Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Women Talking

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

122 reviews

the_beatific_bluestocking's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

📖 Book Review + Spoilers 📖

Snow in the spring and we're all quite grouchy. We pump our bike tires, pack away our sweaters, rejoice in the sunshine to every soul we meet, even though we know, we KNOW this happens. ❄️

What a trip to read this book while my little corner of the world erupts in a second round of seasonal affective disorder.

Women Talking is the somewhat true story of a Bolivian Mennonite community in the early 2000s. For years the women believed they were being visited by ghosts, demons, even the devil in the night or made to believe the violence they experienced in their sleep was a figment of their wild imaginations. When the truth is revealed, more than 300 cases of rape over four years, the women have 48 hours to decide what they will make of their lives in the aftermath.

This book is dialogue heavy without a single quotation mark. Toews brilliantly blurs the lines of opinion, emotion, and description with this strategy. I often forgot I was reading a fictional account and got quite involved in their debates questioning love, faith, loyalty, forgiveness, and liberation in a completely unknown world. Suddenly, shoveling snow doesn't seem so bad.

Here's the spoiler‼️

In reality, the women never left the colony, they never fought for a new way forward, today several women are attempting to recant their testimony and free the imprisoned men. I feel my whole body react to this. I shovel snow and wonder how they can be saved, do I go to Bolivia myself, do they want to be saved, they must, this is unreal, this is real, this is happening, right now.

Women Talking pulled me outside of my own protected rural bubble, to feel the sharp pain of a stranger's experience, to feel, feel, feel...to remember this is why I read and this is what really good books are made of.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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evanlyn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A poignant, reflective and profoundly inspiring read on the patriarchy and the power of resistance, community and love. For such a short book, it takes its time but is definitely worth it to spend as much time as possible with this memorable cast of characters. The audiobook narrator was fantastic, well worth listening to!

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spookysierra's review against another edition

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I hated that a tragedy that happened to a group of women was framed from the perspective of a man who couldn't stop daydreaming over his affection of one of the women. I just felt like the inner turmoil of this man really took away from the struggle the women were going through.

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jdesimoney's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sgrizzle's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

3.75

Finished this short book just in time to watch the movie adaptation just in time for the Oscars, where it is nominated for best picture. It is 100% what it says in the title, women talking. The women of a Mennonite colony decide what to do after it is discovered that for years, several of the men have been drugging and raping them at night. The book is set up as schoolteacher August, a man who was not involved, taking the minutes of the meeting. Framing the story of women about women and so women led yet told through the words of a man is an interesting choice (and one that is different in the movie). It’s both quiet and tense, philosophical and yet deeply practical, as these women decide their fates. Definitely not for everyone, and I don’t disagree with some of the criticisms I’ve seen, but ultimately I found it really moving, particularly knowing it is based on a true story.

(As an aside, I read an interview with the author where she said she wanted to base a story on the real situation, but also she didn’t want it to be about the violence itself, since so many stories are about violence, but about coping with the aftermath. I really appreciate that take.)

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