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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
3.5/5 stars
This book, was quite an interesting one. The writing style was very experimental, and kind of weird. The way the POVs are set up, makes you feel slightly detached, but after about half the book, I actually did care what happened to a few of the characters.
The world that these women have to live in is terrifying. It isn't even that far fetched, it could become a reality. In this version of the USA, the Personhood Amendment has been introduced into the constitution - where embryos are considered people, and abortion, IVF, and even attempting to abort an embryo is illegal and women can be sent to prison.
This book follows 4.5 women and their paths as they navigate their way through the world. The biographer, who is single, but wants a baby, The Daughter, who has an unwanted pregnancy, The Mender, who gave her child up for adoption and helps women with sexual problems, and The Wife, who has two children, but is in an unhappy marriage. (This last POV is the one I least empathized with). The half POV is of the women that the Biographer is writing about, and realistically, this was probably the worst part of the book for me. Most of it just didn't make sense, and really didn't add anything to the narrative for me.
I found this book to ask some really tough questions, and it explored who gets to choose. It explored parenthood, adoption, abortion, and many other facets of a women's sexuality. I really enjoyed this exploration and that is why I overall think this was a good and important book. Even if the writing style, and maybe what the author was trying to get across with her writing was lost on me a little. The overall message was there.
An interesting read, and one that should garner a lot of discussion in today's world.
This book, was quite an interesting one. The writing style was very experimental, and kind of weird. The way the POVs are set up, makes you feel slightly detached, but after about half the book, I actually did care what happened to a few of the characters.
The world that these women have to live in is terrifying. It isn't even that far fetched, it could become a reality. In this version of the USA, the Personhood Amendment has been introduced into the constitution - where embryos are considered people, and abortion, IVF, and even attempting to abort an embryo is illegal and women can be sent to prison.
This book follows 4.5 women and their paths as they navigate their way through the world. The biographer, who is single, but wants a baby, The Daughter, who has an unwanted pregnancy, The Mender, who gave her child up for adoption and helps women with sexual problems, and The Wife, who has two children, but is in an unhappy marriage. (This last POV is the one I least empathized with). The half POV is of the women that the Biographer is writing about, and realistically, this was probably the worst part of the book for me. Most of it just didn't make sense, and really didn't add anything to the narrative for me.
I found this book to ask some really tough questions, and it explored who gets to choose. It explored parenthood, adoption, abortion, and many other facets of a women's sexuality. I really enjoyed this exploration and that is why I overall think this was a good and important book. Even if the writing style, and maybe what the author was trying to get across with her writing was lost on me a little. The overall message was there.
An interesting read, and one that should garner a lot of discussion in today's world.
The first ~10% of this was difficult for me. I couldn’t pin the characters or their world down, couldn’t find a connection. But after that, something shifted profoundly and I found myself entirely affected. This is up there with When She Woke for feminist dystopian fiction about illegal abortions. (That sounds like a joke about how specific that category is, but it’s not; I was so moved by When She Woke that I almost quit library school and became an abortionist.) I would recommend, easily, for this political moment, with The Handmaid’s Tale occupying a position of such relevance.
A near future dystopia that's a bit too close to reality for comfort, seeing how the US has evil evangelicals trying to completely ban abortion, contraception, same sex marriage, and single moms. Thank you backwards southern and rust belt states. The book jumps rapidly between multiple characters, using both descriptions like "the biographer" and their given name, it has a bit of a rough feel to it due to that.
The assorted female characters face various trials and tribulations that for the most part are very real, the obnoxious father who doesn't help out at home and abusively treats his wife like a servant, the wife beater, the herbalist who's called a witch, there is a witch hunt in this book, and several others. It's not a good world for women, though there are some glimmers of hope. It's not a Margaret Atwood book!
Indeed, several of these obnoxious males get the boot, are sent to prison, etc. The witch is found innocent and the student continues her education after a very risky abortion, there's a happy ending for all the characters.
A decent read that would make for an interesting discussion.
The assorted female characters face various trials and tribulations that for the most part are very real, the obnoxious father who doesn't help out at home and abusively treats his wife like a servant, the wife beater, the herbalist who's called a witch, there is a witch hunt in this book, and several others. It's not a good world for women, though there are some glimmers of hope. It's not a Margaret Atwood book!
Indeed, several of these obnoxious males get the boot, are sent to prison, etc. The witch is found innocent and the student continues her education after a very risky abortion, there's a happy ending for all the characters.
A decent read that would make for an interesting discussion.
4.5
I will be thinking about this book for a long time. Loved the different perspectives and the characters themselves.
I will be thinking about this book for a long time. Loved the different perspectives and the characters themselves.
Definitely underwhelmed. This was nothing like I expected it to be...which likely tainted my entire experience. It was written much more like a literary fiction novel than a dystopian in terms of tone and perhaps that threw me.
There are four primary antagonists (the biographer, the wife, the mender, and the daughter) with a fifth secondary antagonist (Eiver), all of whom are followed through interweaving stories. The primary antagonists intersect well and their personalities are well reflected in their actions and the change of tone and writing style that takes place in each individual chapter. In some ways this was good, as it made the characters more distinct. But in some ways it just made things jerky and disorienting.
I just wasn't overly impressed. There was nothing overtly bad about it -- though some pieces were unnecessary and/or just plain weird -- but there also wasn't anything really powerful, intriguing, or impactful either. Good concept, but not a good enough execution for my taste.
There are four primary antagonists (the biographer, the wife, the mender, and the daughter) with a fifth secondary antagonist (Eiver), all of whom are followed through interweaving stories. The primary antagonists intersect well and their personalities are well reflected in their actions and the change of tone and writing style that takes place in each individual chapter. In some ways this was good, as it made the characters more distinct. But in some ways it just made things jerky and disorienting.
I just wasn't overly impressed. There was nothing overtly bad about it -- though some pieces were unnecessary and/or just plain weird -- but there also wasn't anything really powerful, intriguing, or impactful either. Good concept, but not a good enough execution for my taste.
This book took me a minute to get into because it jumped around between characters so much, but once you get the characters straight, you can really pay attention to the beautiful writing and language. Really struck by how moving it was by saying the least amount possible—making me read between the lines and notice the small connections and developments in each person.
Red Clocks first caught my attention because it's set in a small fishing town in Oregon, my home state. After that, learning that it's a dystopia where abortion and in vitro fertilization have both been banned outright meant I HAD to read it. Of course, I got it from the library some weeks ago and had so many other books to read that I didn't get to it until the day it was due back to the library! Luckily, I read fast!
I think the cover description oversells the book a little. I wouldn't call Gin's trial "frenzied" nor the drama exactly "riveting" but it did keep my attention throughout the book. I really enjoyed the relationships between the characters, and the point that none of them really know what is going on in each other's personal lives. One moment I particularly liked is slightly spoilery, but I loved how Ro was able to put her personal feelings aside to help Mattie, her student. That was really, really hard for her, but she recognized how much damage it would do to Mattie to not help her.
I think I found Gin the most interesting - given all the reading I've been doing lately about autism, her entire personality screams autism to me, but she was never labeled as autistic. So I'm marking her as a possibly autistic character. (I'd love if any of my autistic readers could weigh in on that, if you've read the book!) Between preferring to live in the woods with animals and NOT around people, specifically, and the way she reacts to the textures and smells in the jail when she's arrested (shoving the bleach-scented blankets as far away in the cell as possible, and refusing to eat the food), and how she stumbles over her answers in the courtroom when she's interrogated - it seems likely.
My only actual complaint about this book had nothing to do with the writing or plot! But it refers to the ghost pepper as "the hottest pepper known to man" which the Carolina Reaper growing in my backyard would have an issue with!
Other than that very minor quibble, I thought this dystopia was pretty good. I'm always interested in Reproductive Rights-related dystopias. This isn't as good as The Handmaid's Tale, but it's MILES better than Future Home of the Living God. It's good at showing the lengths women will go to, to ensure their own reproductive freedom. Outlawing abortion doesn't eliminate abortion. It just makes it less safe.
You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.
I think the cover description oversells the book a little. I wouldn't call Gin's trial "frenzied" nor the drama exactly "riveting" but it did keep my attention throughout the book. I really enjoyed the relationships between the characters, and the point that none of them really know what is going on in each other's personal lives. One moment I particularly liked is slightly spoilery, but I loved how Ro was able to put her personal feelings aside to help Mattie, her student. That was really, really hard for her, but she recognized how much damage it would do to Mattie to not help her.
I think I found Gin the most interesting - given all the reading I've been doing lately about autism, her entire personality screams autism to me, but she was never labeled as autistic. So I'm marking her as a possibly autistic character. (I'd love if any of my autistic readers could weigh in on that, if you've read the book!) Between preferring to live in the woods with animals and NOT around people, specifically, and the way she reacts to the textures and smells in the jail when she's arrested (shoving the bleach-scented blankets as far away in the cell as possible, and refusing to eat the food), and how she stumbles over her answers in the courtroom when she's interrogated - it seems likely.
My only actual complaint about this book had nothing to do with the writing or plot! But it refers to the ghost pepper as "the hottest pepper known to man" which the Carolina Reaper growing in my backyard would have an issue with!
Other than that very minor quibble, I thought this dystopia was pretty good. I'm always interested in Reproductive Rights-related dystopias. This isn't as good as The Handmaid's Tale, but it's MILES better than Future Home of the Living God. It's good at showing the lengths women will go to, to ensure their own reproductive freedom. Outlawing abortion doesn't eliminate abortion. It just makes it less safe.
You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.
Chillingly relevant. Handmaid’s Tale with deeper undertones and a modern understanding of what an America would look like if Roe were to fall.
“Laws are not natural phenomena. They have particular and often horrific histories.”
What chilled me most was that it was so close to reality — especially under the current administration’s chants of “overturn Roe.” The author made me completely believe that this was America. Which is utterly terrifying.
“Laws are not natural phenomena. They have particular and often horrific histories.”
What chilled me most was that it was so close to reality — especially under the current administration’s chants of “overturn Roe.” The author made me completely believe that this was America. Which is utterly terrifying.
Maybe my expectations were too high, given all the hype around this book. I love a good feminist dystopian story, and this one seemed particularly plausible, but I couldn’t get past the jerky, trying-too-hard-to-be-poetic language and the cliches within some of the female relationships.