetitive, lazy and a whole bunch of other adjectives that I shall save for later use in this review.
Strap in, get comfy - it's going to be another long one.
We shall start by discussing the obvious - the plot.
It's another dystopian America. Society has somehow crumbled, the economy has gone to shit and people almost immediately start killing each other and/or themselves. We never really get an explanation of why this happened, it just kinda did. It's really just a backdrop for the real stars of the show - the horrendously titled "Femlandia" communities. Plural because there are multiple. I don't know why from a writing perspective - we only see one and only one was ever relevant. Anyway.
Set up as women-only communes, Femlandia is sold to the world as a safe place for women to thrive peacefully without the influence, control or fear of men. They are entirely self-sufficient and are cut off from the outside world, thus are not effected by the issues the wider that society is facing.
Miranda; a middle-aged and middle-class white woman, and Emma; her one-dimensional teenage daughter, decide they've had enough of living in a dystopia and walk to their nearest Femlandia, which plot convenience would have it was founded by Miranda's mother, Win.
Dalcher cannot seem to come up with a protagonist to a story that isn't loosely based off herself, as well as being directly related to the person that is credited with whatever the concept of the book is about. Just for comparison:
- In VOX the main character, Jean, was a doctor of linguistics, who's husband worked with the government to come up with a method of silencing women.
- In Q/Masterclass, Elena was an English language teacher in an elite school, in a world in which everyone is judged by their perceived intelligence and social standing, and anyone falling below in that regard was sent away. Elena and her partner came up with the system when they were younger- Elena only regretting it when it effected her later in life.
- In Femlandia, Miranda teaches sign language to Apes... or Gorillas. I cannot remember which because we never see it on screen, although that still doesn't stop it being mentioned every other chapter. But yes, like the previous protags, language and communication is her "thing". And as I've said, this time around the Femlandia communities were founded and run by Miranda's mother Win.
Christina Dalcher has a doctorate in theoretical linguistics. Go figure. I wonder if anyone she knows is planning on doing something awful?
I'm sure that that doctorate helped her come up with truly inspired lines like,
"Self-sufficiency," Jennifer said. She laughed a little."Or I guess we could call it 'self-sufficienSHE.'"and my personal favourite
"We know the date - Black Wednesday, April 1st, the year of our Lord two thousand and something."
Slow clap.
Another one of the many self-plagiarising ideas that we see used in all 3 of these novels is the idea of the "easily indoctrinated child".
Steven in VOX, Anne in Q and now Emma in Femlandia - these children all buy into these societal systems of control without any hesitation or questioning, turning against their families and becoming malicious immediately. It seems as though Dalcher is making an unoriginal and often times inaccurate comment on "the youth of today".
It is boring, predictable and just shows how disconnected she is from whom I am fairly certain will be many of her readers.
OK so we've briefly touched upon plot and characters.
Next talking points!
Themes, consistency and the moral of the story...
None of these exist here.
I'm getting frustrated just thinking about this.
This story was so riddled with inconsistencies - timeline, pacing, characterisation. The most frustrating of these being the latter - the main character going from justifiably hating her husband, Nick, for abandoning her and leaving her in financial ruin, to daydreaming about aforementioned dead husband and how "he wasn't so bad" and "at least he looked after me".
From being fucking GLAD that the starving girl on the street runs away from you as society collapses so that you don't have another mouth to feed...
"...I really didn't want her to join us. She was so small and weak, and we barely had enough food for two. I don't know what happened to her - part of me doesn't really care."to
"I've always been drawn to helpless things. The stray cat trembling under a porch on a rainy night. A dozy bird who saw only trees, not the glass of my living room window. Nick always said I had a soft side, a runaway mothering instinct. I guess I do."
The whole thing is a fucking joke. Miranda says she would do anything to protect her young, teenage daughter from harm, but that doesn't stop her from flaunting her about in front of men in hopes of sympathy and/or handouts. I am very certain that NO MOTHER WOULD DO THIS. It completely undermined the sense of danger that Dalcher was clearly trying to create.
"That was the best I could do, try to use Emma as my pawn, stir some pity in those cold eyes of the men."It's not even a well written sentence! My gosh it's just so terrible.
As for themes and the intended take away of the story, I honestly couldn't tell you.
Men are bad - well, not all men - we actually need men - men deserve better.
Feminism is stupid - feminism might save us all - feminism is inherently flawed - people don't understand feminism - feminists are literally evil slavers that keep infant boys locked up and force them to jack off into cups so that Femlandia can keep it's population going -- feminism is for everyone.
This may sound like an exaggeration or hyperbole but that is literally the premise of the story. Our main character, the same lady who works in a fucking ZOO and specialises in animal communication, hears "coyotes" frequently while in Femlandia - it takes until she is pressed up against the chain link for her to put 1+1 together and realise that it's actually cages of feral boys all screaming and howling. Some of the boys can talk though, having been abducted as teenagers, I'm not sure why they didn't call for help using words humans would understand but hey.
It's all so fucking ridiculous and contrived.
Despite secretly keeping and housing boys for their sperm, Femlandia's strict "NO TRANS WOMEN ALLOWED" policy is still in militant effect, giving us immediate red flags. But upon learning this, our protagonist barely quibbles and the subject is brushed past never to be addressed again. This is classic terf mentality, and despite it coming from the "baddies" of the story, the fact that our protagonist also cares so little and doesn't argue the fact just adds insult to injury.
Dalcher does absolutely nothing to accommodate for a trans person's perspective, opinion or experience in this world she has created. This one time that the topic is raised is over in two paragraphs, and it ends unrivalled and unchallenged with;
"They can identify as a fucking hedgehog for all I care. I'm talking about what they are. Not what they think they are or what they want to be. It's a slippery slope. You let one in, you have to let in all. There is a reason your mother called this place Femlandia. Get used to it."Charming, right?
There is so much wrong with this book. I could go on for much longer explaining how awful this book is but I won't. I will say however just how frustrated I am that I know full well that this book will be targeted and promoted primarily toward young female feminists, who will see slogans like "JOIN THE SISTERHOOD" on the bright pink cover, or see the comparisons drawn to Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and think that this is more of the same.
This is NOT a story about feminism. This book is not even pro-feminism. It is a shallow, bland and exclusionary thriller, disguised as "turning a utopia on it's head" like that's something ground-breaking.
If you have read this review and discount my opinion because I am a man, then I have no doubt that this book will tick all of your boxes. But not only am I a man, but I also consider myself an intersectional feminist. I am a bookseller, I have the context of Dalcher's two previous novels and I am also currently enjoying a "Women of SFF Literature" year, in which 95% of the books I read are written by women of various backgrounds. But still, there will of course be those to which these things don't matter and that's fine. I hope y'all enjoy this book.
To everyone else, thank you for reading my review, I hope that I have done enough to help make it clear just how terrible it is.
I am currently reading [b:Planet of Exile|201882|Planet of Exile|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334148719l/201882._SY75_.jpg|1642607] by the superb Ursula K. Le Guin as well as [b:The Employees|53780642|The Employees|Olga Ravn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1591135601l/53780642._SX50_.jpg|61662083] by Olga Ravn, which has me thoroughly intrigued at the moment. I hope that anyone that has read this whole thing is enjoying their current reads too.
All the best.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
I would have loooooved to see some actual morals in this book but I thought it was so thrilling and weird.
In an ideal world, I wish Femlandia was an actual thriving community and not quite the one depicted in the book, I was hoping for a minimalistic Barbie land really. Nevertheless, it hooked me from page one and I could not stop reading
In an ideal world, I wish Femlandia was an actual thriving community and not quite the one depicted in the book, I was hoping for a minimalistic Barbie land really. Nevertheless, it hooked me from page one and I could not stop reading
dark
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It was okay, didn’t entirely live up to expectations but the premise was interesting. Some bits were very disturbing.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really quite violent in places. So was worried about the book at the beginning, but I came to enjoy it. If you can call it that.
A interesting take on the future, but hope at the end
A interesting take on the future, but hope at the end
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder